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EDUCATION

Master of Arts, and Master of Arts in Education as well as Diplomas in Education and Social Work.

Part-time degree programmes leading to Bachelor's degrees (Bachelor of Business Administration; Bachelor of Arts in Chinese and English, Music; and Bachelor of Social Science in Social Work) and Master's degrees in Translation, Business Administration and Social Work as well as professional diplomas in both Education and Social Work are offered to working adults.

New postgraduate programmes launched in 1986-7 comprised the Specialisation MBA Programme in Organisation and Policy Studies, and Masters degrees programmes in Clinical Biochemistry, and in Biotechnology and Psychology. Expansion in the fields of education, medicine, electronics and computer science is expected in the coming years. Plans are also made to establish engineering studies in the near future.

The university is strongly committed to research and other academic activities. In addition to research work conducted in the teaching departments, six research centres are operating under the Research Institutes of Chinese Studies, Science and Technology, and Social Studies.

Competition for university places is intense. Over 30 000 candidates sat the various public examinations held in 1986, and 1 325 were admitted to first year studies. Enrolment as of September 1986 totalled 7 203, comprising 5 389 full-time and 518 part-time under- graduate students and 400 full-time and 896 part-time postgraduate students. Almost all students are local, and about half of them are given hostel places.

In 1986-7, the Department of Extramural Studies offered more than 1 300 courses with a total enrolment of more than 42 000. Besides general courses and those leading to the award of diplomas and certificates, the department also offered correspondence courses, courses on radio and by newspapers, and self-learning courses packaged in the form of audio tapes, programmed texts and resource materials.

Construction projects completed during the year included the reprovisioning of all-weather surfacing to a set of athletes' tracks and an extension added to the hostel for medical students at the teaching hospital. An integral building for the School of Education together with a multipurpose hall for Chung Chi College is at an advanced stage of construction.

The library system consists of the University Library, the Medical Library, and three branch libraries in the colleges. The total collection in 1986 was 893 800 volumes.

The university participates in the affairs of regional and international associations of universities, and has from time to time launched co-operative projects with foreign governments and individual institutions.

It is a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities, International Association of Universities, the Inter-University Council for Higher Education Overseas and the Association of Southeast Asian Institutions of Higher Learning.

Hong Kong Polytechnic

The Hong Kong Polytechnic was established in 1972, taking over the campus of the former Hong Kong Technical College which formed the basis of the polytechnic's initial development.

Since then, student and staff numbers have increased greatly. At the beginning of the 1986-7 academic year, there were 7 860 full-time, 1 350 sandwich, 590 mixed-mode, 3 280 part-time day release and 12 580 part-time evening students. There were also 180 students on a new self-study programme. At June 30, the staff strength stood of 2 448, comprising 908 teaching, 244 senior administrative and 1 296 technical, clerical and ancillary staff.

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