Globalization and the transformation of higher education in Hong Kong

This thesis is an attempt to analyze how higher education in Hong Kong has been affected by the sweeping force of globalization. I will focus mainly on higher education, as the implications of globalization for higher education are relatively more substantial, especially in terms of its relation to national development and to academic work within universities themselves. Also, my analysis of the unfolding dynamics of globalization involves chiefly two players/agents: one at the 'top' level, while another at the 'bottom' level. The agent at the top level is represented by the Hong Kong University Grants Committee (UGC), as it has been entrusted by the state to develop a quality assurance and assessment mechanism at all state-funded higher education institutions. The global trends and elements, such as accountability, marketization, commodification of higher education, etc., can well be illustrated by the education policies enforced by the UGC, especially the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), the Teaching and Learning Quality Process Review (TLQPR) and the promotion of self-financed programmes. On the other hand, the agent at the bottom level refers to the higher education institutions and its academics. Through in-depth interviews, the responses and reactions of the academics, faculty members and administrators of universities towards the global practices and the policies of the UGC will be analyzed. I tries to argue that the faculty/institutional response is rather passive, individualistic, and covert, and there has lacked collective response to fight against the globalization forces that emphasize economic norms like productivity, efficiency, cost-effectiveness, etc. There has emerged a paradoxical phenomenon that the traditional values and beliefs seem to be, on the one hand, under threat from global forces, and on the other hand, increasingly pushed toward similarity and homogeneity. On the whole, I hope that this study can raise the issues for universities and policy makers to rethink and debate