ENG-1981 — Page 119

EDUCATION

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The undergraduate enrolment in September totalled 4 456 and comprised: arts 1 040, business administration 872, medicine 63, science 1 254, and social science 1 227. In addition, 692 students were enrolled in the graduate programmes. These included 340 reading Diploma in Education courses and 17 overseas students and scholars enrolled in the university's international Asian studies programme.

The number of candidates who sat for the 1981 Hong Kong Higher Level Examination totalled 18 336, of which some 4 429 fulfilled the entrance requirements. Of these, 1115 were admitted for the 1981-2 academic year.

A total of 1 201 students graduated from the university in 1981. They included 45 Masters of Philosophy, 71 Masters of Business Administration, seven Masters of Arts (Education), one Master of Art, three Masters of Social Work, 259 Bachelors of Arts, 250 Bachelors of Business Administration, 268 Bachelors of Science and 295 Bachelors of Social Science.

In the 1981-2 academic year the Department of Extra-mural Studies offered more than 1000 general, certificate, correspondence, radio and newspaper courses covering a wide range of subjects. Most of these courses were being conducted in Cantonese and Mandarin and had a total enrolment of 31 867.

The library system comprises the main university library and three branch libraries in the colleges. The combined holdings of the libraries in 1981 totalled 369 155 volumes in Oriental languages, 345 243 volumes in Western languages, and 5 377 current periodical titles.

Building projects completed during the year included a multi-purpose auditorium, a sports centre, and two blocks of senior staff residences. Construction work on a student hostel and an extension to the existing Science Centre complex was underway.

Apart from the medical course, other programmes launched in 1981-2 were: doctoral courses in biology, biochemistry and physics and master's courses in fine arts and statistics. A three-year part-time day-release programme leading to the Master of Social Work degree, and a six-year part-time day-release programme leading to the Bachelor of Social Work degree, were also introduced.

Research

In addition to research programmes conducted in individual departments, the university has three research institutes: the Institute of Chinese Studies, the Institute of Science and Technology, and the Institute of Social Studies and the Humanities. They promote inter-disciplinary research in their respective faculties, and provide facilities for faculty members to keep abreast of, and contribute to, developments in their own fields.

The Institute of Chinese Studies has three research centres and an art gallery. The Comparative Literature and Translation Centre carries out comparative studies of Chinese and Western literature and translations of classical and contemporary Chinese material. The Centre for Chinese Archaeology and Art concentrates on the building up of relevant facilities for research in the field, and on archaeology in China. The T.T. Ng Chinese Language Research Centre conducts studies on teaching materials and methods of teaching Chinese in primary and secondary schools, as well as contrastive studies of the grammar of Cantonese, Putonghua and English. It also compiles Chinese dictionaries and language indices.

Operating within the Institute of Science and Technology are three research centres. The Chinese Medicinal Material Research Centre undertakes investigation into Chinese herbs for fertility regulation; treating hepatitis and curing influenza; the bioactivities of ginseng;