The issue of Artificial Intelligence (AI) literacy is gaining popularity in the field of education. Most research on AI literacy has focused on primary, secondary, and higher education, and there has been limited examination of AI literacy programs in early childhood education. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of an eight-week AI literacy program on young children’s AI literacy, AI-related creativity, and their perceptions of the AI4KG program. A total of 26 young children (average age of 4 years) enrolled in the program at a kindergarten in Hong Kong were the subjects of the study. The results indicated that (1) young children were capable of learning basic AI concepts and knowledge; (2) in terms of AI-related creativity, younger children were able to design a chatting robot via imagination, while older children created an AI robot to assist people in their drawings; (3) in regards to the children's perceptions of the AI4KG program, older children who enjoyed the activity were able to train AI, while younger children preferred to draw the future AI city and participate in the AI story activity. This study highlights the positive benefits of AI literacy education in preparing young children for an AI-driven future. Copyright © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought challenges to families around the world. The prolonged school closures in Hong Kong have forced young students to stay at home and adapt to remote learning for over a year, putting their mental health conditions at risk. Focusing on primary school students and their parents, the main objective of our research is to investigate the socioemotional factors and their associations with mental health conditions. Methods: A total of 700 Hong Kong primary schoolers (mean age = 8.2) reported their emotional experiences, loneliness, and academic self-concept via a user-friendly online survey; 537 parents reported depression and anxiety, perceived child depression and anxiety, and social support. Responses from students and parents were paired to account for the family context. Structural Equation Modeling was used for correlations and regressions. Results: The results of students’ responses showed that positive emotional experiences were negatively associated with loneliness and positively related to academic self-concept among students. Furthermore, the paired sample results showed that, during the one-year societal lockdown and remote learning period, the socioemotional factors were associated with mental health conditions among primary school students and their parents. Among our family sample in Hong Kong, evidence supports the unique negative association between students-reported positive emotional experiences and parents-reported child depression and anxiety, as well as between social support and parents’ depression and anxiety. Conclusions: These findings highlighted the associations between socioemotional factors and mental health among young primary schoolers during the societal lockdown. We thus call for more attention to the societal lockdown and remote learning context, especially since the social distancing practice could be “the new normal” for our society to handle the future pandemic crisis. Copyright © 2023 The Author

With the intensification of globalization and its international competitiveness as a key benchmark, universities are under pressure to increase their social and economic growth while remaining sustainable. ‘institutional brand, ' the way how an institution presents itself to the public, is a valuable asset for higher education sustainability. Through multiple case study methodology, this research showcases Hong Kong universities institutional brand-building processes to achieve their regional and global standing. It is argued that Hong Kong universities often spell out their branding strategies and persuade and push their staff adhere to intuitional vision and mission, with the hope that such an identification with the institutional brand will lead to corporate sustainability. Copyright © 2022 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

In Society 5.0, Education 5.0 enables economic development with the resolution of social problems through advanced technologies and manages technological power appropriately in terms of a humanistic perspective. Education 5.0 is a future education model aiming to encourage student ownership to form a contemporary student-participatory curriculum with teacher mentoring. While STEM education as an Education 5.0 enabler is the key to realizing Industry 5.0 to personalize and rehumanize the manufacturing process, this paper will look at the need to better align secondary STEM education with Vocational and Professional Education and Training (VPET) initiative by transdisciplinary integration to facilitate Hong Kong better transiting to Industry 5.0. The objective is to examine the secondary STEM education development and its potential role and benefits of creating a foundation of transdisciplinary STEM secondary education in overcoming the current shortcomings of the vertical division of academic disciplines. It seeks to restore the VPET nature in the STEM scholarship and emanate from the secondary STEM curriculum renovations and transformations to tackle social and economic challenges, so the processes of STEM pedagogy will be changed significantly to adapt humanization empowerment by adjusting the methods and approaches to achieve new industrialization and help align with the call of Education 5.0 in Hong Kong. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Since Ernest Boyer's seminal work on scholarship of the professoriate, the notion of scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) has undergone changes in the higher education landscape. This chapter, partly based on the literature and partly based on the personal experiences and observations arising from my previous and current roles of a university-scholar teacher, former Dean of Education and Vice President (Academic) and Provost in two local universities in Hong Kong, explores issues related to scholarship and leadership of teaching and learning in different roles, formal or informal, in higher education.This chapter consists of two main parts. The first part of this chapter touches upon different perspectives and approaches to SoTL which is linked with, to some extent, student learning and its inquiry and reflection, disciplinary/multidisciplinary perspectives, self and collegial professional development and pedagogical innovation. The second part discusses issues related to leadership of teaching and learning which might cover forging shared vision, providing and sharing examples and practices, creating policies and structures, engaging colleagues and students in and leading collaboration, leveraging technology and resources, offering support and mentoring for colleagues and students in SoTL initiatives and so on. This chapter ends by offering some possible pointers for future SoTL and leadership development in teaching and learning in higher education. Copyright © 2023 selection and editorial matter, Kevin Wai Ho Yung and Huixuan Xu; individual chapters, the contributors.

