Knowledge for knowledge's sake

Arts and humanities master's degrees are attracting an increasing number of professionals who seek to enhance the depth of their knowledge outside their more focused chosen fields.

They may not be professionally oriented, but subjects ranging from literature and China studies to cultural studies have become more popular with the rise of a knowledge-based society.

The Faculty of Arts at the University of Hong Kong, for example, has doubled the number of master's programmes it offers over the past seven or eight years to more than a dozen . 'In a knowledge economy, people realise the importance of upgrading their skills, not necessarily in terms of professionally oriented knowledge but transferable skills such as analytical, communications and writing skills,' said associate dean of the faculty, Frederick Lee Yok-shiu.

From this year, Chinese University's anthropology department is offering increased evening and weekend courses to fit in with time constraints of working professionals. Twenty out of its 36 current MA students study on a part-time basis, including civil servants, teachers, business people and graphic designers.

Many were driven by personal interests, said Joseph Bosco, head of the graduate division. 'Hong Kong is getting to the point where people are interested in broadening their knowledge in how the world works, driven by a broadened desire for knowledge.'

Exploring culture-related issues such as identity and globalisation, anthropology is at the intersection of humanities and social sciences, combining social science research techniques with an interpretative approach.

'The holism, breadth of study and explanation of cultures offered by anthropology is at the core of liberal education. It helps teachers in teaching liberal studies,' Dr Bosco said.