Introduction
Because of a lack of local tertiary education places, Hong Kong has traditionally had more of its student population studying for degrees abroad than at home. Moreover, in the past decade, overseas institutions in Britain, Canada and Australia have also been offering study opportunities by distance education in Hong Kong itself.
The aim of this paper is not to discourage institutions from offering distance education courses in Hong Kong, but to examine what I perceive to be some of the realities associated with such educational ventures at the present time. I will explore some ways in which the Hong Kong government seeks to regulate tertiary education in the Territory and present the options which are available to overseas institutions together with some issues to be considered when any of these options are adopted. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of some of the special problems posed by Hong Kong's reverting to P.R. China as a Special Administrative Region in July 1997. The point of these comments is not to denigrate the work of local Hong Kong institutions who are, I believe, performing a valuable role in expanding opportunities for tertiary education in the Territory. It is the case though, that there are numerous cultural and policy issues which underlie adult tertiary education in Hong Kong of which representative
s of Western institutions may not be aware and which will have an impact of the implementation of overseas distance education programmes.
Government Control Over Tertiary Education
There are currently seven government-funded tertiary institutions in Hong Kong: three universities, two polytechnics one of which incorporates a College of Higher Vocational Studies, one liberal arts college and one post-secondary college which is currently upgrading its courses to degree level. These are referred to as the Universities and Polytechnics Grants Committee (UPGC) funded institutions.
Vocational education is organised by the Vocational Training Council which is an independent statutory body. Teacher education below graduate level is organised and funded as a government department rather than through autonomous institutions, though there are now proposals for an extensive upgrading of the qualifications of teachers over the next 15 years together with a move to make teacher initial teacher training institutions autonomous government bodies. (See Education Commission Report No. 5, 1992.) Teaching of graduate and post-graduate education courses takes place in two of the universities.
In spite of the clear need for retrieval education in the Territory and the changes brought about by Hong Kong's shifting economic base, adult and continuing education is still a "poor relation" when it comes to government funding: all further education ventures are expected to be largely self-funding. This does not necessarily mean that further education is beyond government control however: mostly it is the UPGC funded institutions which organise short fee-paying courses through their extramural studies or continuing education units and these attract tens of thousands of enrolments each year.
In addition there are strict government regulations about which other establishments may offer tertiary level courses in Hong Kong. (See Laws of Hong Kong Education Ordinance Chapter 279 Revised Edition 1971.) According to the law, to offer tuition to twenty or more persons during any one day, an establishment must be registered with the government and such registration is not easy to obtain. Offering education courses while unregistered may result in a fine and prison sentence.
Options for Overseas Institutions
Keeping in mind the above regulations, if an overseas institution wants to offer a distance education course in Hong Kong, there are currently three ways that this can be done and all have their advantages and limitations.
- Offer the course directly to Hong Kong students by supplying them with course materials, assessment and examination opportunities and possibly requiring them to travel abroad for some face-to-face tuition. Publicising the course is usually done through newspaper advertising.
- Sell course materials to the Open Learning Institute of Hong Kong or possibly some other appropriate education institution such as the Hong Kong Polytechnic which would then use these materials in modified or unmodified form as part of the teaching materials for a programme offered under their own name.
- Enter into a partnership with an existing UPGC funded institution which will carry out an administrative role such as hiring tutors, organising tutorials or laboratory sessions, handling assignments on behalf of an overseas institution, in return for a fee. This would usually be the extramural studies or continuing education arm of the institutions, but may involve departments within the institution whose staff would perform some tuition as well.
Independent Operations
As mentioned above there are restrictions place on non-registered institutions in Hong Kong (and this includes all overseas institutions) which make it illegal to teach twenty or more students in any one day. Severe penalties could be imposed for a breach of this regulation and though in practice this is not common, overseas institutions which have sought to operate independently in Hong Kong in the recent past have been given the choice of entering into a partnership with an existing institution or suspend their programme.
