This study investigated the sense of belonging of part-time students through interviews with 53 novice or experienced students enrolled in part-time programmes in Hong Kong. It was found that students were more easily able to affiliate with their class groups or teaching staff than with their department or university. Seven methods are suggested for promoting a sense of belonging. Class cohesiveness can be developed through learning activities and maintaining classes as a cohort. Relationships with teaching staff can be developed through encouraging interaction, providing good quality teaching and making a positive initial impression. There was also evidence that a sense of belonging was more likely to develop if enrolment was through departments and part-time students had access to resources and facilities. The data showed that promoting a sense of belonging contributed to better quality learning outcomes and increased the chances of students completing programmes.
[Copyright of International Journal of Lifelong Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02601370110048809]

Singapore and Hong Kong are vying to be the principal educational hub for the Asia-Pacific region and have begun to compete with Australia, Britain, Canada and the USA in providing cross-border education. Although these four Anglo-American countries still dominate cross-border education, Singapore and Hong Kong hope to make inroads into this export market and compete on the global stage. To create "world-class" universities, Singapore and Hong Kong have introduced quality assurance mechanisms, diversified funding sources, and restructured their university governance systems. This article compares the accountability measures introduced into Hong Kong and Singapore universities, and the responses of academics and administrators to these measures. The results indicate that both countries introduced greater autonomy as they augmented accountability for their universities, and the term "decentralised centralism" describes the kind of government control exerted in these Asian universities in the twenty-first century.
[Copyright of Asia Pacific Journal of Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02188790701845972]

The paper discusses the marking of written assignment and reports the results of the first step of an action research project conducted at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
[Copyright of Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0260293990240103 ]

This paper examines the role and position of continuing education in the lifelong learning society of Hong Kong. The first section describes the basic components of Hong Kong's lifelong learning system, which is composed of two interconnected sub-systems—namely, conventional education and continuing education—integrated under a common qualifications framework. The second section illustrates the contribution of the Federation for Continuing Education in Tertiary Institutions, an organisational alliance formed among key continuing education providers to assure quality in the sector; enhance communication among government, industries and the professional bodies; map strategies for developing human capital; and widen access to higher education by providing high-quality continuing education programs. In the final section, the HKU SPACE case study highlights 'sharing of quality education resources with overseas collaborators', 'achieving self-financing status through economies of scale', and the 'provision of flexible, multiple-level, well articulated and quality education services' as key features of the Hong Kong model of continuing education.
[Copyright of International Journal of Lifelong Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02601370802051660]

Greater China is an umbrella term used to cover Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. This article reviews the evolution of comparative education in these four societies, noting major forces which have shaped the field. The article observes and comments on similarities and differences within the four societies. It has been prepared as a response to the millennial special issue of the journal, and notes some lessons and contributions from the field in Greater China to the global field of comparative education.
[Copyright of Comparative Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03050060120091256]