ENG-1985 — Page 127

EDUCATION

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There are a number of private day and evening schools registered under the Education Ordinance which offer post-secondary courses of varying standards but they do not receive any financial assistance from the government.

The University and Polytechnic Grants Committee

The government's main source of advice on the development and funding of higher education is the University and Polytechnic Grants Committee (UPGC). The committee is aware of the growing need for additional specialist local advice on Hong Kong's requirements in respect of strategic research and professional and technical standards. Members have been responsible for initiating proposals for a local research grants committee and for a local degree-validating body to examine degree proposals from the two polytechnics and the Baptist College. The UPGC has welcomed these opportunities to increase consultation with specialists and local laymen and women who have an intimate knowledge of higher education needs in Hong Kong, and thus to contribute to the integration of the various sectors of education, a process which has been given considerable impetus by the establishment of the Education Commission.

During the year, funds were provided for continuing increases in student numbers at the two universities, the Hong Kong Polytechnic and the City Polytechnic of Hong Kong, Grants were also provided through the UPGC to the Hong Kong Baptist College which is reorganising its academic and administrative structure prior to commencing its degree programmes. Early in 1985, the UPGC conducted an institutional review of the Baptist College and confirmed that the college is capable of providing a suitable academic environment for degree level work. During the year, the Hong Kong Polytechnic started three additional degrees in Manufacturing Engineering, Textile and Clothing Marketing, and Building Services Engineering. The Hong Kong Polytechnic now has 7.2 per cent of its full-time equivalent student population taking undergraduate courses. The UPGC has been consulted by the City Polytechnic and Baptist College which have been preparing their first degree proposals for internal and external validation procedures. It is hoped that they will be in a position to offer degree courses at the beginning of the 1986–7 academic year.

A significant event in higher education in 1985 was the allocation of grants to the five institutions for research projects which could be deemed to be of strategic practical importance to the economic and social development of Hong Kong. Despite cash limits on the expenditure of the five institutions for the 1985-8 triennium, and pending a government decision on the UPGC's proposal for a separate research grants committee, funding for research has been increased in the belief that this is an important contribution which the institutions of higher education can make to the future of Hong Kong. In 1985, the research grants represented a relatively modest 0.7 per cent of the total recurrent grant to each institution. This is in addition to a sum of approximately two per cent of the annual recurrent grant already provided for fundamental and applied research. The UPGC intends to monitor expenditure on strategic research and to encourage the development of links between pure research, which is traditionally pursued to extend the frontiers of knowledge, the institutions' practical contract research undertaken jointly with local industry, and research in subject areas and disciplines which have been identified as being of strategic importance to Hong Kong's economic and social system.

An important aspect of the UPGC's role is the maintenance of a co-ordinated system of higher education. Duplication of effort by the five institutions is discouraged in order to avoid the dissipation of scarce resources. In this respect, the committee has given consideration to the problem of where best to locate future undergraduate courses in