Bulletin No. 2, 2015

participation by different stakeholders; • whether the implementation was carefully designed; and • whether there was evidence of improvement in student learning which could facilitate continuous improvement. • how the need for improvement was defined; • how the improvement scheme dovetailed with missions of the university and met the needs of students; • whether the cur r i culum was bas ed on research or empirical data; whether there was AGLS’s Assessment Criteria The assessment covers the complete cycle of a programme from its development, implementation, results, to measures for ensuring continuous improvement. An institution competing for the award has to explain: Jerry Gaff , a world renowned general education expert, to review our programme. He was very impressed by the GEF and encouraged us to compete for this award. So we gave it a shot.’ The assessment panel was impressed by CUHK’s well-paced implementation of the GEF, its collection of empirical data on learning outcomes, and making step-by-step improvements. They were surprised that a comprehensive research university can develop a foundation programme with relatively low credit requirements that has an extensive and deep impact on all students. One of the panel members even said that it was necessary to review the method of general education reform—conventional sweeping reforms may no longer be desirable, and that perhaps it would be better to learn from CUHK’s practice of focusing on small areas as a foundation for learning partnerships hence creating common learning experiences for students. T his year, The Chinese University of Hong Kong became the first institution outside the US to receive the Exemplary Programme Award for Improving General Education from the Association for General and Liberal Studies (AGLS), in recognition of its commitment to continuously improve teaching and learning approaches in general education based on students’ needs and learning outcomes. Prof. Leung Mei-yee , Director of University General Education, and Dr. Julie Chiu , Deputy P rogramme D ire c to r, Gene ral Educ at i on Foundation Programme, CUHK, were presented the award in September in Wisconsin during the AGLS annual meeting (photo), where they spoke of their experiences in developing the general education programme at CUHK. Talking about what made the Office of University General Education (OUGE) decide to compete for the award, Professor Leung said general education is not a discipline in its own right and different universities have their own ways of developing and teaching it. There’s no universal yardstick for measuring their performances. ‘We have been paying attention to the education models and assessment methods around the globe. In 2012, the University introduced the General Education Foundation (GEF) Programme. Although it has been well received by students, we are not complacent. Last year we invited International Recognition for GE Foundation Programme 23