The Hong Kong Secondary Education system moved from the traditional “5 + 2 + 3” system to a new “3 + 3 + 4” structure in 2012 with emphasis on whole-person development. Under the new reform, students are required to undertake a block of new general education (GE) subjects apart from their disciplinary-specific education in their university curriculum. While prior studies mainly investigated the reform of GE and curriculum design, empirical studies on the perceived benefits of GE are sparse. The current study primarily aims to investigate the impact of GE on the generic skills of university students. A survey of 424 undergraduate students enrolled in a self-financing programme in four higher educational institutions in Hong Kong was conducted. The perceived benefits of GE were measured by seven variables, including communication, critical thinking and problem solving, team-work, leadership, lifelong learning and information management skills, ethics, and professional moral knowledge. This study can contribute to the understanding of the interrelationship between GE and the development of generic skills. Results will provide a guideline for educators and management when planning, developing, designing, and reviewing the general education curriculum.
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Cross-border partnerships are increasingly important for higher education in the twenty-first century. Drawing from the business sector’s resource-based theory, this paper explores international partner selection among higher education institutions in Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan. According to resource-based theory, institutions may seek partners with specific technical capabilities, managerial capabilities or other intangible resources to access external knowledge and capabilities, develop internal resources and gain competitive advantage. Through document analysis and interviews, this investigation identified twelve attributes that influenced international partner selection for higher education institutions in these contexts. Eleven fit within resource-based theory’s criteria areas of technical capabilities, managerial capabilities and intangible resources. These determined the attractiveness of potential partners. However, existing relationships, the twelfth attribute, wasoften the deciding factor of whether or not a partnership would move forward. Importantly, while contextual differences were observed, these attributes were present across contexts.
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Realizing the growing importance of universities in Knowledge Transfer and innovation-centric entrepreneurship, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) actively encourages government-funded universities in Hong Kong to work with the market and industry, as well as wider society to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship. This article aims to examine the changing university governance in Hong Kong particularly when universities go beyond the academia to work with industries and businesses to promote innovation-centric entrepreneurialism. It begins with a conceptual framework for analyzing multiple sectoral collaborations for entrepreneurship with a focus on the role of universities. It will discuss how the HKSAR copes with the main challenges of university governance by adopting policies and measures to creating a hybridized ecosystem so as to embrace cross-sectoral collaborations. The article concludes by critical reflections on changing university governance in Hong Kong when responding to the quest for entrepreneurial universities.
[Copyright of Studies in Higher Education is the property of Routledge.]

Despite the trendsetting of East Asian HPES, education policy commentary and literature on this region remains rather underdeveloped and predictable. In Comparing High-Performing Education Systems: Understanding Singapore, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, Dr Charlene Tan moves scholarship on East Asian HPES in a new, sorely needed direction. This review essay of Comparing High-Performing Education Systems describes the guiding conceptual framework of the book and summarizes the book, chapter-by-chapter. This review essay also comments on two striking issues – the explanatory power of Confucian habitus, and the intersectionality of performativity, Confucianism, and neoliberalism. The aim in this review essay is to both celebrate the boldness of Comparing High Performing Systems and offer questions to further enrich the employment of Confucianism as a conceptual and analytical tool to examine education policies, processes, and outcomes in East Asian systems.
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Using Deleuze and Guattari's concept of rhizome, this study examines the key measures of the Kindergarten Education Scheme introduced by the Hong Kong government in 2017 after a large‐scale advocacy movement. It argues that these measures have expanded the power of the neoliberal imaginary through producing an enhanced market apparatus and an apolitical teaching profession. The neoliberal expansion reflects the manifestation of different kinds of rhizomatic connections to reterritorialise the field. This study calls for the rethinking of teacher educators’ ethical responsibility in addressing the complexity of teacher work frequently neglected by policy and the policy/practice divide in teacher education. Copyright © 2020 National Children's Bureau and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

