Education:
Meeting the Challenges of Tomorrow
CUHK's exacting standards and innovative programmes enable its students to step up to the challenges of tomorrow
CUHK prides itself in its dedication to education. Over the past decades, continual enhancement has resulted in a balanced undergraduate curriculum of both breadth and depth, anchored by an award-winning General Education curriculum. Non-formal education programmes contribute significantly to a well-rounded education and whole-person development. Postgraduate programmes bloomed. The University’s coursework and research postgraduate programmes are much sought after by local, mainland and international students. Considerable effort has been put into expanding professional and continuing education, which provides opportunities for upskilling and enrichment and in so doing, serves the needs of society.
The Next Lap
To meet the challenges of tomorrow, CUHK graduates must be globally ready, be able to cross knowledge boundaries, and aspire to become competent leaders and make lifelong contributions to society.
To achieve these ends, the University recognizes that the curricula at all levels and their constituent components, the programme structure and pedagogy, as well as the University’s infrastructure should be enhanced to create an even better teaching and learning environment to engage and encourage the students to step out of their comfort zone and take ownership of their learning.
The University has been conducting rigorous reviews on its strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats to chart its way forward. Notwithstanding the accomplishment
of the strategic goals in the last five years, which saw an enhanced curriculum with an
increased emphasis on entrepreneurship and innovation, language proficiency and
collaborative programmes, programme structures and pedagogy need to be made
more adaptive and responsive to the potential risks and threats in the New Normal and
in an increasingly complex and fast-changing politico-economic landscape. The rigorous major programme structure that requires the students to immerse fully in a subject discipline can sometimes become a hurdle for the fostering of interdisciplinary learning, which may turn out to be a weakness that needs to be addressed.
Secondly, ‘CUHK 2025’ seeks to build on the high-quality postgraduate education that has contributed to the success of the University as a bastion of cutting-edge research and trailblazing discoveries. The University aims to raise the number and quality of its postgraduate students with enhanced internationalization and research initiatives. This will help push research and innovation to a higher level and contribute to talent development.
Lastly, the School of Continuing and Professional Studies (CUSCS) has also undergone major development in recent years, following the implementation of its five-year plan formulated in 2016. With a robust quality assurance system in place, CUSCS is in a strong position to promote lifelong learning, in line with the Government’s strategy in response to changing conditions in the employment scene.
To prepare our students for the challenges of tomorrow, to equip them with the knowledge, skills and values through formal and non-formal learning, the University must set clear goals and devise appropriate strategies to bring them to fruition. The goals we have set for ourselves in the years 2021–2025 are:
Education is central to the University’s vision and mission and must work in tandem with research, student experience and the other equally important components of ‘CUHK 2025’ to propel the University forward. With a strong foundation, there is every confidence that CUHK will be known for its exacting standards and innovative programmes, enabling our students to meet the challenges of tomorrow. With the support of faculty members, staff, students, alumni and friends of the University, and working closely with industry and government, the future is bright.
