Bulletin Autumn 1978

and Vice-Chancellor-Designate, spoke at the closing of the Seminar. In his closing remarks, Professor Ma summarized what has been discerned at the Seminar in three directions: back on past developments, ahead to goals and targets for the future, and around among themselves for possibilities of interchange and cooperation. He concurred with Professor Colbourne in that past developments exemplify a combination of" growth and change", and “ in the process of growth and change," he said, “our delegates have also identified several problems. Some of these are common to all, for example, the difficulty encountered in recruiting, training and retaining medical teachers, especially in the pre-clinical or basic medical sciences. Others are of regional concern. These include the over-production of medical graduates in one country and under- production in another.” Looking ahead into the future, Professor Ma pointed out that they will seek to solve or at least contain the problems encountered in the past. "We anticipate expanded efforts in medical research. We look forward to substantialimprovements in the not too distant future. ...we can foreseefurther education, perhaps at a postgraduate level, which is in tune with local needs." He also expressed the hope that the cooperative spirit signified by their presence at the Seminar will prevail among themselves, that the shortage of medical graduates and teachers may be alleviated by the pooling of manpower resources and the exchange of appropriate personnel among the institutions in the region. Opening Address by Dr. Choh-Ming Li The Chinese University of Hong Kong is rela- tively young: only fifteen years of age. It is impossible to talk about development of the University in the past quarter of a century, let alone Medical Educa- tion in this institution, which is still in an embryonic stage. We have, nevertheless, invited you to this Semi- nar, in order to attempt what the Chinese call "casting a brick in order to draw a jewel", meaning to make an inexpensive offer and hope for a rewarding return. For we are sure to learn a lot from your experience and expertise when you discourse on recent developments i shall use this valuable exchange to help planning our new Medical School. What I propose to do is to start the ball rolling by giving you an account of our development plan for this new school: how it came about, how far we have progressed, and what sort of medical education we intend to offer. 13