Navigating the policy borrowing process of general education among the eight publicly funded universities in Hong Kong

Abstract

Since the introduction of the learning-to-learn reform in 2000, Hong Kong policy-makers indicated that they would engage extensively and continuously in policy borrowing based on other high-performing jurisdictions worldwide. An illustrative example is the introduction of the 3 + 3 + 4 New Academic Structure since 2009. However, one of the areas that remain unexplored is the introduction of a broadening General Education among all eight publicly funded universities in the additional year of the four-year undergraduate education. Through narrative review on the basis of Ochs and Phillips’s theoretical model of policy borrowing in education, this article aims to offer an overview of the introduction of General Education among these universities and how it has been undergoing the four respective stages of (1) cross-national attraction; (2) decision; (3) implementation; and (4) internalisation or indigenisation. This will touch upon evaluating the key features being borrowed, adapted, and implemented, reviewing the relevant processes and outcomes, as well as highlighting the issues and challenges that have been and will be experienced. All these evidence-based perspectives can allow practitioners, policymakers, and researchers to better understand the complex policy borrowing process of General Education as a global educational initiative.