The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) held the fourth Common Core Course Excellence Award Presentation Ceremony today in recognition of outstanding common core courses. The event highlights the University’s endeavor and commitment to foster a holistic education for undergraduate students.
This year’s Excellence Award went to “Developing the Leader in You”, taught by Prof Roger Levermore and Dr Cubie Lau from the Department of Management. The course empowers, informs and motivates fresh undergraduates to see and develop themselves as future leaders through an inspiring combination of knowledge-sharing and self-discovery. It contains not only guest lectures and real-world cases from over 60 leaders across sectors, but also self-reflection sessions, teamwork projects and interactive classes, for students to learn how to lead in accordance with their own unique strengths.
Another course “Environmental Quality Control and Improvement”, taught by Prof Chii Shang from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, won the Honorary Mention. The course encourages the students to learn about sustainability in an inquiry-driven, problem-solving manner after Prof Shang revamped it last year into a small, flipped-classroom experience from the original lecture setting. Participants said the course, which also consists of a study trip to Guangxi, motivated them to explore beyond reading.
Officiating at the ceremony, President Prof Tony F Chan congratulated the winning teams. “The University is committed to enhancing common core courses in a mission to broaden the students’ horizons beyond their major disciplines of study, and help them build a broad and balanced foundation. I am glad to see some of our best faculty members honored for their efforts,” he said.
Prof King-lau Chow, Chairman of the University’s Committee on Undergraduate Core Education, said a well-designed course could always stand the test of time and constantly renew itself to cope with different demands. “The winner of this year’s award is an exemplar of this quality, which is well recognized by colleagues and students consistently year after year. It leads our students towards self-discovery and helps them position themselves in the ever-changing world,” he added.
Prof Chih-chen Chang, Academic Director of Undergraduate Core Education, also extended his congratulations. “The Common Core Program is an integral component of our undergraduate curriculum. We hope to bring students a balanced and broad education that can nurture them to be responsible citizens who excel in their endeavors and contribute to the society,” he said.
With nearly 300 courses, the Common Core Program covers a wide range of areas spanning social analysis, science and technology, humanities, quantitative reasoning, English communication, Chinese communication, arts, as well as healthy lifestyle. It comprises 36 credits out of a total of 120 to 126 credits of the four-year degree program. The selection process for this Award is rigorous and based on: the design of the course syllabus, assessment plan, course delivery, pedagogy and teaching innovation, and being overall an exemplar of a good common core course.
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