Page 81 - FSTE A5 Handbook

“The most impressing course for me was the cinema one. It was to study films. As I was
studying event management, I was allowed to choose any courses that I was interested. To me,
if I am interested, it would make me feel happier. Hence, all the courses that I took were of my
own interest.”
It is interesting to hear these remarks made by these students. They understand the purpose
of General Education. Once they were admitted to universities, their perception of the benefits
of GE courses changed and they saw them as a means to maintain their interest, broaden their
horizon and meet their knowledge needs.

This phenomenon was in line with the findings of the survey. Over 50% of the respondents
felt that the GE courses had improved their language and communication skills, analytical
and critical thinking skills, teamwork and leadership skills and information technology and
computer skills. They also claimed that the courses had broadened their horizon, global
awareness and improved their ability to study a degree programme and pursue a career. The
articulation programmes are usually packed with many discipline-based courses. Students
would have to extend their duration of their study if they are to pursue seriously their
academic interest outside the scope or structure prescribed in the programme.
Students’ Perception of Doing Duplicate Course Work

Sometimes, students reported that courses could be repeated when comparing the one taken
in sub-degree programme with those required by the degree programme. Apart from the
problems mentioned above in getting credit transfer, there is another possible explanation.
The course contents, learning outcomes and assessment methods might not be as clearly
stated as everyone assumes in the curriculum and, hence, students retook similar courses
even though the credit transfer mechanism was available:

“Besides GE and core courses, Putonghua is also a common core course to satisfy the graduation
requirement. However, it still overlaps with what I did in my associate degree programme. For
some reasons that I don’t know of, the course Chinese taught us Putonghua instead of Chinese
as in other sub-degree programmes. As a result of this, I had taken Putonghua for three
semesters and now I am still required to study Putonghua.”

“To me, those English courses are almost identical. But then, they are required courses in
university. In my higher diploma study, English was called GE. However, the content taught was
similar to what I am doing now. They all teach you ways to conduct research. They are basically
the same.”

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