Hong Kong Shue Yan College
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Hong Kong Shue Yan College (Traditional Chinese: 香港樹仁學院), commonly known as Shue Yan College (樹仁學院) or Shue Yan (樹仁) in short, is a private tertiary institute in Hong Kong. Its current campus is sited on the Braemar Hill. It was founded by Henry H. L. Hu (胡鴻烈) and Chung Chi Yung (鍾期榮) in 1971. The college maintains its 4-year degree programmes in Hong Kong comparing to 3-year in other univerisities in Hong Kong. The institute is going to change its status to a university and will be the first private university in Hong Kong.
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[edit] Aims of the College
The following extracts from the speeches by the late Hon. Wilfred Wong and the late Rt. Rev. Gilbert Baker respectively may serve to reflect in broad outline the aims of the College :-
Wilfred S. B. Wong: "The aim of the establishment of Shue Yan College is not for profit but it is hoped to provide the ideal education, i.e. the cultivation of virtue. Virtue applies when the ideal person meets other persons. Therefore, to establish virtue one has to start from the person. One wants to help every student to build character and develop a harmonious way of living with others. In Chinese, the words kindness and man can be co-used. Furthermore, the aim of education is not only the molding of man of healthy mind and body, but also the creation of Confucian superior men and philosophers who are needed to lead society in establishing a rational social order based on humanism."
Bishop Baker: "There are moral issues here and I believe that it is only when the different disciplines of science, the arts, ethics and religion meet together, - as I hope they will in this college, - that students can have an understanding of life in its wholeness. It is only on the basis of this wholeness of outlook that they can make the moral decisions which are needful for our times."
In February 1972, at the invitation of the Northeast Louisiana State University, Tulane and other universities, Dr. Henry H. L. Hu, President of the College, toured America and lectured at sixteen universities including Harvard. His trip evoked favourable comments and paved the way for academic cooperation between the College and several universities in the U.S.A.
[edit] The Mission and Direction
The historical mission of the College is to preserve and propagate the traditional Chinese culture and in particular the educational ideals of Confucianism which is to develop humanitarian consciousness and promote benevolence. According to the Great Learning ( 大學 ), the first of the Four Books in the Chinese Classics, the way of learning to be great consists of manifesting the lustrous virtue, renovating the people and resting on the highest perfection ( 在明明德, 在親民, 在止於至善 ). This is implied in the very name of the College, Shue Yan ( 樹仁 ), which means nurturing benevolence and cultivating virtue. Emphasis is placed on the cultivation of one's character in pursuit of an ideal as embodied in the famous Chinese old saying: When one is well cultivated, one will be able to put one's house in order and, with harmony in one's house, one may go on to render one's service to one's country and make one's contribution to the world. In other words, when one's knowledge is extended, one's intention will become sincere and one's mind rectified, thus one's personal life will be cultivated. When one's personal life is cultivated, one's family will be regulated and then one's state will be well governed; and when all the states are well governed, there will be peace and tranquillity throughout the world ( 修身, 齊家, 治國, 平天下 ).
The curricula, syllabi, the teaching methods, the students' extracurricular activities of the College are therefore so designed as to help achieve the central mission mentioned above. Moreover, according to classical Chinese philosophy, the man of Yan is the perfect man. He is the man of the golden rule, for wishing to establish his own character, he also establishes the character of others, and wishing to be prominent himself, he also helps others to be prominent ( 夫仁者, 己欲立而立人, 己欲達而達人). In these balanced and harmonious aspects of the self and society, Yan is expressed in the terms of consciousness and altruism. Therefore self-cultivation should be regarded as the root of all endeavours, that is the ultimate educational goal of this College - the spirit and the mission of Shue Yan.
[edit] History of Hong Kong Shue Yan College
Hong Kong Shue Yan College was founded in 1971. The idea of an independent liberal arts College was first conceived in the spring of that year when Dr. Henry H. L. Hu, an ex-Legislative Councilor, and Dr. Chung Chi Yung, a prominent educationist, concerned over the acute shortage of college places for local Form VI students aspiring after university education, made up their minds to establish an institution of higher learning for the benefit of the youths and in the interests of our society as a whole.
