On 1 July 1997, after 150 years of British colonial rule, Hong Kong returned to its mother country, the People's Republic of China (PRC). Anticipation of reunification spawned speculation about the possibilities, prospects and problems for the political, economic and social life of Hong Kong after 1997. This paper argues that the unpredictability and uncertainty which have characterized the educational policy environment in Hong Kong for many years were compounded by the imminence of the change of sovereignty. It is suggested that examination of the policy process in the contemporary Hong Kong context can best be understood by examining both macro‐ and micro‐policy perspectives, and the interrelationships between them. Two guiding questions related to the influence of sovereignty change on education are addressed. The first question asks how system‐level policies are being interpreted in schools. The second question asks whether, how and to what extent change of sovereignty has politicized the policy process, particularly at the school level. The paper has three parts: the first provides a socio‐politico‐economic context to Hong Kong's handover; the second describes important educational policies shaping the system during the period of transition; and the third discusses school‐level responses and reactions to the policies within the context of a politicized environment. Copyright © 1998 Taylor & Francis Ltd.

Originally, the capitalist society in Hong Kong under communism is exceptional, but the “one country, two system” formula was a makeshift stratagem by the Communist Chinese government. The twenty years of history witnessed the tension of ruling and policy implementation. Education policy in political conflicts is, of course, the other arena in the Hong Kong context which reveals competitions, controversies and struggles among the cultural hegemonic engineering. This paper can contribute to enigmatic understanding and interpretation of generating educational reform and implementing education policy in this twenty years history of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
[Copyright © 2017 Institute of China and Asia-Pacific Studies, National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan.]

This paper examines issues of affordability and justice using the concept of “basic structure” as developed by Iris M. Young in order to produce a more nuanced account of the Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme. We draw on the experiences of Hong Kong mothers of different socio-economic status who have participated in the voucher scheme. The scheme aims to provide affordable quality early education by giving parents a flat-rate voucher so as to assist them in enrolling their children in non-profit local kindergartens. We base our arguments on the central premise that socially just policy requires meticulous attention to the basic structure that determines distributive patterns. We go on to argue that the basic structure is governed by institutional assumptions, rules, and practices about class, gender, and markets. Our analysis references both quantitative and qualitative data of a three-phased mixed-method study with > 1400 mothers. The key findings reveal how mothers of different socio-economic backgrounds experienced the voucher scheme where power structures and relations are legitimized, thus contributing to the structural processes that reproduce constraints and injustice. Mothers' articulation regarding the policy recommendation of free early education adds insights into the constraints they experience and a notion of collective responsibility in supporting the education of young children.
[Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.]

Aims: This study examines the principles and practices in term of functional analysis for managing records at secondary schools in Hong Kong as recommended by the ISO9001 requirement. Set up by the Geneva-based International Organisation for Standardisation, the ISO9001 addresses the requirements that schools, or any other form of organisation intending to meet the standard, must fulfil. Schools in Hong Kong are required to adhere to the education quality assurance (QA) policy, which emphasises a school’s accountability to the wider community and the development of school education in Hong Kong. The policy requires schools to collect data that can be used to report on the effectiveness of school education and to provide documents for scrutiny by government officials. In response to this (QA) policy, schools in Hong Kong have to manage their records effectively. Record management, as one of the administrative principles in schools, ensures that accurate information of all school activities is kept and can facilitate an effective and evidence-based, decision-making process. Identifying taxonomy and management practices for effective documentation in schools can support planning; assist with organising the continuity of improvement plans; and increase reporting and accountability to the public. Methodology: This study examines the records management model using a case study that focuses on the experience of implementing records management and knowledge management at school. The case study is a secondary school in Hong Kong which has adopted the ISO standard and is implementing knowledge management. The researcher conducted a series of qualitative interviews at a secondary school, where the ISO 9001 certification had been introduced. The study explores how the records were managed and classified. Findings: The results show that the case school adopted a hybrid top-down and bottom-up approach to record management, to facilitate decision making and managing knowledge

This presentation embraces two inter-related objectives: to examine the current policies and strategies that are employed by Hong Kong to attract more non-local students in order to become an educational hub in the region, and critique dominant conceptions of ‘higher education’ and the ways these play out in higher education policy. The paper begins by examining ‘markets’ and how this idea cannot be separated from the global dominance of neoliberal ideologies. This is related in turn to questions of policy borrowing. The particular pertinence of this is then emphasised by turning to a topic that, although it may seem a digression, goes to the heart of thinking in social sciences: the nature of humanism in Chinese and Occidental philosophy. Finally a return is made to aspects of international higher education in order to unsettle some of the dominant patterns of influence and open the way towards different kinds of thinking.

面對有限的政府資金投入、民眾不斷增長的高等教育需求及建立世界一流大學的願景與對有效治理的需求，高等教育的擴張、私有化、資金來源多樣化及公共問責成為無可回避的趨勢。香港政府通過教育資助委員會來負責本地高等教育院校的發展及經費，避免政府過度干涉學校內務，並平衡政府與學校間的關系。通過審閱高等教育機構遞交的自主評估報告及政府推行的一系列質素評估檢驗，香港政府的角色主要體現為調整者而非直接管控者。
[Copyright © 2016 中國高等教育學會.]

This paper examines the relevance of hybridization to the development of higher education (HE) governance in Hong Kong. It begins by briefly reviewing conceptual issues about HE governance. Based on these conceptual elements, an analytical framework is then proposed to understand the institutional balance of power in university systems and the cultural equilibrium in the academia. Afterwards, an overview of the key features of HE governance in Hong Kong is presented. Three controversial incidents involving the individual academic freedom and institutional autonomy of universities that occurred in Hong Kong after 1997 are also studied. Given that these incidents are linked with the social and political changes in postcolonial Hong Kong, the controversial incidents and associated confrontations in the university sector are regarded as signals of an ongoing hybridization process in the city. Such a process indicates a continued East–West cultural divide in the arenas of HE governance and academic culture.
[Copyright © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.]

This chapter considers the cutting-edge of educational leadership in Asia, which people view as encompassing leadership research, policy, and practice. It uses the concept of geography, literally and metaphorically, to examine the terrain in which the three dimensions of educational leadership are enacted. To do this, the chapter first defines the broader Asian region to demonstrate its complexity and diversity. Then, it delineates the scope of the research knowledge base, the physical terrain, on educational leadership in Asia, focusing on the diverse Confucian heritage societies of East Asia, which tend to have newly emerging research capacities. The chapter uses the research knowledge base to examine the dimensions of policy and practice by considering the political influence on educational leadership and then on the cultural contexts. For this portion of the analysis, it focuses on five Confucian-heritage societies: mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and Vietnam.

Early childhood education (ECE) in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region entered an exciting and challenging phase after the handover of sovereignty from Britain to China in July 1997. The Government began to play a more proactive role in promoting the development of high-quality preschool education in the private sector by providing financial assistance to parents, upgrading teachers’ qualifications, and promoting quality learning environments. This chapter examines developments in early ECE in Hong Kong from a historical perspective. Policy changes that have impacted ECE, challenges in the pursuit of high quality, and opportunities for enhancing the provision of ECE are discussed.