國際化是現時高等教育界的一個重要議程和發展方向，也是主流評級機構用以評核大學的其中一個因素。各界對國際化的定義不盡相同。在香港，有意見指實施國際化目的就是為了強化「香港的特徵」，從而增加國際學生與本地學生相互文化發展機會。境外學習活動既可以提升學生多方面的技能，亦能讓他們獲得個人全面發展及擴闊全球視野。透過瞭解國際化的定義，以及一所本地大學在其國際化進程中為學生提供境外學習的經驗，我們可對香港高校學生怎樣在國際化中獲益有更深瞭解。 Copyright © 2017 香港教師中心.

This paper builds on Whitchurch's notion of the "blended professional" which aims to examine how mixed professional activity affects professional administrators and managers' identity disposition in universities in Hong Kong. In response to complex missions and demands of contemporary higher education globally, diverse projected-oriented professional managers have emerged in universities and are dedicated to a wide range of short- and long-term funded projects. Certainly, Hong Kong is no exception. The distinction between academic and non-academic staff has become less prominent for these managers who work across and between university functions. Yet, amongst discussions, Hong Kong--even in Asian Country--has received scant attention. By drawing empirical data from three professional managers currently working in a Hong Kong university' research and development centres, this qualitative paper investigates through Whitchurch's framework, how professional activities affect their identity disposition at their workplaces in Hong Kong context.
[Copyright of Educational Research and Reviews is the property of Academic Journals.]

The academic year 2012/13 marked a major milestone in the history of Hong Kong higher education as it witnessed the admission of two markedly different cohorts of Cantonese-speaking freshmen to the city's English-medium universities: those embarking for the last time upon the traditional 3-year programme modelled on the British system of initial disciplinary specialisation and those commencing the new 4-year programme featuring an American-influenced first year of general education. This article presents the findings of a study which sought to compare the perceptions and experiences of the two cohorts on the challenging process of adjusting to the demands of university study. It was hypothesised that students in the 3-year cohort (3YC) would experience fewer difficulties adjusting to university learning and teaching than the 4-year cohort (4YC) as it was assumed that their A-level programme (years 12–13) placed greater emphasis on university-related skills, practices and habits of mind than the new senior-secondary curriculum (years 10–12). This hypothesis was tested by means of a survey completed by 1480 students at Hong Kong Polytechnic University towards the end of the academic year. The results largely support this hypothesis, although the evidence suggests that both cohorts had adjusted moderately well to university study by the end of the year. The results indicate that the principal difference between the two cohorts and the key to the 3YC's smoother transition was their greater confidence and competence in English, which presumably stemmed from their extra year at school and the greater depth of the traditional sixth-form curriculum.
[Copyright of Journal of Further & Higher Education is the property of Routledge.]

Although the contribution of family support and peer support to university adjustment has been examined separately, few attempts have been made to explore the mechanism underlying this relation. This is the first study in the Asian context to test the role of self-esteem in mediating the effect of social support on first-year university adjustment outcomes. Self-esteem is a measure of one's positive or negative attitudes toward oneself (Rosenberg, 1965). Higher self-esteem is vital to a variety of developmental outcomes in early adulthood, such as the transition to university, whereas lower self-esteem has been related to poorer adjustment (Hickman, Bartholomae, & McKenry, 2000). Perceived self-esteem stems from social attachments to others that reflect positively on oneself and provide interpersonal support (Friedlander, Reid, Shupak, & Cribbie, 2007). High self esteem developed as a result of social support from family and peers may increase individuals' belief in their ability to solve problems, leading to better university adjustment. The authors hypothesized that self-esteem mediates the impact of family support and peer support on university adjustment. The participants in this study were 418 first year university students (mean age 19.94 years; 65% female) at an education university in Hong Kong, China, offering mainly education related subjects. As expected, findings showed that first-year university students receiving greater family and peer support reported better adjustment outcomes overall, which provides additional evidence of the universally beneficial effects of multiple support figures on university adjustment. Such findings corroborate the previous argument that parental support plays an important role throughout adolescence and early adulthood, even as reliance on support from peers increases.
[Copyright of Journal of College Student Development is the property of The Johns Hopkins University Press.]