Their ideas were readily endorsed by the civic leaders of Hong Kong. In July 1971, a college board was formed with well-known figures in Hong Kong, the late Hon. Wilfred S. B. Wong, C.B.E., J.P. as Chairman and the late Mr. H. C. Ting, O.B.E. as Vice-Chairman. A college building on Sing Woo Road, Happy Valley was acquired, and Shue Yan (romanized from the Chinese characters 樹仁 , meaning the cultivation of virtue) was chosen as its name, and on 20th September, 1971 the College was formally inaugurated by the Hon. Wilfred S. B. Wong.
In July 1972, the Northeast Louisiana State University and the College jointly administered a summer course in Comparative Sociology in Hong Kong. Participants in the course were given credits by that university which were transferable to other American universities. More academic cooperative programmes including one leading to the Master of Business Administration degree have since been instituted and developed.
The successful progress of the College generated a need for further expansion and in April 1972, by resolution of the Board of Governors, a Building Sub-Committee was formed to work out plans for a more permanent College campus. Meanwhile, a 5-storey building at Wanchai Gap Road was acquired for the expansion of secondary education in response to the call of the Government.
Mr. N. H. Ho, J.P., the then Deputy Director of Education, officiated at the opening ceremony of our secondary school on 25th September, 1972.
On 20th February, 1974, His Excellency the Governor, Sir Murray MacLehose, visited the College. Sir Murray showed keen interest in and kind concern for the aims and establishment of the College as well as its future development.
On 20th December, 1974, Mr. Fisher-short, Assistant Director of Education for Further Studies, Mr. G. W. Parry, Assistant Director, and other senior education officers paid an official visit for a preliminary discussion about registration of the College under the Post Secondary College Ordinance 1964.
Throughout May and June 1975, a series of inspections and evaluations were conducted, and culminated in a visit by the Hon. Kenneth Topley, C.M.G., J.P., the then Director of Education, on 16th December 1975.
Finally a memorable day dawned in the history of the College. It was the 28th January, 1976 when an official announcement was made that the College has been approved to register under the Post Secondary College Ordinance 1964 and its diploma has since been recognized by the Government as a qualification for appointment to the civil service.
When the College was founded there were seven teaching Departments, namely :- (1) the Chinese Language and Literature, (2) English Language and Literature, (3) Journalism, (4) Accounting, (5) Business Administration, (6) Sociology and Social Work, and (7) Law and Business. Following the registration of the College referred to above, the new Departments of Law and Administration, Sociology and Counselling and Guidance, and Chinese Literature and History were added in 1976, while the Department of Social Work branched out of the Sociology Department and came into its own. In 1977, two more new departments: History and Economics were established.
As a result of its rapid expansion, the College soon outgrew its premises on Sing Woo Road and had to acquire in 1977 a seven-storey building on Monmouth Path, Wanchai to accommodate its growing student body and faculty, pending the completion of its permanent premises to be built on a site granted by the Government in Braemar Hill Road, North Point.
Then, in the White Paper on the Development of Senior Secondary and Tertiary Education published in October 1978, the Government proposed granting financial assistance to the three approved post-secondary colleges in Hong Kong, of which Shue Yan is one, on condition that the colleges restructure their courses in that their 4-year course of study would be changed to a 2-2-1 system, i.e.:
- a two-year course at the sixth form level, leading to the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination (the entrance examination of Hong Kong University),
- thereafter a two-year Post-Form-Six course and
- a further year of intensive study for students to gain professional or vocational qualifications.
Following the publication of that white paper, the students and staff of the College held a series of discussions and over 94 percent of them were found opposed to restructuring the four-year programme of studies which the College had been running with success and which helped to fulfill the aspirations of young people for university education.
In January 1979, the College was admitted as a member to the Association of Southeast Asian Institutions of Higher Learning (ASAIHL). Besides, the College has been offering a Master's Degree Programme in Business Administration in cooperation with Northeast Louisiana State University since the summer of 1979. The programme has proved very popular with the commercial and industrial circles of Hong Kong. It benefits both Shue Yan graduates and graduates from other institutions. It shows what international academic cooperation can achieve and points to its great potential.
