Universities and other institutions of higher learning now encounter far more challenge, and are subjected to an unprecedented level of external scrutiny. All providers of higher education today inhabit a more competitive world where resources are becoming scarcer, but at the same time they have to accommodate increasing demands from the local community as well as changing expectations from parents and employers. In order to be responsive to all those competing needs an emphasis on 'strong management' is introduced in the educational realm, with a fundamental paradigm shift to the notion of economic rationalism in running educational services. In such a policy context this paper sets out to examine how higher education in Hong Kong has gone through a similar process of marketisation with particular reference to the strategies and approaches adopted by the University Grants Committee, the central funding body of higher educational institutions in Hong Kong, to assure a quality and ' value for money' higher education in the territory. This paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the adoption of a 'management- oriented' approach in delivering educational services.
[Copyright of Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1360080990210109]

This paper is a narrative about the use of narrative as a means to understand how the use of technology assisted the educational community of Hong Kong during the SARS crisis of 2003. It is not a carefully planned conventional research study. It is based on seven narratives written by staff at The Chinese University of Hong Kong about their experiences during SARS. The experience of an online conference run by the author has also been considered. Overall, in our context, technology was able to come naturally and appropriately to the fore in our time of crisis. For me, it is a message that technology is now a mainstream tool that can be rapidly mobilized and that is very satisfying indeed.
[Copyright of Educational Media International is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09523980410001680806]

A lack of analysis and research into primary education in general, and primary school leadership in particular, has left primary practitioners exposed like never before to the vagaries of policy-makers and unpredictable contextual pressures. The purpose of this article is to initiate discussion on the state of primary school leadership in Hong Kong since 2000. It attempts to explore some of the major reforms and other contextual factors impacting primary school leaders and comment on the challenges which accompany these. It further proposes that when initiatives confront the existing structural and cultural make up of primary schools they are blocked by what we call the bottleneck effect. The article also attempts to explain and illustrate this effect and what it means for primary school principals. It is hoped that the analysis serves to highlight interest in primary school leadership in Hong Kong and stimulate research in the area locally and internationally.
[Copyright of School Leadership & Management is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13632430802499994]

Over 300 Foreign (non Hong Kong) universities deliver undergraduate degree programs in Hong Kong either on campus in that city or via distance education (or both). Although this topic has been studied from a variety of perspectives, the issue of why Hong Kong students might switch from one locally provided foreign university program to another has not been researched despite evidence of it being common. The current research found that students switched to another university if it offered a wider range of course delivery modes, if they could fast track their degree and if they were failing at the existing university. Increasingly, to be successful in competitive markets such as Hong Kong, foreign universities need to deliver their programs in a wide variety of modes, provide high levels of administrative and academic support, and ensure that they assist their students as much as possible. If they do not, students are likely to move to another provider. These findings have complex and far-reaching delivery ramifications for foreign universities wishing to survive in competitive markets such as Hong Kong--and elsewhere--where there is a high degree of competition amongst universities and a stressed economic situation which could force students to adopt quite ruthless consumer behaviour in regards to their university provider.
[Copyright of Journal of Marketing for Higher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J050v15n01_02]

This paper reports on a case study in which an e-mail system was used as a tool to foster collaboration among a group of students enrolled in an educational management course offered by the Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK). It focuses on a set of interview data and, in analysing the interview data, it takes into account the sociocultural perspective on learning in relation to the use of computer-mediated communication in education. The aim of this study is to draw out implications for improved practices in managing online discussion groups in contexts such as the OUHK.
[Copyright of Open Learning is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02680510120050343]

Under intensified pressures for improving the global competence of university graduates, national governments across different parts of the globe have to on the one hand expand higher education enrolments and on the other hand assure high quality in teaching and research in order to make sure their higher education systems can compete globally. Many Asian states have been in the forefront of this effort to improve national competitiveness by raising their higher education enrolment rate. As state financing and provision alone will not satisfy the growing demands for higher education, governments in Asia adopt more pro-competition policy instruments and increasingly look to the market/private sectors in running higher education. Therefore the private higher education sector has paid for much of the higher education sector expansion, leading to revolutionary changes and imparting a growing 'privateness' to Asian higher education systems. This article sets out in this wider socio-economic context to examine the rise of transnational higher education in three Asian societies: Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. With particular reference to examining how the growing prominence of privateness in higher education has challenged the conventional education governance models, this article critically examines how these Asian states have reinvented their regulatory regimes to govern the growing complexity and highly contested public-private mix in higher education.
[Copyright of Pacific Review is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09512740801990220]

This study examined the ways in which new students attempt to adjust to part-time study. Data were gathered through interviews with 53 students enrolled in part-time courses in Hong Kong. It was found that the data could be interpreted in terms of the construct of self- direction. The novice students showed a surprising degree of determination towards personal autonomy. When it came to self- management in learning, those least equipped for self-management were the ones tending to show the greatest difficulties in part-time study. Some students were able to find help from teaching staff, fellow students or friends in developing self-direction. It would appear, though, that universities could do more to help students develop self- managed learning capabilities, and if they did so would ease the transition towards becoming a successful part-time student.
[Copyright of Distance Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0158791000210102]

This study examines the relationship between achievement goals and some important learning-related variables in the completion of a course assignment. The research on achievement goals is reviewed and two contentious issues—the nature of performance goals and the effects of multiple goals—are highlighted. Three hundred and seventy-three Chinese distance learners in Hong Kong participated in a mailed survey. A correlation analysis revealed that their mastery goals were adaptive to learning; but, in contrast, work-avoidance goals were maladaptive to the processes of completing an assignment. A mixed pattern of association was found with performance-approach goals. Using a median-split technique, the participants were classified into four different groups of 'multiple-goal learners'. MANOVA tests showed that mastery-focused learners had the most adaptive pattern of learning and engagement in completing the assignment, followed in order by balanced-goal learners, performance-focused learners and performance-anxious learners. The results are discussed in light of achievement goal research conducted using campus-based students.
[Copyright of Open Learning is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02680510500472189]