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Following is a speech by the Secretary for Education and Manpower, Mr Joseph W P Wong, at "ASAIHL" Seminar, at Lingnan College on Liberal Arts Education and Socio-Economic Developments in the Next Century today (Saturday):
Professor Chen, the Honourable Bernard Chan, Professor Kwok, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
I am pleased to participate in this Open Forum.
Liberal Arts Education
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As policy makers in education, we wish to see in our younger generation an all-round development covering ethics, intellect, physique, social skills and aesthetics. We also wish to see in them the ability to assimilate modern technology and ideas; creativity, critical thinking and a global outlook. We would like to instill in them strength of character, the desire for continuous improvement and the versatility to cope with the changing needs of our community. Our wishes have a lot in common with the underlying philosophy of "liberal arts education".
Liberal arts education is vividly embodied in Lingnan College's motto and mission: "Education for Service" and "whole person development". Building on the fine tradition of its predecessor in Canton about one hundred years ago, Lingnan College strives to equip its students with a sound intellectual foundation deeply rooted in the liberal arts tradition so that they have the ability to communicate effectively, the mind to think and judge independently, and the heart to care for and contribute to their families and their community. These are the important attributes that our next generation should possess in order to lead us into the next millenium. As the only liberal arts institution in Hong Kong, Lingnan College aspires to embrace the best of both Eastern and Western culture, inculcates a closely-knitted collegial spirit and pursues excellence in teaching and learning. Indeed, we are proud to have Lingnan College as an integral part of our tertiary education sector, playing its distinctive and complementary role.
"Liberal arts" education is also, to varying degrees, being practised in the basic education sector in Hong Kong. Over the past few years, we have launched various measures to promote an all-round development of students at the school level. May I cite a few examples.
(a) Whole Day Primary School
First and foremost, we would like to provide an environment conducive to an all-round education for our children. At primary schools, our goal is whole-day schooling for all. While this may seem obvious to many other countries, one of Hong Kong's major constraint is limited land for a large and increasing population. Hence at present about 70 per cent of our primary school children study in bisessional classes. As a first step, we will raise the percentage of students in whole-day schools to 60 per cent by September 2002. To meet this target, 68 new primary schools will be built in the next four years. The total capital cost is $5.3 billion. We hope that students will have more time to learn, to play, to interact with their teachers and principals, to pursue their interests, and to develop their potentials to the full.
(b) Vibrant school system
We cannot have all-round education without good schools and educators. To inject new life in our schools, we are moving towards school-based management. We will devolve more authority to schools, provide them with more flexible funding arrangements and allow them more autonomy to manage their affairs. We want to transform our schools into dynamic units, and to give our educators the tools to motivate their colleagues and students, develop talents and potentials, and pool together collective wisdom and efforts within the schools to achieve optimum results. Alongside this new development, we will launch new measures to foster a more vibrant and diverse private school system that encourages innovation and gives parents greater choice. For example, we are inviting applicants for building and operating two private schools which will receive a land grant at nominal premium and a substantial one-off capital grant from Government. Through diversity, we can stimulate good practices and enhance quality.
(c) Quality Education Fund
Another major initiative is the launching of a $5 billion Quality Education Fund (QEF) two years ago. The QEF seeks to encourage innovation, competition and self-motivated reforms in the primary and secondary schools. Its main objective is to improve teaching standards or promote the all-round development of students. Last year, the QEF has funded about 570 projects amounting to $370 million last year. Another $190 million will be allocated to 590 projects this year. A large number of projects aim to promote all-round education and creativity through new teaching methods and extra-curricula activities.
(d) Review of the Examination System
Hong Kong's education system has been viewed as too examination-oriented. Too much emphasis is put on rote learning and academic performance. We are therefore reviewing our examination system to take account of students' performance at schools so that their achievements will not be determined by a single examination. Our universities have also started to admit some students on the basis of their excellence in extra-curricula areas, such as art, sports and community service. A cultural change is taking place.
Tertiary Education
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Underlying the above initiatives is our belief that all round education should start at the basic education level. But it should not end there -- it should be reinforced at the tertiary level.
Universities are where we advance the frontier of human knowledge, and nurture men and women of integrity. As Winston Churchill said, "the first duty of a university is to teach wisdom, not a trade; character, not technicalities." It would be extremely sad if our universities are only factories producing professionals conversant with text-book knowledge but do not think critically and independently. Universities must equip our youngsters with not only the breadth and depth of knowledge to meet the challenges in the real world, but also the heart and integrity to serve the wider interest of the society. Universities also act as a generator, developer and provider of knowledge that propels our economy.
Student Hostels
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At the tertiary level, we have introduced new policies which sought to foster whole person development of our tertiary students. First, our student hostel policy. Under the new policy, undergraduates will all be given the opportunity to enjoy hostel life for at least one year. In addition, research postgraduates, non-local students and those undergraduates who have to travel long hours to and from campus will be granted hostel places. The new policy means that an additional 11 000 student hostel places will be built, costing the Government almost $1.8 billion.
