Bulletin Spring‧Summer 2006

18 Chinese University Bulletin Spring • Summer 2006 University Council Decides to Establish Two New Colleges T he Council of The Chinese University of Hong Kong decided on 23 May 2006 to establish two new colleges, and will proceed to make plans for their development. established. The University is of the view that relatively small colleges are more conducive to intimate interaction among students and staff, and capable of providing pastoral care and an environment for whole-person education. It was also noted that in many successful examples of college systems, such as Oxford, Cambridge and Yale, colleges are typically small, with say 400–500 students each — much lower than the average enrolment of existing colleges on campus. Hence, these universities also have more colleges compared to CUHK. Two New Colleges The University is pleased that benefactors committed to quality higher-education share its vision, and have offered donations to help bring these plans to reality. The University Council approved on 23 May 2006: • the acceptance of a donation of HK$100 million from The Morningside Foundation and Morningside Education Foundation to establish Morningside College, which will cater for 300 students on a fully residential and communal dining basis. • the acceptance of a donation of HK$170 million from The S.H. Ho Foundation to establish S.H. Ho College, which will cater for 600 students on a fully residential and communal dining basis. Prof. Lawrence J. Lau affirmed his commitment to develop and strengthen the college system soon after he was installed as Vice-Chancellor. To cater for the increase in student enrolment in 2012, CUHK had proposed to establish new colleges in its Strategic Plan in October 2005. This was adopted by the University Council in January 2006 after many rounds of discussions. Extensive consultation on new colleges was conducted through 18 briefings and forums. The University Council approved a set of guidelines for moving towards this goal: the University should plan for one to two small colleges (300– 600 students each) that are fully residential with communal dining arrangements, and one or two medium-sized colleges (1,200 students each) that would be partially residential. To accommodate about 3,000 more undergraduates upon reversion to a four-year curriculum, more c o l l e g e s w i l l have to be