operations of the University. In addition to the structure of separation of supervisory and executive powers, the Senate represents the highest organ in academic affairs.

This new legislation would ensure the University to "have more freedom and flexibility to follow the prevailing international trend of higher education," Dr. Tse explained.

Dr. Tse usually spends one third of his time communicating with his colleagues everyday.

The old UM Charter and Personnel Statute are believed to be associated with some structural problems which might have "hindered" the development of the University to achieve academic excellence and international recognition, according to Dr. Tse.

The first one is the lack of University autonomy. Under the old charter, all academic courses and programs, all academic personnel, and all agreements the University wished to establish with outside institutions, had to be formally approved by the Government before implementation.

Another problem is the financial inflexibility. The University was subject to the laws and regulations that governed all public bodies. Amendments of the annual budget had to be approved by the Bureau of Finance and the University had to follow rigidly the itemized budget codes.

The third problem is that the University had a limited ability in offering competitive salaries to recruit top scholars to lead academic areas in need.