三語社評齊齊聽
英語 (足本收聽)
普通話 (足本收聽)
廣東話 (足本收聽)
【明報專訊】LAST Friday after the Taskforce on Economic Challenges had met Chief Executive Donald Tsang said Hong Kong should consider developing six industries where it had competitive advantages. One of them is education. It is an industry well worth husbandry, for its development will help bring up our capable people and help develop our economy. However, while our education sector has advantages, it has also quite a few problems that must be rectified. One of them is about academic research.
英語
特首曾蔭權上周五在經濟機遇委員會會議後表示，要研究發展6項香港具優勢的產業，其中一項是「教育服務」。這是一個值得好好經營的產業，因為不但有利香港人才的培養，也有助香港經濟的發展；然而，香港的教育服務雖然擁有一些優勢，但存在不少問題，必須糾正，其中一個大問題就是有關大學的研究。
普通話
廣東話
In 2007-08, Hong Kong gave its universities nearly $500 million in research funding. In the past decade, research funds totalled over $4 billion. Has such money from the public purse been well spent? Does local academic research represent good value for money? According to a news story that appeared last week, the eight tertiary institutions in Hong Kong together have eighty-one research projects that have remained unfinished. They have thus wasted $37.6 million. It has been suggested that local academics seek so much to cater to international journals' tastes that much of their work has little to do with the SAR. Now it has been reported that many of their research projects have remained unfinished. The taxpayer is indeed very disappointed. The government ought to do two things at the same time. First, it should go to the root of the problem and see that funding should be so allocated that university research projects will better serve Hong Kong's interests. Second, it should stop loopholes in local universities' governance systems. Unless it does so, more public money will go down the drain, it will be hard to make an industry of education and, if Hong Kong tries to do so, its efforts will be much less fruitful than they would otherwise be.
英語
香港在2007/08年度投放接近5億元公帑給大學做研究，過去10年累計花費超 過40億元，但這些公帑是否用得其所？是否物有所值？上周的一則新聞披露，過去3年，八大院校共有81個研究項目「爛尾」收場，浪費3760萬元；香港的大學研究早已被指過分偏重國際期刊口味，令到大部分研究都與本土社會脫節，如今再加上研究「爛尾」大增，確實令納稅人失望。當局應該雙管齊下，一方面要正本清源，糾正大專院校的研究撥款方向，讓這些研究可以較好地為香港服務；另一方面，要堵塞大專院校內部管治制度的漏洞，否則更多的公帑將會付諸東流，教育產業化將會舉步維艱，勉強為之也會事倍功半。
普通話
廣東話
A problem more serious than unfinished research is the way research funding is allocated. Hong Kong academics have long been criticised for using public money to "sew others' trousseaux" - to do what only benefits others. Hong Kong academics have long had doubts about local universities' systems of teaching staff appraisal. In assessing an academic's research ability, a local university has regard mainly to whether his papers have been included or cited in international academic journals. However, because Americans and Britons hold sway at those publications, research about Hong Kong rarely finds favour in their eyes. Therefore, to suit international academic journal editors' tastes, Hong Kong academics cannot but do topics that may have little relevance to the SAR. On March 18 this year, Acting Secretary for Education Kenneth Chen said at a Legislative Council motion debate that the government had already set up an $18-billion research fund. According to him, a total not exceeding $2 billion a year will be siphoned to research on selected topics, and a steering committee to be set up will pick general topics that bear upon Hong Kong's long-term interests. This is a move in the right direction, but it is far from adequate.
英語
比研究爛尾更嚴重的問題是，大專院校的研究撥款方向，長期被指浪費公帑為他人作嫁衣裳。香港學術界普遍質疑，香港的大學教員評核，有關研究的部分，偏重教員的研究論文能否在國際學術期刊刊登或被引用，但這類國際學術期刊由英美世界主導，以香港為對象的研究難以被青睞，結果香港的學者被迫追逐一些與香港無關的題目，以迎合外國期刊評審的口味。
署理教育局長陳維安在三月十八日立法會動議辯論中亦表示，政府最近成立了180億元的研究基金，預計每年撥出最多2億元資助選定的主題研究，又將成立督導委員會，選定與香港的長遠利益攸關的廣泛主題。這是好的發展方向，但遠遠不足夠。
普通話
廣東話
Now Hong Kong is plagued by internal and external troubles, and it is hardly clear how it should develop economically and socially. Therefore, Hong Kong people need desperately clear research brains to show them how to get onto the right path. The government has paid attention only to research on the constitutional system. Its economic research has long remained weak. Non-government think tanks have just started operating. What Hong Kong people can now rely on is our universities' huge research capabilities. Therefore, local academic research should be aimed at serving Hong Kong's and its neighbours' interests. Our universities should accordingly reform their faculty appraisal systems so that pay increases and promotions will be sufficient incentives for local academics to carry out research projects that are relevant to Hong Kong.
英語
香港經濟與社會發展正處於內外交困時期，在這迷茫之時，極需要研究者清晰的頭腦為港人指點迷津，找尋出路。可惜的是，香港政府長年只關注政制研究，經濟研究力量長期積弱，民間智庫則只是起步階段，此時港人最可以依靠的，就是龐大的大學研究力量。因此，香港的大學研究，應以服務香港及鄰近地區為主，亦要建立與學者薪酬及升遷制度相配合的制度，形成足夠的誘因。
普通話
廣東話
If there is a research mechanism under which the government, businesses and tertiary institutions can join forces, local academic research can be focused on what Hong Kong needs. There may then be such leverage that academic research and social development would conduce to each other. Only than can academics come out of the ivory tower and cease playing the game of pandering to Western researchers' tastes and can universities be prevented from using research funding to boost their international rankings.
英語
如果一個「政、商、學」三方聯合的研究機制可以成功建立，大學研究就可與香港社會的具體需要對焦，形成槓桿效應，與社會發展建立良性循環，學者才能真正走出象牙塔，大學研究才不至於淪為追逐西方研究口味的學術遊戲，研究經費才不至於淪為大學爭逐國際排名的犧牲品。
普通話
廣東話
明報2009.04.06 社評
Presented by lecturers of Hong Kong Community College, PolyU
Wience Lai
Lecturer, Hong Kong Community College
http://www.hkcc-polyu.edu.hk/index.php?lang=eng&cms=928
時惠文
理大香港專上學院講師
http://www.hkcc-polyu.edu.hk/index.php?cms=1111&lang=big5
葉倬瑋
理大香港專上學院講師
http://www.hkcc-polyu.edu.hk/index.php?cms=912&lang=big5
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