It is clear that the Hong Kong government wishes to actively discourage any attempts by overseas institutions to establish themselves in Hong Kong. Referring to "independent operation" by overseas institutions, Wong (1988) stated this at an international seminar in Australia:
The picture would not be complete if I said nothing about overseas institutions of higher education wishing to operate independently in Hong Kong. There is no doubt in my mind that they will face great difficulties. The option of setting up a fully fledged campus is not realistic. The cost would be a great deterrent. Any such proposition would face very careful scrutiny as tertiary institutions in Hong Kong are established by separate ordinances which, in legal terms, equate to Acts of Parliament in Australia. It would be difficult for a privately funded venture to meet the standards we would demand, let alone the need for enacting further legislation. (pp.20-21)
The aim of the Ordinance may be to exclude unscrupulous operators but the effect on overseas institutions who wish to offer distance education courses independent of local institutions in Hong Kong is to prevent them from offering tutorial support to the Hong Kong students and from setting up an office in the Territory. Presumably to avoid bureaucratic and legal problems several overseas institutions offer courses from their home base by correspondence and students may be required to attend on-campus sessions on the overseas campus concerned or at some other location-perhaps in South East Asia.
Such an alternative is not illegal, but whether it is an effective option for the majority of students who would want to enrol in distance education courses while residing in Hong Kong is questionable. Some mature age higher degree students with a good command of the language of instruction (presumably English) may well find this type of study acceptable, but on the whole the great majority of students do need local tutorial support with their distance education studies, particularly in the light of the fact that they are not studying in their mother tongue-not to mention the numerous cultural anomalies that may arise in interpretation of the study materials. Furthermore, it is difficult for the overseas institution to gain insight into the impact of their course in Hong Kong and to modify their teaching materials and assessments accordingly. So an unintended impact of the Hong Kong law is to foster a minimalist approach which in most cases will not benefit either the students or the institution concerned.
Sell Course Materials
The Open Learning Institute of Hong Kong, established in 1989, operates partly by using course materials purchased elsewhere with or without adaptation. Originally, courses from the British Open University were favoured but this institution now actively seeks appropriate good quality materials from English speaking countries. Their quest is a difficult one, as in spite of all the directories and databases that now exist they cannot always find suitable materials at an appropriate price.
If it is decided that modification of the curriculum and study materials is necessary, where this takes place will depend largely on the availability of persons qualified to undertake this task either in Hong Kong or in the country of origin of the course. By "qualified" I mean having both a knowledge of the course content and appreciation of distance education teaching methods and an understanding of Hong Kong's students and their cultural context.
Teachers in the country of origin may well have a knowledge of the course content and the approach to teaching by distance education inherent in the course materials, but may lack an appreciation of Hong Kong's students and Chinese culture. On the other hand, local Hong Kong academics may be well equipped to deal with cultural and language factors but may be unfamiliar with the course content and with distance education methods. The dilemma which this poses is obvious.
In particular modifying a course from abroad must surely have its pitfalls simply because of a lack of intimate knowledge about Chinese cultural assumptions about the role of education. For instance, though Hong Kong has been a British Colony since 1841, the education system as a whole is still very much a Chinese one, emphasising competition and selection. As such, examinations play an important role in the system and are emphasised over individual development.
In addition to cultural expectations, a failure to appreciate the sometimes restricted language abilities of students in relation to the reading material provided; lack of access to local sources to obtain readings, references or case studies; difficulties with composing assignments which are relevant and challenging to students in Hong Kong, will all result in a course which is largely unsuited to the needs of Hong Kong students. Furthermore, academic traditions common in Western countries, such as writing polemical and critical articles and books which challenge the establishment are not readily appreciated by many Hong Kong students for whom this tradition is quite foreign.
Let me give an example of some unintended consequences arising from a distance education course which originates abroad and on which I was tutoring recently. The level of expression in the study guides was often difficult for students to understand fully but in addition the readings contained many expressions which were only really meaningful in their country of origin. Students became unnecessarily worried and distracted by such expressions. Furthermore, the tradition of open criticism which pervaded much academic writing in the set readings was foreign to Hong Kong students and as a result the students formed the impression that the societies from which these materials originated must be quite terrible places in which to live. Because assignments were set without reference to specific local sources but were at the same time asking students to write about topics in the context of Hong Kong, great confusion arose: surely local sources were needed to support their arguments but where could such sources be f
ound? The course designers had no idea of how difficult it can be to access a library in a higher education institution in Hong Kong if you are not enrolled in that institution. Even if such access were possible the students did not know what sources, such as journals or report, they should read. A well-thought-out modification would have alleviated many of these problems and allowed students to attend to the course requirements without unnecessary distractions.
