ENG-1990 — Page 168

EDUCATION

Located on a 60-hectare site on Clear Water Bay Peninsula, the university campus. is being built as a turnkey project managed by The Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club. Phase I of the project will be completed in June 1991; Phase II in 1993. By August 1990, construction of all buildings was proceeding within schedule, and by July 1991, HKUST should be relocated from its temporary offices in the World Shipping Centre, Tsim Sha Tsui, to the new campus.

The founding Vice-Chancellor and President of the University, Professor Chia-Wei Woo, took up his post in September 1988. All three Pro-Vice-Chancellors have been recruited and each of the senior administrative positions has been filled. Deans for the Schools of Engineering and of Humanities and Social Science have taken up their posts at the university.

For the School of Business and Management, senior academics from the Anderson Graduate School of Management of UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) and other leading business schools in California are being seconded to help set up the school's departments.

HKUST will comprise three Schools - of Science, of Engineering, and of Business and Management - offering undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes, and a fourth School of Humanities and Social Science which will offer classes to all students but award only postgraduate degrees.

The academic year will comprise two semesters of 15 weeks each, separated by a Winter Session of 4-6 weeks which students may use as they see fit - for enrichment, remedial work, independent study, internships or research. Curricula will be organised in a credit-based modular structure which will lead to a baccalaureate after three years of full-time study. All students should be bilingual; the language of instruction will be English.

The first prospectuses, for both undergraduate and graduate programmes, have been published. Most departments will be accepting students for the inaugural semester in 1991. In the School of Science, all five departments of biochemistry, biology, chemistry, mathematics and physics will accept undergraduate and postgraduate students in 1991. The School of Engineering will ultimately comprise six departments. In 1991, the two departments of computer science and electrical and electronic engineering will accept undergraduate and postgraduate students, while the departments of mechanical engineer- ing and civil and structural engineering will accept only postgraduate students. The School of Business and Management will also ultimately comprise six departments, of which three - accounting, finance, economics - will accept undergraduate and postgraduate students in 1991. The School of Humanities and Social Science, comprising two divisions as named in its title, will accept postgraduate students in 1991.

The three remaining departments in the School of Business and Management are expected to be operational by 1992, with the two remaining engineering departments in place by 1993.

Commensurate with its commitment to promoting technological applications in industry and commerce in Hong Kong and the Asia-Pacific region, HKUST will encompass a number of interdisciplinary research institutes, funded mainly from external resources. As of August 1990, the Biotechnology Research Institute has been funded and inaugurated, and an information technology institute has been funded. Proposals for funding other institutes are under consideration.

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