Roundtable and Forum on "Enhancing Trade in Education Services: Education Hubs, Student Mobility and Policy Challenges"

Lingnan scholars shared insights at a roundtable and forum on “Enhancing Trade in Education Services: Education Hubs, Student Mobility and Policy Challenges” held at the City University of Hong Kong (CityU) on 16 September. Hosted by the Hong Kong APEC Study Centre at the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) and supported by the Department of Sociology and Social Policy at Lingnan University, the Department of Asian and International Studies at CityU and the Centre for Governance and Citizenship at HKIEd, the event drew together over 70 participants including well-known scholars, policy-makers, education practitioners and postgraduate students who exchanged views on trends in the international trade in higher education and its implications for key stakeholders.

Through the presentations of eminent speakers, the audience had the opportunity to understand the internationalisation strategies, obstacles and achievements in the higher education sector of Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore. Lingnan President Leonard K Cheng, Vice-President Prof Joshua Mok Ka-ho and Head of Sociology and Social Policy Department Prof David Phillips participated in and spoke at the roundtable.

In his presentation, Prof Joshua Mok analysed the topic “Hong Kong as Regional Education Hub: An Interim Assessment of Achievements and Challenges”, offering the definition and key concepts of an education hub as well as positive and negative factors that affect the development of an education hub in Hong Kong. In closing, he highlighted the urgency of having hub policies and long-term plans as well as fostering strategic cooperation with foreign and regional partners.

President Leonard K Cheng gave closing remarks on “Beyond Trade in Education Services: Enhancing Cooperation – Education Hubs as agents for Social Change and Human Betterment”. While summarising the panel discussions, he raised the possibility of working with a variety of partners across the globe instead of only focusing on the small number of top universities. He also reiterated the importance of combining global and local insights. “To remain strong, we need to cooperate with other hubs and non-hub providers because Hong Kong is a small place. Let us all embrace collaboration in a world of competition,” said President Cheng.