In November 1980, Shue Yan offered an in-service training course for social workers of various voluntary agencies in order to help them to become qualified outreaching social workers. The course was sponsored by the Hong Kong Social Welfare Department. Thirty-five social workers completed the course and were awarded the qualifying certificates. It marked a page of Shue Yan's cooperation with the Hong Kong Government.
Since May 1981, the College has been offering another Master's Degree course, in Social Work in cooperation with the University of Alabama, U.S.A. to the graduates of our Social Work Department. It was welcomed by social workers not only from our College, but also from other institutions of higher learning as well. The programme accredited by the Council on Social Work Education in U.S.A. has been recognized by the Hong Kong Government and accepted as a qualification for appointment to Assistant Social Work Officer in the Social Welfare Department.
The construction of our campus at Braemar Hill Road was carried out progressively. The foundation stone was laid by His Excellency the late Governor of Hong Kong Sir Edward Youde, G.C.M.G., M.B.E., on the 8th April, 1983 and the topping-off was performed by the Hon. Sir Philip Haddon-Cave, the then Chief Secretary on the 15th August, 1984. The whole building was completed in 1985. Its formal opening was held on the 24th January, 1986 by His Excellency Sir Edward Youde.
Since September 1985, when the College moved to its present campus, progress has been made in all fields, particularly in the field of academic cooperation. The College established a cooperative programme in Bachelor of Law with the Polytechnic of Wales since 1987 (now upgraded to the University of Glamorgan). The programme has been approved by the Council of Legal Education and Law Society of Britain and in the following year, another cooperative programme in Bachelor of Accounting and Finance with the University of Glamorgan was launched. This cooperation has proved to be a success. In September 1991, the College President Dr. Henry H. L. Hu was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the University of Glamorgan. The University of Glamorgan has since 1997 been offering 2 bursaries each year providing free accommodation in Glamorgan Court for 2 years worth £3,700 each. Since 1988, a Honours degree programme offered by the University of Leceister in Economics has been put into practice in the College. In the 1991 graduation, 16 transfer students to Leceister obtained 3 First Class Honours (out of 6) and 9 Second Class Honours First Division (out of 12). To show its appreciation, the University of Leicester has established a 2-year scholarship of £2,000 per annum awarded annually to the best transferee from Shue Yan.
In 1987 a joint programme with Peking University offering Professional Diploma in Law/Bachelor of Law was launched. This programme was approved by the State Education Commission of the PRC and is identical to the internal programme at the University in content. In summer 1991, the first group of graduates were awarded the degree at Peking University.
Thereafter, the College has signed an agreement of cooperative programme for the Bachelor Degree in Commerce with the University of Wollongong (Australia) in 1989. Another cooperative programme in Bachelor of Arts (English as Second Language) with the University of Stirling, Scotland was launched in September 1990. On the other hand, since November 1989 our Diploma in Law & Business as well as in Law & Administration has been recognized by the Law Society in England as being equivalent to a UK degree and the graduates are permitted to sit for the CPE of the Law Society. The College has also acquired the recognition of various professional bodies, e.g. ACCA has granted exemption of 7 subjects and AIA has granted 12 exemptions respectively to graduates for their professional examinations; ICSA and CIMA also exempted Part I and Part II of their professional examinations in May 1992.
In May 1991, the College established 4 part-time master's degree programmes with Peking University, namely:- Chinese Classic Literature, World Economy, International Law, and Civil Law. The first group of 24 graduates were awarded the master's degree in August 1994. Meanwhile a master's degree of Journalism programme is jointly offered by the College and Renmin University of China since 1993. A Chinese Lawyers' Training Programme was jointly offered in 1994 in Shue Yan College with the Ministry of Justice of China and Renmin University of China. It opens a new page of higher education in Hong Kong and is profoundly welcomed by legal professionals. A new master's degree in Sociology was offered jointly with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 1994. All these programmes were approved by the State Education Commission of PRC.
The need for continuous self improvement has spurred the founders to have spent huge amount of resources and time to construct a 19-storey Library Complex which was completed in 1995. The Opening Ceremony for the Library Complex was officiated by the Governor of Hong Kong the Rt. Hon. Christopher Patten on 15 November 1995. There were 37 delegates from the State Education Commission of PRC and Chinese universities attending the Opening Ceremony.