Enter Into a Partnership
If you want to provide students with support services in Hong Kong itself, you may legally do this by entering into a partnership with a local institution through their extramural studies or continuing education units. Students are still enrolled and will graduate from your institution but you may negotiate assistance for a fee or percentage of earnings with such matters as: tutorial accommodation, collection and return of assignments in bulk, hiring of local tutors, sending notices to students and distribution of course materials through a central agency.
Once again referring to Wong's (1988) address, it is apparent that this is the officially preferred option.
Those wishing to offer courses may do so either independently or by entering into some form of partnership with our tertiary institutions. The Hong Kong Government's policy is to encourage the latter approach so that students can be assured of tuition by qualified staff and of access to facilities appropriate to tertiary level studies. (p.18)
Beyond this advice, however, there are no policy guidelines for such co-operative ventures. It is very much a matter of negotiation between the overseas institution and the local Hong Kong institution.
Wong did, in 1988, present some proposed policy guidelines recommended by the Education Commission and these guidelines clearly see a role for the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation (HKCAA) in monitoring the quality of overseas courses and course materials used in Hong Kong. In reality these guidelines have not been adopted as policy by the government, and given both the heavy competing demands on government and on the HKCAA as well, it seems most unlikely that they will be followed through.
At one level such partnerships work well, but there are pitfalls which can diminish the effectiveness of a Hong Kong operation. For instance:
- The standard of tutorial accommodation may not live up to expectations and it is consistent with the government's attitude to adult and continuing education in the Territory that such accommodation does not receive a high priority. Most rooms would have a TV monitor and video player but students and tutors may need to contend with paint peeling from the walls, old fashioned and noisy air-conditioners in summer, too many desks crowded into a room and in exceptional circumstances with jack hammers in the ceiling, or meeting in a local church hall or school. Remember that extramural and continuing education departments are largely required to be self-financing and they will not expend large amounts of their incomes on these "non-essential" features. So when you observe the very high standard of on-campus accommodation and facilities in most of the UPGC-funded institutions in Hong Kong it would be unwise to assume that this is what your distance education students will be getting.
- Unless you have someone in Hong Kong who can continually monitor the dozens of small but important organisational aspects of your programme don't assume that standards will be maintained by the partnering institution. Most deal with, or are trying to attract, a very large number of overseas institutions and you may not be aware of this. Consequently their administrative staff may be willing but unable to cope with the volume of work required of them. This problem will not be solved by sending academic staff to Hong Kong to give lectures every few months or by sending in a troubleshooting administrator when the situation reaches crisis point.
- The extramural studies department with which you are dealing may have conflicting loyalties of which you are unaware and hence may not promote or support your course to the fullest extent possible. Such conflicts can arise when they themselves are offering a similar programme or when they take on two or more partners who are offering similar programmes from overseas.
- You may find that you and your Hong Kong students end up with having to deal with more than one agency because certain work may be contracted out to other bodies such as commercial agencies. For example the extramural studies department may arrange tutorials and set up rooms but another agency may be collecting and returning the assignments and sending out notices to students, and so on. The importance of a local coordinator known to your institution is underlined because tasks will rise where there has been no clear responsibility allocated in advance to the different bodies or agencies.
- Local tutors will need to be found and you will rely heavily on these tutors to assist your students with understanding the course materials, interpreting the assignments and feedback on assignments, answering questions of an administrative nature or referring students elsewhere for help. By and large, even though the local tutors may be academically qualified to teach the course, they will experience many of the same problems as students in understanding and interpreting overseas study materials because of language problems or unfamiliarity with the cultural context in which the materials were developed. The issue of briefing and monitoring tutors needs to be considered seriously.
- Most importantly you will need to devise a system whereby you can obtain good feedback from the tutors about the students and the difficulties they are encountering. Where the tutor is Chinese this feedback may be very difficult to elicit as he or she may not want to appear to be unduly critical of the employing institution or of the local partnering institution. Likewise comments by students about the teaching in tutorials or about the course materials or the course administration will not in the initial stages be particularly direct as they may be in a Western context. Inevitably you must read between the lines.
