48
HKUST 2015-2016
Annual Report
49
R
esearch-embedded teaching combined
with capacity-building instruction propelled
the School beyond traditional pedagogical
boundaries to bring the local into the
global and vice versa during 2015-16.
CREATIVE CONNECTIVITY
The Global China Studies online curriculum reflects
the School’s commitment toward connectivity and
creativity, blended classroom teaching, and active
learning. Our interdisciplinary curriculum showcases
the School’s world-class research strength in creative
arts, humanities, language education, and social
science as well as the development of a new pedagogy
utilizing online resources to develop students’
communication skills, teamwork, and creativity. These
classes are taught exclusively in English and designed
for a multilingual student body whose first language
is generally not English.
SHSS currently has eight online courses completed or
scheduled for completion in Fall 2016 in the fields of
science/technology/society, social-economic history,
political science, language, quantitative methods,
music, economics, and economic history. They are
offered as Massive Open Online Classes (MOOCs) on
such major international platforms as Coursera and
edX, and used as the basis for active teaching and
learning through flipped classrooms in the School’s
undergraduate and postgraduate Global China
Studies curriculum and for blended classes at other
universities via self-developed MOOC videos.
DRIVING FORWARD MOBILITY
In line with today’s internationalized world, the School
constructively fosters students’ global citizenship and
prepares them to be part of a new highly mobile global
workforce. In 2015-16, approximately 70% of the
School’s undergraduates and 30% of postgraduates
had spent at least one term on outbound exchange
while at HKUST. Select undergraduates further
engaged in international internships, including
serving as political interns in the US Congress and
entrepreneurship interns in Silicon Valley.
Our successful collaboration with the University
of Virginia College of Arts and Sciences (UVa)
continues, with Jefferson Global Seminars offered
again at HKUST in Summer 2015. Over 90 students
from HKUST and UVa and HKUST’s global network
enrolled in these intensive classes.
The School also expanded its undergraduate/
postgraduate 3+1 Global China Studies Consortium
to 11 member universities, comprising Central
China University of Science and Technology, Nanjing
University, Shandong University, Shanghai Jiaotong
University, Shantou University, Sichuan University,
Sun Yat-Sen University, National Taiwan University,
Waseda University, Xi’an Jiaotong University, and
Zhejiang University. Outstanding students from these
universities can accelerate their studies and receive
a bachelor degree from their undergraduate university
as well as a MSc in Global China Studies from HKUST
in four to four and a half years.
GLOBAL FACULTY
In 2015-16, the School welcomed anthropologist Prof
Lucia Liu (previously Boston University) to the Division
of Humanities. Sociologist Prof Jack Goldstone
(formerly George Mason University) and public
policy expert Prof Xun Wu (from National University
of Singapore) joined the Division of Social Science
and the newly established Institute for Public Policy.
Prof Albert Park, a specialist indevelopment, education,
and labor economics, spent the 2016 Winter quarter
as an Exchange Professor at the California Institute
of Technology’s Division of Humanities and Social
Science. Prof Wenkai He, Division of Social Science,
and Prof Jianxiong Ma and Prof Shenqing Wu, both
Division of Humanities, received Harvard-Yenching
Institute (HYI) Visiting Scholar Awards to spend up to
one year at Harvard University in 2016-17. Prof He was
also awarded a HYI- Radcliffe Institute Joint Fellowship.
Faculty members from both divisions have assisted in
knowledge transfer through media appearances. In the
past year, SHSS academics have been cited, quoted, or
interviewed by various local, regional, and international
media, including Agence France-Presse, BBC China,
Bloomberg Business, The Economist, New York
Times, Wall Street Journal, Phoenix TV, South China
Morning Post, Radio Television Hong Kong and Voice of
America, among others.
COMMUNITY INPUT
Together with the HKUST Jockey Club Institute for
Advanced Study, the Division of Humanities invited
acclaimed Chinese writers Shu Ting, Su Tong, and Li Er
to be writers-in-residence, meet students, and deliver
popular public lectures. Sin Wai Kin Visiting Professor
of Chinese Culture Lianke Yan organized these and
other writers to teach a well-received class on creative
writing and world literature.
The Intimacy of Creativity returned for a sixth
season. The internationally renowned workshop
series originated at HKUST and is led by Founder
and Artistic Director Prof Bright Sheng, YK Pao
Distinguished Visiting Professor of Cultural Studies
and IAS Visiting Fellow. It centers on an innovative
dialogue between emerging composers and
established musicians on the development of new
scores. The 2016 season formedpart of theUniversity’s
25th Anniversary celebrations and included a five-
year Intimacy of Creativity retrospective concert. The
Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra participated as
the ensemble-in-residence and presented a world
premiere concert at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre,
featuring compositions revised during the Intimacy
of Creativity sessions.
SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES
AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
undergraduates spent at least one term
on outbound exchange
70%
Our interdisciplinary curriculum showcases the
School’s world-class research strength in the
following:
creative
arts
social science
language
education
communication
skills
teamwork
online resource
The School continues to embrace the exciting opportunities of
internationalization and mobility for students and faculty, and the Hong
Kong community