The new Library Complex comprises 5 levels of library, 6 levels of guest apartments for visiting scholars, 2 levels of research centre, an International Conference Hall, seminar rooms, all equipped with modern facilities, and a podium garden. The complex brings the College into a new era of academic excellence and marks a new page in the history of the College. The Chairman of the State Education Commission of PRC, Mr. ZHU Kai Xuan and 19 Chinese university presses donated 4,000 volumes of books to the College on this occasion to express their encouragement and support.
The Chairman of the State Language Commission of China, Professor XU Jia Lu visited the College on 19 April 1996. He facilitated the establishment of a Centre for Training and Testing Putonghua Teachers and Speakers (普通話測試中心) at Shue Yan College. A one-month seminar titled The Studies of Contemporary China was organized with the assistance of Tsinghua University. Seven experienced professors from Tsinghua University, Peking University and Renmin University of China lectured on the social, economic and political aspects of contemporary China since her economic reforms.
Shue Yan College celebrated its silver jubilee on 15th November 1996 with a series of activities including the establishment of the Contemporary China Research Centre. Mr. ZHANG Jun-Sheng, Deputy Director of the Hong Kong branch of Xinhua News Agency, officiated at its opening.
On 11-12 December 1996, the Contemporary China Research Centre of Shue Yan College with Tsinghua University and City University of Hong Kong jointly organized an international conference on "Coordinated Development Among Regions in China's Economic Reform and Social Development". More than 50 papers were presented and discussed.
The University of Stirling has offered locally a master's degree in Teaching English as a Foreign Language and the programme commenced in April 1997. It helps our graduates further their studies locally and enhance their teaching credentials. In 1998, the University launched another joint programme, B.A./B.Sc. in Money, Banking & Finance with Shue Yan College.
The Contemporary China Research Centre held an international academic conference titled China: Economic Liberalization and Transformations in Social Structures on 18-20 May 1998 in collaboration with the Institute of Sociology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The venue was at the International Conference Hall of the Library Complex of Shue Yan College. There were over fifty scholars, experts and professors from 27 cities and provinces of PRC, as well as those from the United Kingdom, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan participating in the conference. The papers presented by the participants were published in October 1998. On 8-10 July 1999, the Contemporary China Research Centre cooperated again with the Institute of Sociology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in organizing a second international conference titled "China's Economic Reform and Adjustment of Social Structures". Papers presented by the scholars, professors and experts from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong were published in a book released in December 1999.
Again on 2-3 March 2000 the Contemporary China Research Centre organized an academic conference on WTO needs China, China needs WTO, but this time in cooperation with the 21st Century Institute, the Research Institute of Economics and the Enterprises Cooperation Committee of the Tsinghua University. More than 40 papers were submitted by local academics and experts and those from Mainland China. On 27-28 June in the same year, another academic symposium titled "Reviewing the Achievements in Three Years' Implementation of Hong Kong Basic Law and Looking to its Future Prospect" was held jointly by the Contemporary China Research Centre, the Law School of Peking University and the Research Centre for Law in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan of Peking University. About 35 scholars and professionals from Mainland China and Hong Kong participated in the symposium and some twenty-five papers were presented.
The College's long track record of educating young people to make a contribution to society is well respected locally. In July 2000, the Hong Kong SAR Government awarded the Gold Bauhinia Star to the Principal and Vice-President, Dr. CHUNG Chi Yung in recognition of her contribution to higher education in Hong Kong.
The College celebrated its 30th anniversary on 7-9 December 2001 with a series of activities including the Foundation Stone-Laying Ceremony for our new Residential and Amenities Complex and the International Academic Conference on "Economic Globalization & Cross-region Cultural Communication" jointly organized by the Research Centre of Social Development of Renmin University of China, the School of Humanities of Zhejiang University and the Contemporary China Research Centre of our College, and the Grand 30th Anniversary Banquet. The Chief Executive of the HKSAR, the Hon. Tung Chee Hwa presided over both the Foundation Stone-Laying Ceremony and the Opening Ceremony of the International Conference and paid a visit to the College. The Hon. Leung Chun-Yin, G.B.S., J.P., Convenor of Executive Council officiated at the Banquet, which was attended by more than 1,000 distinguished guests, alumni, teaching staff and student representatives.