Due to the social movements in Hong Kong and the outbreak of COVID-19, many non-local PhD students (NLPhDs) were scattered in different locations outside of Hong Kong. Since then, online teaching has been widely adopted in higher education and it affords students with continuable study and research opportunities but NLPhDs still experienced ever-shifting challenges and difficulties. This study draws on qualitative research methods to reveal the experiences of nine NLPhDs from different locations (e.g., Mainland China, Turkey, Vietnam, The Philippines, South Korea and Kazakhstan). Data were collected through in-depth individual interviews with the participants, their reflective journals and follow-up conversations via social networking applications. The findings show that NLPhDs experienced multifarious obstacles in study (suspended work, difficulties in adapting to online learning mode and stagnation in data collection). They had various emotional problems (stress, frustration, demotivation, sense of guilt and so on). However, they exercised agency (e.g., moving to spatially supportive contexts for study, reaching out to extra online resources, seeking supports from supervisors and tackling emotional problems) to overcome the challenges and difficulties. This study offers implications for doctoral students who are facing universal difficulties in times of crisis and their supervisors regarding how to offer appropriate support to their students. Copyright © 2023 selection and editorial matter, Kevin Wai Ho Yung and Huixuan Xu; individual chapters, the contributors.

Impactful innovations in higher education are increasingly dependent on concepts generated through global engagement and international collaborations. Internationalisation of higher education tends to grow in complexity when universities from different jurisdictions are driven by dissimilar governance approaches and developmental goals. Yet, this complexity enhances opportunities for creativity, innovations and collaborations at the same time. In this paper, we examine how world-class universities in Hong Kong, Macao and Guangdong have worked to overcome incongruities and asymmetries inside the Greater Bay Area (GBA), a new and ambitious regional construct of China, by drawing on disparate legacies and capacities in internationalisation of research, education, and service in their jurisdictions. We explore the impact of international dynamics on the universities’ efforts to create a more coherent agenda with respect to international partnerships in the region. The study contributes to conceptualisation of world-class universities’ roles in shaping bridges and synergies regionally and globally, and infuses the rationales of internationalization in higher education with new perspectives. Copyright © 2022 Journal of Higher Education Policy And Leadership Studies.

Tertiary education in Hong Kong has a long history. In 1911, The University of Hong Kong was the first university to be founded. The enrollment of tertiary education in Hong Kong after the Second World War was considered elite-type. The participation rate increased to 18% for first-degree courses, an expansion of approximately 50% in the undergraduate student population, during the early 1990s. Over time, it has changed from elitist to mass-type tertiary education. Another essential development of Hong Kong’s tertiary education system was a past Chief Executive announcement in 2000 to double the number of students participating in tertiary education up to 60% within ten years. This chapter aims to look historically at the development of tertiary education in Hong Kong and the impact of internationalization on its universalization. It also analyzes the problems in processes and discusses the sustainable development of tertiary education in Hong Kong this century. Copyright © 2022 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.