General Education plays a vital role in the University's mission to provide a balanced undergraduate education for all students. It equips students with the intellectual capacity for understanding critical issues, ideas, and values of humanity in modern society. It nurtures students to be educated persons capable of making informed judgment and meeting the challenges of the ever-changing world. Providing a firm foundation for the well-rounded intellectual development of students, it prepares them to be lifelong learners and engaged citizens with a global awareness.

More specifically, GE of CUHK is designed to:

1. furnish students with a broad intellectual perspective for dealing with unfamiliar questions;
2. engage students in active reflections on perennial issues, prompting them to make connections between intellectual pursuits and life at work, at home and in the community;
3. promote an understanding of Chinese cultural heritage and of other cultural traditions;
4. develop the attitudes and skills that are conducive to critical thinking, self-expression and communication with the others;
5. extend students' curiosity, promote a habit of reading widely, and develop attitudes and competence as independent learners and team players.