Vice-Chancellor's Report 1978-82

to demonstrated social need and Government encouragement, the University initiated undergraduate Part-time Degree Programmes in four subjects: Business Administration, Chinese and English, Music, and Social Work; and the first class of students i n these Programmes was enrolled i n 1981. The Programmes are intended for relatively mature students wi th working experience and therefore a new approach to the method of instruction and course design is required. Wh i l e such a process has only started, I am fully confident that the University will rise to this additional challenge, and, through the introduction of programmes of this kind throughout the rest of this decade, open up a vast new area to become eventually an important component of the education we have to offer. I must now turn to the Colleges, which used to be separate, largely self-contained institutions wi t h formal responsibilities for instruction and administration. After the reorganization of 1976, they were gradually relieved of the more formal aspects of their duties, and redirected their attention towards the development of student-orientated teaching, as suggested by the Second Fulton Commission. They also devoted considerable effort to their respective programmes of General Education. These were not easy tasks, as student-orientated teaching was new, and had to be adapted to the needs of many different departments and students. Another important function of the Colleges also emerged, namely, the development of a congenial cultural and intellectual environment for staff and students. Thus a series of lectures by distinguished scholars from all over the world were set up throughout the three Colleges; staff and student facilities were greatly improved; and gatherings of many different kinds sprang up in association wi th the Assemblies of Fellows. These efforts took different paths in different Colleges, but they all contributed to the transformation of the Colleges into congenial associations of scholars, and I can foresee that their roles wi l l further grow and evolve in this direction to complement that of the University. The leadership of the University was also undergoing a significant change during this period. A number of new senior officers came on the scene: there were two new Pro-Vice-Chancellors, two new College Heads elected by their respective Assembly of Fellows ， several new Deans and also a new University Secretary. I was therefore fortunate in having the privilege of working wi th many new and generally younger colleagues, who brought wi th them new 5