Commercial or educational orientations: Taught postgraduate education governance in Hong Kong

Abstract

Purpose

Taught postgraduate (TPg) education is the resource for lifelong learning and continuing education in respond to the demands of a qualified workforce in the digital era. Good TPg governance is crucial for ensuring the quality of student learning outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the framework of the market-oriented governance model of TPg education in Hong Kong from the aspects of provision, finance and quality assurance. The framework is applied to analyse the pitfalls of TPg students’ learning in curriculum, assessment and management, of which data were collected from an empirical study.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the grounded theory approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 TPg students from four universities in Hong Kong at individual or group level to understand their motivation towards further study. The interview protocols were analysed to develop a thematic framework, and a part of it is presented in this paper to discuss the programme factors that caused negative student learning outcomes in the light of the drawbacks of the TPg governance model in Hong Kong.

Findings

A balance between commercial purposes and educational orientations of TPg provision could be sought by adjust the power distribution of the central government and institutions in terms of quality assurance mechanism, and the setting and implementation of general and specific goals of TPg education.

Originality/value

TPg education is an under investigation area. It is an important education sector that provides opportunities for lifelong learning with the purpose of cultivating a skilful workforce. This paper contributes to the development of efficient TPg governance for ensuring the qualities of TPg programmes to benefit the advancement of society in the Hong Kong context.

Citation

Ho, A. (2019), "Commercial or educational orientations: Taught postgraduate education governance in Hong Kong", Asian Education and Development Studies, Vol. 8 No. 4, pp. 375-386. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEDS-01-2019-0008