Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 2005

The Co l l ege Sy s t em of T he Ch i nese Un i ve r s i ty 'The benefits of a university e d u c a t i o n c a n n ot be t h o u g h t to consist merely in t he a c q u i r eme nt of k n o w l e d g e, but i n t he opportunities of society a nd of f o rm i ng friends; in short, in t he experience of life gained by it and the consequent improvement of character.' Benjamin Jowatt 1817-93, master of Balliol College, Oxford University, and vice-chancellor, Oxford University T he Chinese University comprises four constituent colleges. New Asia College, Chung Chi College and United College are the founding members, established respectively in 1945, 51 and 56. In 1968, the University received a generous donation of HK$110 million from the Shaw Foundation for the establishment of Shaw College, its fourth constituent college. These four colleges are each characterized by unique historical backgrounds. New Asia was founded by the late Dr. Ch'ien Mu and a small group of Chinese scholars. Their aim was to preserve traditional Chinese culture and balance it w i th Western learning. Chung Chi was founded by Protestant churches in Hong Kong to provide quality higher learning that would be both Chinese and Christian. United was founded with the amalgamation of five private post- secondary colleges which decided to pool resources for the benefit of local tertiary education. Shaw was the first university college founded with private donations i n the higher education history of Hong Kong that has an educational goa l characterized 2 Chinese University Bulletin Autumn • Winter 2005