General Education (GE) has become a significant part of the curriculum in higher education in Hong Kong. An institution sets up a standing committee to assist its senate committee and administration units to review and supervise its general education programme.
Purpose
The purpose of this practice is to maintain a high standard of the GE programme to help respond to the changes of academic structure and the full development of the institution’s General Education. The main roles of the standing committee include (i) to examine the proposals for GE courses according to the objectives of the institution’s GE and the specific curriculum areas concerned, and to make recommendations for the approval of new GE courses (ii) to carry out regular review to revalidate the status of a GE course and (iii) to ensure that all GE courses are meeting the institution’s GE objectives, matching with GE desired characteristics and fitting in with the area specification of the institution’s GE programme. Members of the standing committee provide their independent and impartial views on the GE proposals and recommendations for the senate committee’s consideration.
Outcome
The standing committee has contributed to the maintenance of the academic standard of the institution’s GE programme and ensures that the approved courses are aligned with the stipulated GE objectives.