ENG-1985 — Page 128

92

EDUCATION

speech therapy, para-medical studies, and information technology. The committee has also encouraged co-operation in the funding of research and the sharing of library and sports facilities, and has suggested that institutional co-operation would be essential to a system of open and continuing education now being discussed within the government.

The UPGC's planning role includes advising the government on long-term requirements in higher education, and in 1985 the committee advised on the number of degree and sub-degree places it would be necessary to create by the turn of the century in order to achieve the government's long-term targets for educational opportunities in this field. The UPGC gave advice on the need for an additional tertiary education institution in order to achieve these targets. In October, the Governor announced in his Address to the Legislative Council that the government would proceed with the planning of a third university, so as to increase the provision of first-year first degree places to over 7 500 within the 1990s.

The committee is represented on the Education Commission, on the government's Co-ordinating Committee on Para-Medical Education and its working group on the higher training of medical laboratory technicians, and on the Medical Development Advisory Committee's working group on post-graduate medical education and training.

Student Finance

Financial assistance is made available to Hong Kong students attending higher education institutions in Hong Kong and in the United Kingdom through two means-tested schemes administered by the UPGC Secretariat.

Full-time students attending the University of Hong Kong, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Polytechnic, the City Polytechnic of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Baptist College may receive grants to cover their faculty expenses, tuition fees and student union fees together with interest-free loans to meet their living-expenses. During the year, 8 684 students received grants totalling $35 million and 10 100 students received loans totalling $84 million.

Under a joint-funding arrangement between the United Kingdom Government and the Hong Kong Government, grants are made to full-time students attending first degree or Higher National Diploma courses in the United Kingdom to meet the difference between home and overseas student fees. To be considered for grants under the joint-funding arrangement, on-course students and new students were required to submit their applica- tions by July 1, 1985, and October 1, 1985, respectively. Late applications from both on-course and new students were accepted until November 1 and were considered for loans from the Hong Kong Government. During the year, grants totalling £3.05 million were paid to 120 institutions on behalf of 1 230 students and loans totalling $700,410 were paid to 30 institutions on behalf of 37 students.

University of Hong Kong

The University of Hong Kong has grown from modest beginnings in 1911 to its present student population of over 7 000. It has faculties of arts, architecture, dentistry, education, engineering, law, medicine, science and social sciences. The university's central estate is on the northwestern slopes of Hong Kong Island; the Faculty of Medicine is adjacent to Queen Mary Hospital, the university's teaching hospital; and the Faculty of Dentistry is located in the Prince Philip Dental Hospital in Western District.

All the faculties, with the exception of education, teach both undergraduate and postgraduate courses. The Faculty of Education at present teaches only postgraduates, most of whom are preparing for the Certificate in Education. The medium of instruction