More funds urged for research, development

More funds urged for research, development

Liz Heron

Hong Kong needs to dramatically increase public spending on research and development to keep up with its competitors in the race to become a knowledge economy, a World Bank expert says.

An efficient national innovation system - based on university research - was one of four strategic components in the development of knowledge economies identified by a World Bank report, tertiary education co-ordinator Jamil Salmi said.

On Hong Kong's total spending on research and development, which amounts to 0.79 per cent of gross domestic product, Dr Salmi said: 'That's very low. With research, you need to have at least 2 per cent. There is a danger Hong Kong will fall behind its Asian 'tiger' competitors, if it does not increase the public funding on higher education. You also have the advantage of being part of China.'

He said Singapore - ranked top in the world by the Boston Consulting Group, a global management consulting firm, in a new world ranking of countries that encourage innovation - was a 'good benchmark' for Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, the mainland was 'moving very fast', Vietnam was 'coming up' and both Malaysia and Taiwan were doing well. 'The whole region is very dynamic, so I think it's more important for you than even countries in Europe,' Dr Salmi said.

He said it was particularly important for the government to maintain or increase overall funding for higher education in light of the global financial crisis.

'In many countries, social ministries tend to be weaker than infrastructure or economic ministries, so it's easy to slash budgets for education,' he said. 'But having significant public funding is the best way to attract private funding.

'Some donors are saying: 'Since you are in dire times, let's give you more money.' There are some instances involving philanthropists in the US. [The University of California at] Berkeley has received a US$120 million gift.'

But managers of university endowments - and the government's new HK$18 billion research endowment fund - needed to be very careful in how they invested, he said.

'I would not launch myself blindly without learning the lessons,' he said. 'One of the good lessons is that banks created very sophisticated financial arrangements that proved to be disastrous.

'And for universities, I would just say stay the course and make sure that the quality of your programmes is good enough. The trend for expensive programmes and privately funded programmes is likely to decrease.'

十院校獲十億配對補助金

十院校獲十億配對補助金
http://hk.news.yahoo.com/article/090317/3/b7k2.html
(星島)3月17日 星期二 16:51
大學教育資助委員會公布，撥出10億元配對補助金予8間教資會資助院校、香港樹仁大學 及香港公開大學 。10間院校在第4輪配對補助金計劃中，共籌得超過21億元捐款。

香港中文大學 和香港大學 均獲得2億5,000萬元配對補助金，是獲得補助金額最高的院校；樹仁大學最少，配對補助金額1,700萬元。

教資會主席史美倫表示，過去4輪配對補助金計劃，院校所籌得的私人捐款約達69億元，並獲得約39億元的配對補助金款額，成績理想。

港生世數成績跌 全球仍佔優

港生世數成績跌 全球仍佔優
(星島)3月12日 星期四 06:30
(綜合報道)
http://hk.news.yahoo.com/article/090311/3/b4aj.html
(星島日報 報道)科技大學 昨公布「世界數學測試」結果，發現小學生在解難科，以及中學生在數學科獲優等的人數比例大跌，分別比前年同期的測試減少四分一。負責研究的學者估計，成績下跌與今年參加測試人數增加三成有關，又指香港學生的數學成績，仍比世界平均水平高出一倍。另外，研究又發現，小學男生擅於推理，而女生則在表達的項目佔優。

　　測試於○一年由英國 政府與教育及技能部創辦，至今已有二十五個國家或城市的學童參加，按年齡分設八至十一歲（小學組）和十二至十四歲（中學組）兩個組別，各組均設有數學科和解難分析科兩部分供學生選擇；在去年十一月由科大舉辦的測試，吸引逾一千七百多名本港學生，以及五百名內地、澳門 等地學生參加。

　　負責分析的科大數學系副教授蔣翼邁表示，今次部分科目學生獲優等的比例，比○七年同期的測試下跌，其中以小五、小六學生為主的小學組，前年有近四成人在解難科獲優等，但去年的測試獲優人數卻下跌二十四個百分點，只佔整體考生一成三。

　　另外，中學組數學科獲優的學生，亦下跌二十六個百分點，佔該科考生人數三成二。

　　他解釋，「獲優等的學生比例下跌，相信與今年參加測試的人數，比去年增加三成有關，但香港學生的整體成績，仍比世界水平高出一倍。」

　　鄭翼邁又指，由於參加兩次測試的學生和試卷不同，因此實際上難以作比較，除非未來數年香港學生成績持續下跌，才能證明本港學生數學水平下跌。

　　研究又發現，小學男生邏輯思維較佳，而女生則擅於表達和組織。鄭翼邁舉例指，解難科其中一條題目要求考生利用文字描述事物，發現男生普遍愛用點列式，而且雜亂無章；相反女生多使用文字式，按次序逐一描述，必要時利用數學公式輔助，所以女生在「轉化與表達」的成績較佳，而男生則在「選擇及推理」部分明顯比女生優勝。