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Evaluation of the general university requirements: what did students say?

  • Daniel T.L. Shek EMAIL logo , Lu Yu and Wen Yu Chai
Published/Copyright: June 14, 2016

Abstract

The General University Requirements (GUR) is the core general education component of the new 4-year undergraduate curriculum at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) commencing from the 2012/2013 academic year. The major objective of the GUR is to widen students’ horizons and promote their holistic development in their undergraduate years. To evaluate the perceived effectiveness of the GUR in its second year implementation, 18 focus group interviews (n=74 students) were conducted in the 2013/2014 academic year. Findings showed that subjects under the GUR framework were overall welcomed by students for the well-designed subject contents, dedicated teaching staff, and collaborative and experiential learning methods. Students perceived that the GUR was beneficial to their development in effective communication, critical thinking, problem solving, lifelong learning, and ethical leadership. Some challenges encountered by students were noted to further revamp the GUR curriculum in the future.


Corresponding author: Daniel T.L. Shek, PhD, Associate Vice President (Undergraduate Programme) and Chair Professor of Applied Social Sciences, Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hunghom, Hong Kong, P.R. China

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Received: 2015-1-15
Accepted: 2015-2-21
Published Online: 2016-6-14
Published in Print: 2017-2-1

©2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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