The internationalization of higher education has become a key policy within the global higher education sector. Yet a large body of literature suggests that simply having a diverse group of students does not guarantee meaningful intercultural engagement. This paper presents a qualitative study intended to gain a richer understanding of Hong Kong's higher education environment. In-depth interview data were collected from students of different cultural backgrounds and from academic, non-academic, and managerial staff at three Hong Kong universities. The data collection period covered local political turmoil in Hong Kong as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. Results indicate that, due to language barriers and potentially opposing political ideologies, all students faced challenges engaging with others who were culturally different from themselves. These findings can facilitate the development of an adaptable cross-institutional framework for meaningful intercultural learning. Copyright © 2023 Comparative and International Education Society.

With the general recognition that holistic competencies are beneficial for individuals, employers, and the economy, higher education institutions around the world have emphasized the inclusion of holistic competencies as one of the key learning outcomes. Although educators and researchers have stressed the importance of holistic competencies, less is known from the learners' perspective. The data were obtained from a questionnaire completed by 339 undergraduate students in a local university of Hong Kong, and 6 focus group interviews. Their perceived importance and perceived capacity of holistic competencies were analyzed. The results revealed that most of the perceived importance of holistic competencies are significantly higher than the perceived capacity. Through the follow-up focus group interviews, students discussed their preference regarding how the course content and assessment methods of a separate course for holistic competence development could be designed for the higher education curriculum. Copyright © 2021 Project Innovation, Inc.

This paper uses the case-study method to examine detailed data related to student and tutor usage of an asynchronous discussion board as an interactive communication forum during a first-semester associate degree course in applied psychology at the City University of Hong Kong. The paper identifies 'what works' in relation to discussion board use, demonstrating how students might gradually create an online community of their own, but only if prompted in a timely and appropriate way by the course structure. It also identifies three distinct phases in online interaction and suggests these might, to some extent, be mediated by assessment tasks.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09687760701673592]