HKBU Graduate Attributes Prof. Tony Hung Language Centre

Some Important Questions for the Institution ‘What student learning outcomes are we trying to achieve? What kind of graduates are we trying to produce, and why? … Are our desired learning outcomes reflected in all programmes?’ [from the QAC Audit Manual: 5.4]

Proposed Graduate Attributes for HKBU An undergraduate education at HKBU aims at developing all aspects of the Whole Person -- intellectual, professional, moral, cultural, social and physical. In particular, it aims to foster the following attributes among its graduates, who should:

1.Have up-to-date, in-depth knowledge of an academic specialty, as well as a broad range of general knowledge; 2.Be able to think critically and creatively; 3.Be independent, lifelong learners with an open mind and an inquiring spirit;

4.Have trilingual and biliterate competence in English and Chinese (including Putonghua), and the ability to articulate ideas clearly and coherently; 5.Have the necessary IT, mathematical, organisational, problem-solving and information skills to function effectively in work and everyday life; 6.Be responsible citizens with an international outlook, a sense of ethics and human values, and a readiness to serve and lead and work as a team member.

Inculcating Graduate Attributes 1.Up-to-date, in-depth knowledge of an academic specialty as well as a broad range of general knowledge: Our undergraduate curriculum -- with its major requirements, and provisions for ‘complementary’ and ‘distribution’ subjects -- is designed to help students acquire reasonably in-depth knowledge of an academic specialty as well as broad general knowledge.

2. Ability to think critically and creatively: This demands more attention and effort from all academic programmes, where there is (generally) too much reliance on traditional modes of teaching as ‘knowledge transmission’ -- to the neglect of getting students to think critically and creatively about what they are learning. Critical and creative thinking is best taught not in isolation, but by all teachers in the teaching of all subjects.

3. Being independent, lifelong learners with an open mind and an inquiring spirit: Students are unlikely to develop into ‘lifelong learners’ if we teach them mainly by transmitting ready-made knowledge to them and getting them to regurgitate it at the end of the course; If we really want them to become lifelong learners, we will have to foster a spirit of inquiry and help them discover knowledge for themselves instead of ‘spoon- feeding’ them.

4. Trilingual and biliterate competence in English and Chinese (including Putonghua), and the ability to articulate ideas clearly and coherently: HKBU has adequate (?) provisions for core language courses in English and Chinese -- including Putonghua (with the recently introduced Putonghua requirement for all undergraduates); What we need more of are language courses designed to develop higher-level communicative skills – such as public-speaking, creative writing (in a broad sense), and language for specific purposes.

5. The necessary IT, mathematical, organisational, problem-solving and information skills to function effectively in work and everyday life; Existing IT and information courses, and the proposed introduction of a core course on ‘Mathematics’ (tentative title) in the 4-year curriculum, may go some way towards meeting this need; Like critical and creative thinking, these skills need to be taken on board by every academic programme (in whatever shape or form is appropriate).

6. Being responsible citizens with an international outlook, a sense of ethics and human values, and a readiness to serve and lead and work as a team member. There are co-curricular and extra-curricular programmes aimed at fostering these attributes, but all teachers can contribute to them in one way or another through their teaching.

Appendix: Graduate Profiles/Attributes in other HK universities CityU: (i) (ii) CUHK: (i) n.html (ii) an_eng2.pdf n.html an_eng2.pdf HKIEd: HKU: HKUST: Lingnan: PolyU: