EDUCATION
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The Centre for Chinese Archaeology and Art was launched in February, 1978, to make surveys of archaeological sites and to carry out excavations in Hong Kong; to organise periodic exhibitions and symposiums on special subjects in association with the university's Art Gallery and the Departments of Fine Arts and History; and to provide graduate students with field work training in Chinese art and archaeology. The centre is conducting a number of research projects.
The Art Gallery's collection of paintings and calligraphy, produced mainly by native scholars of Kwangtung Province, continues to grow. An annexe to the Art Gallery was officially opened in April, 1978. The annexe is equipped with up-to-date facilities for the photography and mounting of Chinese scrolls and the restoration of porcelain.
The Institute of Science and Technology promotes inter-disciplinary research in the science faculty, with particular emphasis on projects with long-term regional signi- ficance or applied value. There are two research units and one research centre under the aegis of the institute.
The Chinese Medicinal Material Research Unit was established in 1974, with the objective of undertaking laboratory investigation of certain rationally selected Chinese herbs, in order to establish their true therapeutic value on a scientific basis. In addition to functioning as one of the six research centres in the world chosen by the World Health Organisation to carry out research on the biological effects and chemical constituents of potential anti-fertility plants, the unit also receives support from various international organisations.
The other research unit under the Institute of Science and Technology is the Food Protein Production Unit which, since its establishment in 1977, has been pursuing two main areas of research. The first project is intensive aquaculture involving the use of sewage wastes through successive steps in the algae, shrimp and fish food chain, and the production of vegetable crops in sewage sludge. The other project is the growing of straw mushrooms from cotton wastes and tea leaves.
As a result of a donation made by the Hung On To Memorial Fund,' the Hung On To Centre for Machine Translation Research, which originated from the Machine Translation Project initiated in 1969, was established in March, 1978. Before the centre opened, a system capable of translating Chinese mathematical texts into readable English had already been built up. With the aid of the Chinese-English glossary of mathematical science which the project group compiled, 13 issues of Acta Mathematica Sinica, two issues of Acta Physica Sinica and many articles in biochemistry were translated from Chinese into English. The centre is currently investigating the translation of other language pairs as well as simultaneous transla- tion of multi-linguals.
Within the Institute of Social Studies and the Humanities, the Economic Research Centre is studying the Hong Kong economy and the economies of some countries in the neighbouring region. Major areas of investigation include national income study, econometric forecasting of trade and employment, technological changes in manufacturing industries, the labour market, and agricultural and industrial develop- ment in China.
The Centre for Communication Studies is working on a long-term project aimed
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