Commencing from 2012, university education in Hong Kong will move to the four year system, with the general education program at CUHK increasing from 15 credits to 21 credits, six of which will develop into the General Education Foundation Program which will be compulsory for all CUHK students.  Through the study of humanities and natural science classics, this program will give students the opportunity to ponder the timeless questions in those classics so as to strengthen the coherence of the overall general education program and deepen students’ common learning experience.  CUHK will comprehensively roll out the General Education Foundation Program in the 2012-13 academic year.  The Office of University General Education began the preparations for the program in 2007 and through the pilot courses at different stages, it improved the arrangements for the program.  In the 2010-11 academic year, all S6 entrants were required to take this Foundation Program.

With a view to improving the design and implementation of the Foundation Program, the BCRCGE has launched a two year Study of the Assessment of the Effectiveness of the General Education Foundation Program, the subjects of which are the S6 entrants during the two academic years between 2010-12.  The BCRCGE will regularly invite S6 entrants who have taken the program to participate in focus group discussions to learn their opinions on this compulsory program and their learning outcomes, so as to assess the effectiveness of the Foundation Program.  This study will collect relevant information by using the qualitative research method and, in combination with an analysis of quantitative data collected from the Course and Teaching Evaluation survey, comprehensively assess the effectiveness of the pilot courses of the Foundation Program.  The first stage, consisting of information collection, was completed in February 2011 and the focus group interviews of the second to fourth stages will be conducted in June 2011, January 2012 and June 2012 respectively.  The results of this study will assist the Office of University General Education in reviewing and improving the design and implementation of the Foundation Program to meet the challenges that will be encountered when it is comprehensively rolled out in the 2012-13 academic year.