Development of the New 4-Year Undergraduate Program in Hong Kong

Abstract

To address the problems of the old 3-year undergraduate degree structure modeled after the British higher education system, a new 4-year undergraduate degree structure was implemented in 2012/13 academic year in Hong Kong. In this chapter, the background of the undergraduate curriculum reform is outlined. With reference to The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the development of the new undergraduate degree program is described. For the extra undergraduate year, the General University Requirements (GUR) was developed. There are several components of the GUR, including Freshman Seminar, Language and Communication Requirements, Cluster Area Requirements, Leadership and Intrapersonal Development, Service-Learning, and Healthy Lifestyle Program. To evaluate the impact of the GUR on the students, a longitudinal evaluation study was conducted. Results showed that the GUR was able to promote the holistic development in students. In particular, the evaluation findings showed that the Leadership and Intrapersonal Development and Service-Learning Requirements are the signature programs which can help students develop in a holistic manner.