This paper reports findings of a qualitative study that explored international students' identity negotiation during their cross-border studies against the backdrop of the internationalisation of higher education in Asia. Through a comparative narrative-based case study of two Burmese international students' experiences during their studies in a Hong Kong university, the paper reveals both similarities and differences in their negotiation of (i) identities as 'non-local'/'international' students in the university context and (ii) national identities in relation to the local community and the imagined global/international community. In particular, the findings illustrate the divergent ways in which the two international students negotiate the meanings they attach to the 'non-local' student label, respond to local students' (mis)recognition of their national identities, and perceive the (in)compatibility between their national and global identities. Overall, the findings point to the diversity and heterogeneity in international students' experiences which appear to be variably shaped by differential dispositions and capacities in exercising strategic agency for identity (re)construction. The case study also calls for the need to problematise the reification and over-simplification of the so-called 'international student experience' and argues for the importance of paying attention to the complexity of international students' identity negotiation in the context of international education. Copyright © 2022 Routledge.

Autonomy has been considered both as a precondition and a crucial learning outcome of higher education. Recent research has been focusing on measuring university students’ autonomy or its development. However, whether and how students’ autonomy can be measured quantitatively is still debatable. Although autonomy is known as a changing process and varies among individuals, it is agreed that students’ learning behaviours are largely affected by their perceptions; very few studies, however, have examined students’ own perception of autonomy. This study, therefore, adopts a longitudinal qualitative approach to investigate the changes in students’ own perceptions of autonomy over five different times during their first-year study in a Hong Kong University, and examine the relationship between the perceptions and behaviours of their autonomy. Using in-depth semi-structured interviews with eight first-year students, the study found that although the participants held some common understanding of autonomy, they also demonstrated various interpretations of this concept. They also had a slightly different focus on different dimensions of autonomy, which were affected by their own individual experiences. An individualistic approach is therefore proposed to understand students’ development of autonomy. Copyright © 2022 Taylor & Francis.

This study investigates the relationship between values and academic major in university students in Hong Kong. The study used a survey based on a convenience sample of 645 university students in Hong Kong who responded to a questionnaire comprising Schwartz's Values Survey and Super's Work Values Inventory. Comparison between several majors of study and their counterparts reveals that business, as well as humanities and art, students demonstrated general and work values in accordance with the literature. This gains partial support to the claim that there is a close connection between values and choice of academic majors. Copyright © 2022 SAGE Publications.

Objective: In view of the values of individualism and competition embedded in neoliberalism and global capitalism, this paper seeks to illustrate empirically students' instrumentalism in higher education, and to explore how far such instrumentalism could be conceptualized as student alienation. Method: The illustration relies on experiences of community college students from an ethnographic study of students studying in a liberal-arts oriented community college in Hong Kong. The study begun in 2005 to 2006, continued in 2009, and followed up in 2010 to 2011. Eighty-five students in total were recruited and interviewed; 39 of them were interviewed twice. The interviews were analyzed together with the author's observations and participation as a lecturer of that community college. Results: Against an intensely competitive environment, community college students were rather instrumental in their studies. Their alienation was also manifested in the following aspects: being instrumental about their career planning, preferring surface and strategic learning to deep learning in their studies, and being strategic or even manipulative in dealing with their classmates or teachers. Conclusion: This study provides a nuanced analysis of different aspects of student alienation. Student alienation is worrying, not simply because students are not learning what is required for becoming the educated workforce or citizens, but arguably because throughout the course of their studies, students acquire qualities that may make competitive employees for the cruel business world but do not necessarily make caring or critical citizens. Copyright © 2022 SAGE Publications.