An international academic conference titled " CEPA and Economics Relationship between Hong Kong and China" was co-organized by our Enterprise and Social Development Research Center and the International Economics Research Center of Peking University on 14-15 July, 2004. Twenty papers were presented by academics from Peking University and the College.
The construction of our new Residential and Amenities Complex was completed in December 2004 The first residents moved in on 1st March 2005.
[edit] Towards Private University Status
The College began its quest for academic accreditation as a degree granting institution in 1995, when it requested the Hong Kong Council for Academic Accreditation to conduct an Institutional Review and to advise on its proposed developments. The review panel visited the College in 1996 and found that the College had made significant achievements and progress through its offer of Diploma programmes and that it had built up areas of strength in a number of programmes which could act as a base from which it could plan to become a degree-awarding institution. The advice given by the HKCAA in its report has been extremely useful in guiding our planning and development. The Education Commission's Report published in May 2000 entitled "Excel and Grow" has given new impetus to our quest to upgrade the status of our programmes. The HKSAR government through the Education and Manpower Bureau has given support to our bid for programme validation by the HKCAA as part of its plan to encourage the introduction of private universities to the HKSAR. The College was determined to demonstrate that the government's confidence in our ability to offer degree programmes and our potential to become a private university is well-placed. We have conducted a review of our strengths and weaknesses and have determined that we should move ahead with caution and build upon our existing strengths by offering four programmes of study for validation in the first instance. The proposed degree programmes were: Accounting, Journalism and Mass Communication, Social Work, and Chinese Language and Literature.
The HKCAA Panels responsible for validation of our institutional issues relating to degree programmes and for the validation of the above four programmes visited our College from November 2000 to May 2001. Having examined our submissions in detail together with in-depth discussions with different levels of our teaching and administrative staff, our students and alumni, all the panel members were extremely impressed by the dedication and enthusiasm of our staff at all levels and also by the students whom they had met and particularly the deep commitment of all to the unique ideals and ethos of our College. On 22nd November 2000 the Chairman of the Institutional Panel indicated that the Institutional Panel had no objection to the College becoming a degree awarding institution.
Since August 2001 when the College first received official authorization from the HKSAR Government and the HKCAA to offer degree programmes, we have launched the following ten HKCAA accredited honours degree programmes fully recognised by the HKSAR Government:
Programme Title First Offered in
- Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) in Accounting September 2001
- Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Journalism and Mass Communication September 2001
- Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Chinese Language and Literature September 2001
- Bachelor of Social Work (Hons) September 2002
- Bachelor of Business Administration (Hons) September 2003
- Bachelor of Social Sciences (Hons) in Counselling & Psychology September 2004
- Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Economics September 2004
- Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in English September 2005
- Bachelor of Social Sciences (Hons) in Sociology September 2005
- Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in History September 2005
The launch of our honours degree programmes will open up further opportunities for the teaching staff to participate in more inter-institutional academic activities in Hong Kong, mainland China and overseas and will inspire increased confidence among prospective students, among prospective academic staff seeking worthwhile career op-portunities and in society at large, so that we can draw upon wide community support to achieve our goal of gaining recognition for Shue Yan College to become Hong Kong's first private university.
[edit] Student Union
The Student Union of Hong Kong Shue Yan College was first established in 1983.
It is the biggest student organization in the college. Another large student organisation is the Christian Fellowship, an active body meeting weekly in class cell groups as well as centrally. The new committee (elected in April 2006) has set their aims this year as reaching out of the fellowship into the campus and society.
It is independent from Office of Student Affairs(OSA) of the college. And have registered according to Ordience of Organization in Hong Kong.
[edit] Structure
The highest authority of the Union is the General Meeting and General Polling. The quorum for either the General Meeting or General Polling is currently 10% of the full members.
The second highest authority of the Union is the Union Council.
Administrative committees include: executive committees and editorial board.
