Bulletin Spring 1976

analyse and solve problems. How is this aim achieved in graduate teaching? A. All programmes of the Graduate School are planned with the ultimate aim of training students to think independently, to analyse and solve problems, but there is a difference in emphasis in the one-year and the two-year programmes. The two-year programme requires students to do thesis research while the one-year programme consists mainly of course- work and requires students to write dissertations only, as in the case of the M.A.(Ed.) course, or none at all, as in the case of the M.A. course in History. Thesis research involves data collection and data analysis, the organization of material and the tackling of numerous problems, and is unquestionably the best way to develop the faculty of critical thinking and problem-solving. Q Why does the Graduate School still have one-year programmes then? A. At present we have one-year programmes in three divisions: Education, History and Electronics. The M.A. (Ed.) course and M.Sc. course in Electronics are more profession- oriented and may be regarded as transitional courses. This kind of transitional course is very common in England, such as courses in Polymer, Electrical Engineering and Environmental Sciences, which cater for general science graduates who wish to acquaint themselves with an applied subject. The two-year programme in History provides for further studies in the field of Chinese History whereas the one-year programme is in World History because we do not have the teaching strength at present to offer a two-year programme in this field. Q As far as course-work is concerned, what is the difference between teaching at the graduate level and the undergraduate level A. Undergraduate courses on the whole are more general and the scope is broader, whereas postgraduate courses are more specialized and offer more in-depth studies. With this fundamental difference, there is naturally a difference in approach. At the undergraduate level there is more of the passing on of knowledge to students through lectures while the emphasis of postgraduate teaching is on research methods and in-depth analysis. With the relatively small number of students at the postgraduate level, frequent teacher-student discussions are possible, with a two-way exchange of ideas. Q. Does the establishment of the Graduate School help to raise the standard of the undergraduate programme A. Yes, undoubtedly. Strictly speaking, the Graduate School has no teacher of its own: most of the teachers are undergraduate teachers teaching concurrently at the Graduate School. It is a great challenge to undertake postgraduate teaching, and to meet this challenge, they must devote more time and effort to research, without which they cannot keep abreast of the latest developments in their field. Their research activities naturally enrich their undergraduate teaching as well. Besides, as I said earlier on, there are certain postgraduate courses that undergraduates may take as electives or audit courses. Q. What is the direction of the School's development? A. At present there is no predetermined direction of development. Development of the Graduate School depends on the availability of teaching staff and adequate library and other facilities, but unfortunately at this University the recruitment of teachers is determined in the main by the needs of the undergraduate programme. As a result, postgraduate development plans of various disciplines have had to be 7