HKU SPACE AND ITS ALUMNI: THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS

Professional and continuing adult education opportunities have grown enormously in Hong Kong over the last twenty years and the University of Hong Kong has become one of the leaders in the field. While much scholarly work has been devoted to this phenomenon in its recent manifestations, surprisingly little has been written about the history of adult higher education in Hong Kong. This book examines in detail the efforts of the University of Hong Kong to provide adult education opportunities at university level, the establishment of its Department of Extra-Mural Studies in 1956 and the School of Professional and Continuing Education (HKU SPACE) in 1992. It also looks back further into the University's history for earlier examples of adult education policy. This story is not simply the history of the University and adult education. The University of Hong Kong has for many years been a leader in the field, so this book has much to say about Hong Kong's higher adult education system in general. While it is a celebratory publication to mark fifty years of adult education by the University, it nevertheless aims at providing some critical evaluation of adult higher education policy and provision in Hong Kong since the 1950s. This book will therefore be of great interest to scholars of adult education, but it is also written in a highly accessible style which will make it attractive to anyone who has taken a course of studies at HKU SPACE.

Lawrence M. W. Chiu is a graduate in history from the University of Hong Kong. His previous work has focused mainly on the history of Hong Kong and China during the Second World War.

Peter Cunich has taught history at the University of Hong Kong for the last fifteen years. He is director of the University's Centenary History Project.