Page 18 - FSTE A5 Handbook

Chapter One
The Emergence of General Education as
an Integral Part of Undergraduate Studies

Introduction
The emergence of GE as an integral part of undergraduate studies is driven, in Hong Kong,
by the recent 3+3+4 education reform and the massification of higher education in recent
decades, both of which will be discussed in the light of the shift in the educational paradigm
st
for the 21 century.
To provide a background for discussion in the subsequent chapters, we will contextualize the
GE initiatives by beginning to provide a common language for discussion. As an important
step in this direction, the Federation for Self-financing Tertiary Education (FSTE) has tasked a
Research Team to undertake a study to illuminate the articulation experience between sub-
degree and degree sectors and major findings of the study will be expounded in relevant
chapters of this publication.

Education Reform
Higher education in Hong Kong has undergone two major changes since the turn of the century.
First, with the introduction of the 3+3+4 education reform (EMB, 2004), curricular space was
created for a substantial GE component in undergraduate studies that formally commenced
from the 2012/13 academic year onwards. Consequently, the eight UGC-funded universities
opened a discourse on what types of courses, learning and outcomes constitutes GE in degree
studies and how its teaching and learning activities might best be orchestrated for attaining
the desirable attributes of their prospective graduates (Xing, Ng & Cheng, 2013). Secondly,
along with the significant increase in post-secondary study opportunities for the secondary
school leavers by primarily expanding the self-financed education sector, the number of
students enrolled in various sub-degree studies with an objective of competing for a second
chance to enter the UGC-funded universities through the senior-year intake quota substantially
increased (O’Sullivan & Tsang, 2015; Kember, 2010; UCG, 2010). It is noteworthy that the
quotas offered by the UGC have accelerated from 801 in 2004/15 to 4,000 places in 2014/15,
with a planned progressive increase to 5,000 places by the 2018/19 academic year (UGC, 2014).

Table 1 shows the distribution of the First Year First Degree (FYFD) Places and senior-year
places among the UGC-funded universities in the 2016/17 academic year (Education Bureau,
2016). The number of senior year places, then, is almost 60% of the FYFD places. One of our
fundamental questions is how best to help those students who aspire to strengthen their
academic abilities as well as to meet the university transfer requirements for senior-year
admission. These tasks are core collegiate functions of the sub-degree programmes in general
and associate degree programmes in particular.

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