Teachers' instructional practices surrounding written assignments have been little researched, despite writing remaining the primary means of assessment in higher education, including postgraduate professional development programmes. In this paper, we report a study that explored what a sample of lecturers in a Master of Education programme at an English-medium university in Hong Kong did to support students' assignment writing. We integrate perspectives provided by the relevant higher education literature, the academic literacies approach and North American rhetorical genre studies to shed light on the findings derived from our analyses of interview and documentary data. We showed that our lecturer participants both engaged in direct instruction on assignment writing and provided indirect support. Our study contributed to the existing literature and raised questions for future research.
[Copyright of Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education is the property of Routledge.]

The cost of higher education (HE) continues to grow at an unsustainable rate in many country contexts, including in East Asia. With recent and projected HE growth in this region, HE administrators are increasingly faced with how best to provide cost-effective delivery while at the same time addressing how to meet workforce demands of increased quality, accountability, and international standards of excellence. In this article, we examine good and best practices of HE finance models in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. A primary objective of this article is to highlight a select number of exemplary models of HE financing that can reduce or at least help level off this unsustainable trend. We conclude with recommendations to assist policy makers, government planners, and HE administrators in their attempts to meet the financial challenges of today and in the future.
[Copyright of International Journal of Educational Development is the property of Pergamon Press.]

One way that universities assess teaching effectiveness is by eliciting student feedback. However, what standards do students themselves use to judge whether a lecturer is a 'good' teacher? As part of a study carried out at a Hong Kong university, students were interviewed about their first-year learning experience and asked what they felt constituted 'good' and 'bad' teaching. Unlike when asked to complete teacher effectiveness surveys, no criteria or characteristics were given. Responses focused primarily on teaching skills that supported student learning and encouraged critical thinking, particularly the teacher's ability to give clear explanations supported by relevant, practical examples.
[Copyright of Journal of Further & Higher Education is the property of Routledge.]

Research conducted in the late twentieth century pointed to a gulf in Hong Kong's universities between institutional medium-of-instruction policy, which stipulated the use of English, and lecturers' classroom practices, which often involved the use of Cantonese to present and explain the content of English-language textbooks and teaching materials. This article examines the findings of a study which sought to determine whether the policy-practice divide had widened or narrowed in the past two decades under the pressure of two potentially competing forces: globalisation and decolonisation. The evidence suggests that the policy-practice disjunction may have narrowed significantly in recent years, with most of the participants' teachers evidently making a determined effort to instruct and interact with their students in English in lectures and seminars.
[Copyright of World Englishes is the property of Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd..]

Research on transnational Higher Education governance has provided a thesis explaining how East Asian states have successfully selectively blended elements of globalisation in Higher Education with their pre-existing regulatory regimes. However, this paper argues that the thesis overlooks the significance of local politics in understanding the formulation of Higher Education policy, thus insufficiently acknowledging the indeterminacy that arises in the globalisation process. To address this argument, this paper examines the transnational Higher Education development in Singapore and Hong Kong and explains how political resistance and corresponding policy changes that emerged in these two societies help reconceptualise transnational Higher Education governance.
[Copyright of Higher Education Quarterly is the property of Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd..]

The present study examined the relationships among grit, academic performance, perceived academic failure, and stress levels of Hong Kong associate degree students using path analysis. Three hundred and forty-five students from a community college in Hong Kong voluntarily participated in the study. They completed a questionnaire that measured their grit (operationalized as interest and perseverance) and stress levels. The students also provided their actual academic performance and evaluated their perception of their academic performance as a success or a failure. The results of the path analysis showed that interest and perseverance were negatively associated with stress, and only perceived academic failure was positively associated with stress. These findings suggest that psychological appraisal and resources are more important antecedents of stress than objective negative events. Therefore, fostering students' psychological resilience may alleviate the stress experienced by associate degree students or college students in general.
[Copyright of Journal of adolescence is the property of Academic Press.]