University challenge: to be cultural melting pots
Culture and Life, a mainland magazine, recently published interviews with a number of Hong Kong professors. They said that with its free flow of information, well-equipped labs and wide-ranging library collections, Hong Kong was a perfect place for young, talented mainlanders as they prepare for the challenges from an increasingly globalised world.
The interviews echo a concerted effort to promote Hong Kong as a regional hub for higher education, by both the government and universities, in recent years.
But, in addition to well-equipped labs and libraries, Hong Kong universities' most important strength lies in the multicultural and bilingual learning setting that provides the necessary conditions for critical and innovative thinking. However, this strength is less appreciated than it should be.
Hong Kong is home to academics from all over the world. As a result, courses at Hong Kong universities are offered in Cantonese, Putonghua and English, although some establishments have opted to forgo mother-tongue education in recent years.
Such a learning environment facilitates a dynamic interchange among students from different social backgrounds.
For example, mainland students, in general, tend to be more philosophical than Hong Kong students. In contrast, Hong Kong students tend to be more practical. They are concerned more with the application of theories in real life.
By accommodating students from diverse cultures, universities here can offer an opportunity for students to learn, and reflect, on the positive and negative consequences of their respective learning habits.
Mainland students tend to be introverted, when compared with their overseas peers. More often than not, students from North America are keen to ask questions, share their thoughts with classmates, and even challenge the authority of teachers. In contrast, mainland and Hong Kong students tend to sit quietly throughout lectures, even if they have doubts about the material being presented
Even within the same age group, students from North America - and some from Hong Kong - have more experience of the world than mainlanders. Concern about real-life problems encourages a mode of thinking that emphasises problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
Mainland students, on the other hand, are keen to be great planners. But with less worldly experience, they are often oblivious to the problems that can emerge during the execution of great ideas.
If Hong Kong is to become a centre for education, it has to enhance its multicultural teaching and learning setting.
It has to continue to recruit professors and students from diverse backgrounds, to facilitate greater interchange.
Only by focusing on dynamism can Hong Kong universities succeed in their mission - a mission that will truly benefit students from Hong Kong, the mainland and overseas.
Kitty Poon, an assistant professor at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, is a part-time member of the government's Central Policy Unit