Innovative and entrepreneurial talents are central to building an international innovation technology hub in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and higher education plays the main role in cultivating such talents. In a random sampling, a total of 5,021 valid questionnaires were obtained from 58 colleges and universities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, including the "9 + 2" cities. The results show that the total satisfaction score of students' evaluation of innovation and entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities was 3.43, which is in the upper-middle level. Specifically, the implementation and popularization of innovation and entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities is satisfactory, and the corresponding curriculum system can be adjusted in accordance with the strategic development trends of the Greater Bay Area. However, there are some problems to be solved. First, it is still difficult to integrate effectively the regional innovative and entrepreneurial resources in the process of innovation and entrepreneurship education. Second, innovation and entrepreneurship education emphasizes theory using a single teaching method, and there is insufficient integration with professional education. In addition, there is a shortage of innovation and entrepreneurship platforms for practice, and the cooperation mechanisms between colleges and universities, society, and government need to be improved. Last, there is a serious shortage of teachers. In order to promote the development of innovation and entrepreneurship education, colleges and universities must establish a hierarchical system based on their own conditions, taking advantage of the innovative and entrepreneurial resources and industrial characteristics of the core cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Moreover, it's necessary to develop excellent courses integrating professional education with innovation and entrepreneurship education, and

This qualitative study explored Hong Kong students' views and reactive emotions towards interpersonal teacher behaviour in their classrooms. Fifteen focus-group interviews were conducted with 69 secondary-school students. Content analysis was performed to identify main themes. Cultural similarities and differences were identified in students' perceptions compared with the original descriptors of the Model for Interpersonal Teacher Behaviour (MITB). While similarities lend support to the content validity of the items in the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI) and its Chinese version (C-QTI), differences highlight cultural variations in perceptions of interpersonal teacher behaviour in the Hong Kong context. Students' accounts indicated positive reactive emotions towards Friendly/Helpful, Understanding, and Leadership, negative emotions to Dissatisfied, Admonishing, and Uncertain, and mixed emotions towards Strict and Student Freedom and Responsibility behaviours. The study has contributed to the dearth of qualitative studies based on the MITB by providing a comprehensive picture of students' perceptions of its eight types of behaviour and their reactive emotions towards the manifestation of these behaviours. Such a picture could enhance teachers' reflection for professional development and improvement of their interpersonal behaviour in the classroom. Copyright © 2022 Springer.

This study compares and contrasts teachers' and students' perceptions of online teaching and learning during the COVID-pandemic in higher education using the co-orientation model. Data were collected from 145 students and 31 teachers in two Hong Kong higher education institutions. The findings show that teachers were generally more negative about online teaching and learning than students, but such negative views should be reconsidered as students positively evaluated teachers' efforts to various degrees. It is suggested that during future online learning experiences (1) teachers and students set up expectations together to evaluate online interactions, (2) teachers should not be overly concerned about the potential embarrassment of using camera for class activities, and (3) teachers pay more attention to feedback delivery. Understanding these gaps will provide teachers with insights into more strategic communication and planning to manage the expectations and optimise the online experience for both parties. Copyright © 2022 Elsevier.

Students in East Asian locations often obtain high academic results in international high-stakes testing, but lower results on affective aspects of their schooling, such as sense of belonging. These findings indicate the need for more holistic research into children’s lifeworlds, including their experiences of school. In this article, we draw on a survey with 627 Year 4 students in three global cities in the Asia Pacific (Hong Kong, Singapore, and Melbourne), exploring dimensions of their perceptions of school. Responses from students were generally positive in terms of sense of school belonging and student identity. Students who responded positively in terms of belonging and student identity were more likely to want academic activities to occur more often. The article adds to the existing literature by offering an exploratory consideration of the relationships between sense of belonging, student identity, and school activity preferences of Year 4 students in Hong Kong, Singapore and Melbourne. It is argued that all of these are essential factors that need to be considered and incorporated in policy planning and curriculum development. Copyright © 2022 The Author(s).

The aim of this study is to investigate the reasons for academic stress in Hong Kong and provide recommendations to the government on ways to alleviate this problem. Using photovoice, 15 undergraduate students from a private community college in Hong Kong were invited to take and discuss photographs regarding their lived experiences of learning. Thematic analysis is applied to generate themes from the photovoice data. The results suggest several possible reasons for academic stress, including examination demands, school administration and parents. However, the underlying social reason for academic stress may be the internal contradictions of the education system. That is, the education system purports to value all-round and whole-person education but subordinates this worthy goal to examination results. Thus, the results of the study suggest that the government should address this internal contradiction by considering educational, economic and cultural factors when planning educational policies and/or changes. Copyright © 2020 National Institute of Education, Singapore.