University of Hong Kong
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HONG KONG
PHONE: 852-2859-2111
FAX: 852-2559-9459
www.hku.hk

THE BOTTOM LINE

The buzzword for the University of Hong Kong last year was "go digital" - a reference to its drive to help students computerize. This year, it's "go global." Says Vice-Chancellor Cheng Yiu-chung: "Globalization is something you cannot escape." And a welcome challenge. That's why Cheng is trying to instill a more international outlook in a 14,000-strong student body he describes as "very homogenous." Exchange programs with some 100 universities help. But Cheng hopes to broaden exposure on campus too: build up its foreign scholars to 10% of enrollment.

To prepare its graduates for rapidly shifting career demands, HKU has also launched mixed-degree programs. Business and social science students, for example, can straddle faculties rather than restrict themselves to one discipline. The medical school boasts another innovation: problem-based learning. No more memorizing 20 symptoms. Instead, students are asked to analyze actual cases - Chief Secretary Anson Chan's recent fainting spell, for one - and to come up with a diagnosis. The scientific basis for treatment emerges as students discuss the problem with tutors.

Also in the works is a requirement that students take at least 20% of their course work outside their major disciplines. It is a radical departure from HKU's traditional highly focused approach. Inevitably, die-hard academics will resist the changes. But the university is not just a teaching facility, Cheng insists. It is a place for training enlightened citizens. It should have a social conscience. Says Cheng: "Accepting change is not easy. You have to get out of the comfort zone."

- By Yulanda Chung