Perhaps I do not need to elaborate the cultural, intellectual and social benefits of student hostel life in a Public Seminar organised by a College, the mission of which is to develop itself into a fully-residential liberal arts institution. The Lingnan College strongly advocates hostel life and has on-campus residential places for most of its students. We share the College's views that hostel life will enrich the development of their students as a whole person, sharpen their communication skills, inter-personal skills and leadership skills, and better prepare them for going out into the community.
Non-local Students
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Liberal arts education also encourages the cultivation of a global outlook and appreciation of different culture. To this end, we have doubled the number of non-local students at undergraduate and taught postgraduate level and increased substantially the ratio of non-local research postgraduates. Starting from the coming academic years, about 150 outstanding Mainland students from distinguished Mainland universities will join the undergraduate programmes of our local institutions. Non-local students will increase the international outlook of our institutions and their students. They will also inject a healthy element of competition which is, in turn, conducive to improvement in quality. Local students may enhance their language and inter-personal skills. Accepting more non-local students will also provide wider and longer term benefits to students, institutions and Hong Kong in general through fostering international links.
Socio-economic Changes and New Challenges
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The ultimate objective of education must be to prepare our students for meeting the challenges of the world around us. Indeed, the world around us has changed tremendously over the past two years. Politically, Hong Kong has opened a new chapter in its history. We have successfully and smoothly implemented "One Country, Two Systems" with a high degree of autonomy. Economically, it has been a trying period for Hong Kong and the region. The Asian financial turmoil that has swept through the region has been extended to other parts of the world. As a free and open economy, Hong Kong is not immune from these profound shocks. Our currency came under speculative pressure, asset prices plummeted and unemployment soared. Our GDP dropped by 5.1 per cent in real terms though is likely to pick up slightly in 1999. Many companies have downsized or closed down. Many people have suffered from a pay freeze, a pay cut or even unemployment. In the social front, we have to prepare ourselves for our aging population, rising demand for housing and education, in terms of quantity and quality.
In the international arena, we are facing an increasingly globalised, competitive market. In this information age, we cannot afford not to develop ourselves into a knowledge-based, innovation-driven society. We have entered a non-stop era. If we stop our engines for a second or two, we will be left behind. If we fail to pick up, we will become obsolete. What do all these mean to policy makers and educators? We must reflect on our own weaknesses, strengthen our core competitiveness and pave the way for recovery and sustainable long-term growth.
Re-prioritize and Do More with Less
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First, we have to re-prioritise and do more with less. The past decade saw an unprecedented expansion of the tertiary education sector in Hong Kong. Ten years ago, we had only two universities. Now we have seven. Lingnan College will become the eighth one after we have completed all the legislative process. The percentage of relevant age group having access to first-year first-degree places increased from 6 per cent to 18 per cent. Tertiary education budget increased by about 190 per cent in real terms. At present, tertiary education accounts for about one-third of the government's education budget.
Despite the economic downturn, education remains the Government's top priority. However, it is already the single largest expenditure item and accounts for one-fifth of the total budget. There has also be concern that tertiary education accounts for a disproportionate share of the education spending and the community is not getting value for money. Some people have viewed with some uneasiness that the unit cost of our university student is about seven times that of our secondary school student and ten times that of our primary school student. In view of the budgetary constraints facing the public sector and the need to enhance the quality of basic education, we would expect the tertiary education sector to come up with innovative ways to do more with less resources and higher quality.
Meet Rising and Changing Expectations
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In this highly globalised, competitive and result-oriented world, our students must be bilterate, trilingual, IT-literate, efficient, versatile and capable of working as a team. Our employers expect their new recruits to be possess all these "employable" skills without further training. Universities must therefore adjust to the changing market demand lest their students will become unemployable upon graduation. Universities should consider broadening and updating the curriculum, emphasising the development of whole person rather than mere transmission of knowledge, and inculcating a spirit for continuous self-improvement. As a means to enhance the standards of language and IT, institutions should seriously consider introducing a common or individual exit language and IT test for their students and record the scores in their transcript for employers' reference.
Benchmarking
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We do not know where we stand unless we look at our peers. This underlines the importance of benchmarking. The University Grants Committee has introduced various quality assurance mechanisms namely, the Teaching and Learning Quality Process Reviews, the Management Reviews and Research Assessment Exercises. These reviews enable the institutions to look at various aspects of the institutional activities i.e. teaching and learning, internal management, and research. These processes have not so far introduced performance indicators which enable the local institutions to benchmark against their peers in the local, regional and international academia. If we are to be leaders, not followers, in the academic world, we have to introduce these benchmarks as soon as possible. They will guide us to stay competitive.
Synergy with the Business/Industry/Community
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We see a strong and urgent need for the universities to develop synergy with the business and industry. Universities can serve as the incubators of new industries, the research and development base for our developing industries, and the training and retraining ground for the community. In turn, our universities need the inputs from the business to keep their curriculum up-to-date.
Conclusion
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People around the world are gearing up themselves to enter the next millennium. To us, it is more than rectifying the millennium bug. It represents a new era - uncharted water and a territory unimaginable to all of our predecessors and us. And education is the key to our future.
Last but not least, may I congratulate all those who have contributed to the organization of this Seminar. I wish all of you present today a very fruitful exchange. Thank you.
End/Saturday, May 29, 1999
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