Page 76 - FSTE A5 Handbook

Chapter Five
Articulation Experiences of
Senior Year Students

(2) Block transfer
Block transfer is a more common way for students to get their credits earned from a
sub-degree programme transferred. The process is usually simple and automatic for most
students (85.6%):

“It assumed the psychology courses I did were equivalent to what the university required. The
sociology courses were transferred as free electives and GE courses. Hence I am just concentrating
on my major in the degree study.”

“I was articulated from U5’s community college. It has helped me transfer my one Chinese
course and one English course automatically. So I am now studying two other English courses
and one Chinese course, which are totally different from those I did before. What I meant was
the syllabi and contents were totally different.”

However, the block transfer mechanism can also be a problem for some students. Students
who are admitted into senior year have fewer years to spend in their university life. This can
sometimes cause frustrations to students as they have less space to manage their study and
other learning experiences. As shown in the survey, more than half of them (53.3%) expressed
that it had seriously affected their opportunity for attaining a higher GPA and the study
duration:

“I would say that you would be really happy when you receive your offer, direct entry to
year 3. So you can graduate with your secondary schoolmates. But then, I realized that I would
need to finish all the to-do-things in university within two years during which I am supposed to
finish my programme. It brings me less experience than others. Others may start from year 1
and try many things, like exchanging for a year, taking up a role in students’ society for another
year. But if you start your study from year 3, you would need to give up a lot of things. Time
ticks every day and you have to finish your degree in a condensed way. You wouldn’t stay in a
hall, or waste time to play. ”

Since students believed that university was not just about studying, they also wanted to
participate in other university activities. However, with the lack of time, students had to
sacrifice and prioritize their time better than the year 1 intake. Consequently, over 40% of the
respondents in the survey admitted that their opportunities for joining exchange programmes
and enjoying campus life were seriously affected.

The block transfer may actually discourage students from planning their 2+2 learning
experience. Apart from this, as reflected from the comments made by the students, the
system took the decision away from them, which is quite ironic. Universities have tried for
many years to move away from an overly structured curriculum to become a more flexible and
open curriculum. Needless to say, the introduction of General Education to universities also
aimed to expedite the process and General Education should exemplify the beauty of a free
choice curriculum.

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