- All financial agreements need to be worked out carefully to ensure that offering a course in this way really is financially viable. The Hong Kong partner will almost certainly be more experienced in the area of marketing education than most Western academics who simply may not see all the unforeseen expenses that will arise and which the overseas institution has explicitly or implicitly agreed to meet.
- In addition the choice of a representative to negotiate on behalf of an overseas institution goes beyond experience with negotiating arrangements of this kind and familiarity with the administrative requirements of distance education. In general it is preferable to send the most senior person available to the institution to perform this task and this person should negotiate with the head of the extramural studies or continuing education unit and heads of any other academic departments which may be involved. More junior representatives will be treated with great courtesy but they will not command sufficient respect to perform their negotiating task effectively.
Hence in the absence of clear policy guidelines for partnership arrangements, standards of student support and institutional co-operation may vary considerably within Hong Kong. Clear and detailed contractual agreements may help to overcome this problem to a certain extent but there still needs to be a representative of the overseas institution in Hong Kong who will monitor the arrangements and suggest modifications where necessary.
As 1997 nears...
As with many educational marketing ventures, the sale of distance education courses cannot be expected to yield profits in the short-term. Yet it is not always easy to assess the long-term viability of courses in Hong Kong particularly in the lead up to 1997. In the present uncertain climate it may be possible to enrol the quota of students needed for one or two intakes but subsequent intakes may be well below what is economically viable as more and more professionals prefer to go live and study abroad in order to qualify for citizenship elsewhere. Even in the on-campus sector, Hong Kong higher education institutions as a whole have recently undergone a massive expansion programme but there are increasing uncertainties as to whether there will be enough students to fill the number of places created.
Furthermore, the effect of enrolments of courses which span 1997 needs to be considered. For those students who intend to remain in Hong Kong the effect may not be dramatic but for those students who intend to leave before that time, assurance will need to be given that they may continue to study and finish the qualification elsewhere in the world. Unless those assurances can be made explicit they may simply delay beginning a course which cannot be completed before 1997. In fact 1995 is generally considered to be the more realistic date for definite decisions about immigration being made.
On this theme Shive (1992) writes:
The 1990s will be a dynamic period for higher education in Hong Kong. The traditionally small number of university places will increase rapidly, thus further expanding opportunities for the working class in Hong Kong. However, acquiring a tertiary level education will also encourage some to use it as a basis to acquire the right to abode overseas. ... Moreover, whether or not the rapid expansion of local higher education will discourage Hong Kong residents from choosing to enrol in overseas universities instead is also questionable due to the uncertainty surrounding the quality of the expanded tertiary education sector in Hong Kong. (p.229).
Conclusion
This paper aims to raise some practical considerations for institutions who are contemplating offering distance education courses in Hong Kong. The options available and the limitations placed on overseas institutions by Hong Kong Law are outlined. In the belief that it is better to approach the Hong Kong situation in a state of preparedness, some implications of choosing a particular option are discussed. In the expectation that most institutions will enter into a partnership with a local institution and in the absence of any policy guidelines, rather more attention is given to the partnership issue than to the options of selling course materials or operating independently via a correspondence course.
What emerges from this discussion is a need to understand the themes and assumptions which pervade the Chinese culture in Hong Kong and which are an important part of the cultural heritage of its people. I argue that such an understanding is necessary both in negotiating a partnership and in modifying course materials for Hong Kong students.
Lastly, at the level of planning and budgeting for an overseas educational venture in Hong Kong, it would be unwise to ignore enrolment trends in Hong Kong generally which may be associated with immigration to other countries or uncertainties about undertaking courses which span 1997, or even more conservatively, which extend beyond 1995, which is anticipated to be a key time decision-making for Hong Kong people concerning their future abode.
References
Education Commission Report No. 5, (1992). The Teaching Profession, Hong Kong Government Printer, Hong Kong.
Laws of Hong Kong, Education Ordinance, Chapter 279, Revised Edition 1971.
Shive, G. (1992) "Education and Expansion of the Labour Force" in G.A. Postiglione (ed.) Education and Society in Hong Kong, Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong, pp. 215-31.
Wong, D.S.W. (1988) "Higher Education in Hong Kong and the Implications for Australian Institutions", Proceedings of International Seminar Australian Education Offshore, February. pp.17-21.
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