1. Reading assignment
2. Course assessment
3. Honesty in academic work
4. Viewing of films and movies
5. Team-taught courses

1.      Reading assignment

University General Education (UGE) courses should provide the same academic content and intellectual depth expected of other university courses bearing the same credits. It is not acceptable that students can get a pass just by attending lectures or reading only non-academic news articles or online resource. There should be adequate academic readings for UGE courses. Instead of assigning an unrealistically long reading list, course teachers should specify 1-2 key readings for each topic covered in the course syllabus. Some mechanism should be built into course assessment to check that the assigned readings have been read. Some good practices are:

• Give clear guidelines and build-in reading requirement in written assignment(s), e.g. to examine a specific issue and cite at least two references from the assigned reading list.
• Set written assignment and examination questions related to the required readings.

^top

2.      Course assessment

1. Assessment should be articulated with the desired learning outcomes. Teachers need to consider what and how the assessment tasks are able to help students achieve the desired learning outcomes.
2. GE courses should carry the same workload in terms of reading and assignment as other university courses with the same number of units. It is desirable to incorporate mid-term test or other continuous assessment to assess learning progress and to complement the final examination or term paper.
3. Course assessment should not be conducted solely in response-type questions (e.g. multiple choice, true-or-false) or very short questions (those to be answered in a few words).
4. Marks should not be awarded for mere attendance but could be deducted for absence. If class participation is an assessment component, it should be effectively assessed and recorded.
5. As double-coded courses should be identical in all aspects and the credits earned are transferable between GE and departmental programmes, students of double-coded courses, whether registered under GE code or department code, should be assessed as one single class with the same assessment standard. Prevailing University assessment policies and guidelines, including those on grade distribution and percentages, should apply to the double-coded class combined rather than treating the classes each under GE code and department code separately.
6. All final examinations will be scheduled centrally by RES within the official examination period. For the University Summer Session, course examinations shall take place in the week immediately after teaching for the session ends.
7. Course assessment should follow the University Course Assessment Guidelines for undergraduates and the average grade should be set at B. The Assessment Panel on GE supports criterion referencing and teachers may provide grading criteria/rubrics and output of students to justify exceptional student performance.
8. Course grades are subject to review and approval by the Assessment Panel on GE. Course grades should not be released until they are duly approved by the Assessment Panel.
9. Teachers are advised to abide by The University’s Policy on Assessment of Student Learning in Taught Programmes.
10. Procedures of handling grade appeal for UGE courses:

• • For UGE courses, all grade appeals must be submitted in writing to the Office of University General Education (OUGE) within two weeks after the release of course grades.
  • OUGE will first consult the course teacher concerned for a review of the course grade. The teacher may decide to revise the grade if a careful review of the assessment component(s) involved justifies the change. The course teacher should then submit a request for grade revision to the Director of UGE on the prescribed UGE Grade Change Request Form. 
  • If the matter cannot be resolved by this stage, the student may substantiate the appeal by completing the UGE Grade Appeal Form. A reasonable justification must be provided on the Form. Otherwise, the application may not be accepted. 
  • Upon receipt of the Appeal Form with reasonable justification, the Director of UGE will request the offering department to assign one or more independent teachers to re-assess the written assignment(s), examination answer script(s) and other relevant assessment component(s) of the student. The course teacher shall provide the grading criteria as reference materials. 
  • The result of this second marking will be final; and the grade may remain unchanged, be adjusted upward or downward. 

^top

3.      Honesty in academic work

All written assignments should be submitted via VeriGuide, an online platform for similarity detection of assignments. The VeriGuide team can be reached by email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

If the course teacher judges that there is a plagiarism case after reading the Veriguide report, the teacher shall alert and give the student concerned access to the relevant portion of the report before the case is taken to any committee concerned.  The matter shall not be handled by the teacher alone, since this will lead to inconsistent treatment. All incidence of suspected plagiarism in UGE courses should be reported to the relevant Faculty Disciplinary Committee.

For more information, please refer to the following:

• Honesty in Academic Work: A Guide for Students and Teachers (Plagiarism) 
• An introduction of VeriGuide
• Electronic submission of assignment via Veriguide

^top

4.      Viewing of films and movies

Viewing of films should generally take place outside the class, with the exception of short fragments for immediate discussion in the class. For courses related to films and movies, course teachers should ensure that film copies are available in the Library and arrange for viewing sessions outside class time.

^top

5.      Team-taught courses

For courses jointly offered by a group of teachers, it is important to ensure that there exists a coherent and coordinated academic framework to connect the wide array of topics covered by different teachers. Coordination among the teachers to work out a coherent syllabus is indispensable, and it is necessary to have a course coordinator who can monitor the implementation quality. Pre-course and post-course meetings are necessary to monitor and ensure the standard and a smooth delivery of the course.

^top