The role of education for sustainable development and Fu Ssu-nien’s Manifesto of an Institute were the subjects of recent talks under the City University of Hong Kong (CityU) Distinguished Lecture Series. 

In his talk on 18 April, Professor Eric A. Hanushek, Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, said the United Nations should emphasise the goal of “ensuring quality education around the world” as a way to guide policies for world development. His talk was titled “Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals: The Role of Education”.

A leader in economic analysis for education issues, Professor Hanushek said the recent focus on fiscal issues shouldn’t neglect the future. Improvements in school quality required continued commitment, he said.

 

Professor Huang Chin-shing, Academician at Academia Sinica, delivered a lecture on 25 April titled “Manifesto of an Institute: Contextualising ‘The Aims of Founding the Institute of History and Philology’ by Fu Ssu-nien in 1928”.

Fu earned his status in modern Chinese historiography by founding the Institute of History and Philology, Professor Huang said. The statement “historiography is merely the science of historical sources” was Fu’s significant contribution to academic theory, having been deeply influenced by Rankean historiography and kaoju xue (evidential research). 

Professor Huang, Distinguished Research Fellow at the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, studies Chinese modern intellectual history, religious and cultural history and historiographical theory.