Speech by Dr Alice Lam, Chairman, UGC
19 November 1999

Chairman of Conference Organizing Committee], speakers, ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to be here today at the opening ceremony of the Hong Kong Postgraduate Conference 1999 and to say a few words on the development of postgraduate education in Hong Kong. I must, first of all, however, congratulate the organizers of the event, the Hong Kong Joint Postgraduate Association, as well as the individual local postgraduate associations, for arranging this conference again.

This year's conference is the third postgraduate conference organized so far. The first conference was, I understand, held in 1997 and its success led to the formation of the Hong Kong Joint Postgraduate Association. The Joint Association is the first association of its kind in Hong Kong. It serves a very important role, acting as a bridge between the individual local postgraduate associations in the institutions. I would like to applaud the Joint Association and the individual local associations for their efforts in promoting activities for postgraduate students thereby contributing to the quality of postgraduate education in Hong Kong.

I consider that the theme of today's conference "New Horizons in Postgraduate Education" is both important for its own sake and timely as we approach the new millenium, when one of the challenges facing Hong Kong is the need to create an environment in which innovation and technology can flourish.

In the Second and Final Report of the Chief Executive's Commission on Innovation and Technology published earlier this year, the Commission made an assertion with which the UGC would most whole-heartedly concur, namely that "human capital is the most important factor supporting Hong Kong's development into a knowledge driven and technology-intensive economy". The Commission also pointed out that there is a shortage of quality research scientists and engineers in industry, and of skills in the management and transfer of technology. The Commission therefore proposed that more students should be attracted to take up courses in science and technology fields, so that the number of science and engineering students, including some of the best, would pursue graduate research studies with a view to a career in research and development.

I am happy to say that we now have a good base from which to start to respond to this challenge. In the period before 1989, the postgraduate sector in Hong Kong was very small in terms of both numbers of students and openings for graduates. Apart from a small number of teaching posts in the universities, the job opportunities for a postgraduate were very limited. There was very little interest shown by employers in the private sector in holders of research degrees and hence by graduates in pursuing postgraduate studies.

With the expansion of the business and industrial sectors in the late 1980s and early 1990s, this situation has changed. There has also been a corresponding expansion in the number and range of taught postgraduate programmes offered by the local institutions.

In response to rapid economic growth in the 1980s and the need for skill-levels in the workforce required in high tech and higher value added industry and commerce, the Government took a conscious decision in 1989 to increase the availability of local undergraduate and postgraduate degree level education. While this expansion was mainly focussed on widening the scope of opportunity for our young people to attend and benefit from undergraduate degree level programmes in Hong Kong, it also provided many more openings locally for students seeking higher degree and other postgraduate qualifications. Between 1990 and 1998, the number of postgraduate places (including those at both taught postgraduate and research postgraduate levels) increased by about 185% from 3,391 to 9,669. It is also worth noting that this dramatic growth occurred against a background of increased research and the development of a vibrant research culture within our institutions.

Following this rapid expansion in quantitative terms, the UGC and the institutions turned their attention to issues of quality assurance. The UGC undertook reviews of the institutions quality assurance processes in respect of undergraduate and taught postgraduate education in 1995-1997 (the so-called TLQPRs) and also embarked in 1996 on a review of research postgraduate education and supervision. For the latter review, which was no doubt of more direct consequence for participants in this Conference, the Committee established a Postgraduate Education Sub-Group, which has, in the course of the past few years, undertaken a series of visits to the universities and has made suggestions for improvement.

I hope those of you who have been on the receiving end, as it were, would agree that the postgraduate education programmes in Hong Kong have shown remarkable improvements in the years since Postgraduate Education Sub-Group started its work. The training programmes are now generally well organized and of a very high quality. The Government has also recently, in response to advice given by the Postgraduate Education Sub-Group through the UGC, approved the extension of the normative period of study for a PhD degree from three to four years, in recognition of the need to assure the quality of the graduates.

For the future, the UGC will be working with the institutions to examine whether the number of, in particular, research postgraduate student places should be increased in the coming years to meet the demand for manpower in this area as identified by the Commission on Innovation and Technology. We expect to be giving our advice to the Government in this regard some time next year.

Meanwhile, the UGC and the institutions will continue to do their utmost to provide the framework and environment for strong and healthy postgraduate education in Hong Kong. At the same time, we must also look to you, the students, to realize your full potential and make the most of the increased opportunities now available to you. I am delighted that postgraduate students in Hong Kong are aware of and concerned enough with the challenges ahead to organize this Conference to discuss the prospects for postgraduate education yourselves. Both the UGC and the RGC are very supportive of activities or initiatives which can help give the postgraduate students in Hong Kong an opportunity to reflect on their present position and role in the academic world. The present conference, like the previous two, has also received funding support from the RGC. The UGC will continue to work with institutions to support and facilitate efforts in the area. I hope that you will have many fruitful exchanges as the Conference gets underway.

Finally, I would like to congratulate once again all those who have contributed to making this Conference a reality, and to wish the Conference every success.

Thank you.
19 November 1999