Bulletin Number Two 1984

I f such a programme is to be designed ， w hat courses should be included? O. W. La u : It is desirable to offer environmental courses at the undergraduate level because they w ill expose our students to the environmental problems. However, before any decision to introduce specialized pro grammes on environmental studies at the postgraduate level is to be made, we should make sure that there is really a local need for specialized personnel in the field. Otherwise there w ill be no guarantee for employ ment for students after their training. A t present, there are a number o f overseas trained environmental scientists working in Hong Kong, but demand for them cannot be said to be too big. The main reason for this is that most o f the factories have paid little attention to the pollution problems, thinking that recruiting specialists to manage the pollution problems is a luxury rather than necessity. K.C. Lam : Environmental Protection Agency and the pollution control units in various government departments do employ a number o f environmental protection personnel eachyear. Whilst graduates o f the Hong Kong Polytechnic can fill the technical grades, the Government has to look overseas for suitable graduates to fill more senior positions. The Chinese University should consider the possibility o f offering a specialized programme on environmental studies to meet the local need. There should also be an environmental research unit w ithin the University to encourage interdisciplinary research into local environ mental problems. Environmental issues are very complex issues which require the analysts to possess abroad spectrum o f knowledge and skills. For this reason, the better known environmental schools in the world, such as those at the University o f Toronto (Canada), University o f East Anglia (England) and the G riffith University (Australia) are all interdisciplinary schools. Their programmes are usually designed to avoid super ficia lity whilst at the same time to establish a broad base. I would like a similar approach to be adopted in any environmental programme to be introduced at The Chinese University. The programme would best be introduced at the postgraduate level leading to a diploma or master's degree. However, the environ­ mental courses currently offered by the undergraduate departments (e.g. Biology, Geography) should also be strengthened and possibly restructured. S. Donnan & T.C. Tan: Occupational Hygienists and also Occupational Physicians are in short supply in Hong Kong at present. The training o f more o f these people, together w ith other environmental scientists, w ill be o f great value to Hong Kong. It is not clear to us whether such training could appropriately be undertaken in Hong Kong at present, but there seem to be enough qualified and experienced personnel if Government, universities and polytechnics work together. A more major pro­ blem would seem to be whether, as things stand in Hong Kong, such trained personnel could find appro priate employment. Our major concern for the content o f such training would be for the emphasis o f epidemiological methods — appropriate scientific techniques for investigating large numbers o f people over potentially long periods o f time, involving complex measurements. S. Tong: The history o f education in environmental science is very short in Hong Kong. It was only in the late 70s that the Hong Kong Polytechnic had set up the Centre o f Environmental Studies, Its scale is rather small and there are only a few teaching staff. Its main aim is to train technicians for various govern ment departments. As for the two local universities and other post-secondary institutions, no systematic programme in environmental science has ever been offered. A t present, most o f the staff, especially senior officers, o f the Environmental Protection Agency are trained overseas. In view o f the fact that Hong Kong students are fu ll o f potentials, there seems no reason for not offering our own environmental science programmes specifically tailored to the local needs in our universities to train specialists. This, above all, would be a more economical long-term educational measure. To offer a specialized programme in environ mental studies, the following courses may be included in the curriculum: Environmental technology; En vironmental planning; Applied ecology; Urban