It is commonly believed that ethnic minority (EM) parents tend to have low expectation towards their children’s education due to adverse social and economic status, but other studies suggest EM parents would have high expectation because they want their children to gain upward social mobility. In this study, we compared Pakistani parents’ expectation towards early childhood education (ECE) with Hong Kong parents and examined the role of acculturation in Pakistani parents’ expectation towards ECE. Participants were 73 first-generation Pakistani parents living in Hong Kong and 214 Hong Kong parents. They filled in questionnaires that measured expectation towards ECE. Pakistani parents also answered a questionnaire that captured the degree of acculturation. Results of moderation analysis revealed significant interactions between culture and child gender in all the dimensions of parental expectation towards ECE. Specifically, Pakistani parents reported higher expectation towards ECE than Hong Kong parents. Moreover, Pakistani parents generally reported significantly higher expectation for boys than for girls, while Hong Kong parents’ expectation towards girls was significantly higher than boys with a few exceptions. Moreover, regression analyses showed that integration and marginalization were positively related to several dimensions of parental expectation. These findings provide pioneer understanding about expectation towards ECE among Pakistani parents in Hong Kong and shed light on the promotion of gender-equality ECE. Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reorienting existing educational programs in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) for the purposes of advancing the attainment of sustainable development goals (SDGs) through skills development significantly depends on the capacity of educators. This capacity can be enhanced through teacher training and professional development programs based on principles of adult learning, as well as through the use of sustainability related resources designed for use in student-centered TVET classrooms. This paper considers how TVET educators respond to the reorientation of the curriculum towards Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) through the inclusion of generic green skills in a green module that was delivered by one TVET institute in Hong Kong. It examines how different types of teachers respond to sustainability related, work-based training conducted through action research. Four teachers’ attitudes are examined, based on their expertise in ESD and their motivation to change current practice. Based on the findings, this paper puts forward a work-based learning model for the professional development of TVET teachers that encourages them to learn with researchers and students together. The model can be adjusted to meet the needs of different types of teachers and it has the potential to enhance teachers’ capacity to implement green modules that will support students’ generic green skills development. Copyright © 2019 PAVLOVA/CHEN.

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the strategic role of world-class universities and the international academic profession in the regionalisation project of China's Greater Bay Area (GBA). It illustrates the way in which the case of the GBA regionalisation project offers a potentially rich empirical example for adding contextual understanding to the literature of the Triple Helix model, which largely draws on inductive theorising from western successful innovation cases. The GBA regionalisation processes will provide a wealth of empirical cases for identifying circumstances that address tensions and increase interactions in the Triple Helix relationship of university, government and industry for fostering knowledge synergies.Design/methodology/approach: Focusing on the case of Hong Kong, it engages in policy and stakeholder analysis and addresses three key research questions: What are the competitive advantages and potential strategic role of Hong Kong's universities and academic profession in the regionalisation of innovation systems in the GBA? What is the role of the governments in the regionalisation processes? What are the expected opportunities and challenges offered by the GBA policy initiatives for the future development of Hong Kong's universities and academic profession?Findings: Hong Kong, given its status as an international finance centre and global city with intense internationalisation and established judicial system operated by the rule of law, will contribute to the GBA development by leveraging on its edge in scientific research and development and international networks of academic research through the world-class academic profession. Scientists and researchers in the city, possessing the competitive advantages of basic research and international partnerships, are highly regarded by the central government. The engagement of Hong Kong's scientific talents, can play an important role in achieving China's aspiration of becoming a global technology power.Research

This article describes a learning unit for seniors within a university in Hong Kong, as an example of offering lifelong learning opportunities for senior adults. This article reports and discusses findings from a small-scale research study conducted at the unit, which aimed to explore the effectiveness of the current mode of integrating elder learning into higher education, specifically how this related to the promotion of intergenerational learning between elders and university students. This article reports on the findings of a quantitative survey conducted with elders, university students and instructors, in order to compare their views on the impact of a mixed intergenerational classroom and to identify the benefits of elder learning. The most positive impact of the mixed-class arrangement was upon the elder learners, who reported very positive learning experiences and a number of positive benefits to learning. All three groups positively reported that the class arrangement did improve intergenerational learning. Whilst all three groups responded very positively to the mixed-class arrangement and presence of elders, there were less positive responses reported from both undergraduates and their instructors as to the impact of elders in the same class upon helping undergraduates learn better. Copyright © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Purpose: This article aims to (1) systematically examine the development of career guidance practices in Hong Kong over the past 40 years, (2) discuss developmental attention to the career-related self-concept of diverse learners, and (3) propose a multidimensional model of self-concept by integrating the career-related domains with recent advances in self-concept research pertaining to students' in-school and post-school outcomes.Design/Approach/Methods: This article charts the developmental trend of career guidance and counseling (CGC) over more than 40 years in Hong Kong. The article also examines key findings relating to self-concept research made in the fields of education and career counseling in the past 50 years.Findings: For 50 years, Hong Kong has progressively recognized the importance of CGC. The government's continued determination to refine its policies and practices in this domain was succinctly highlighted in the Chief Executive's 2018 policy address. However, many challenges pertaining the professional competence of career guidance teachers and the ability of school administrators to manage the paradigm shift from informal to formal career guidance and counseling practices (CGCPs) remain. Meanwhile, the effects of these CGCPs on students' gains of career-related abilities and interests directly and indirectly remain under-researched.Originality/Value: This article integrates research into the developmental trend of career guidance practices in secondary schools and the study of academic self-concept. The article builds upon previous self-concept research by proposing an extended self-concept model that includes the career-related domain, setting a theoretical model for further research to explore. Finally, the article demonstrates the importance of tailoring career guidance activities in secondary education to reflect the diverse career-related self-concepts held by today's students with diverse abilities. Copyright © 2020 The Author(s).