At the beginning of the Year of Rabbit, Lingnan University announced a number of new strategic initiatives with a view to pursuing excellence in education and research while responding to the changing needs of the community and the evolving landscape of the higher education sector.
With “Enhancing Campus Infrastructure and Planning Campus Expansion” as one of the strategic initiatives included in Lingnan’s Strategic Plan 2022-28, the University has planned to launch an off-campus learning hub, Lingnan@WestKowloon, in the 2023/24 academic year. Located at the 12th and 13th floor of M+ Tower in West Kowloon Cultural District, the 20,000 sq. ft. learning hub includes classrooms, lecture halls, study rooms, offices for faculty and staff, studios, exhibition areas, teacher and student discussion spaces, as well as breakout areas for various activities such as social engagement and partnership events.
As M+ is the first global museum of contemporary visual culture in Asia, the new learning hub will be embraced with an artistic ambience which in turn facilitates the exchange of ideas among faculty members and students and foster collaboration in research, teaching and advocacy of art and culture.
Strategically located, the learning hub at M+ Tower enjoys direct access to the Hong Kong International Airport via the Airport Express (Kowloon Station) and various cities in Mainland China via the High Speed Rail (Hong Kong West Kowloon Station). Its accessibility for local, Mainland and international audience makes it an ideal place for lectures, exhibitions, seminars and conferences.
“Augmenting postgraduate studies” is another key strategic area for Lingnan in the coming few years. Responding to the social and economic development in Hong Kong, the University has planned to launch a few new concentrations for its master programmes. For the Master of Arts Programme in Arts and Cultural Heritage Management (MA ACHM), two new concentrations will be offered. The concentration on “Heritage Tourism and Management” targets to equip students with the essential theoretical and empirical knowledge concerned with heritage tourism and management, enabling them to manage cultural assets and tackle the critical issues faced by the heritage sector.
Another concentration for the MA ACHM programme is “Cultural Management and Digital Future” hosted by Lingnan’s School of Graduate Studies in collaboration with its Department of Cultural Studies. Focusing on innovative management in the cultural industries as well as the opportunities and challenges posed by emerging digital technologies, the concentration will enable students to critically and effectively engage in socio-cultural affairs in the digital world.
Both the concentration on “Heritage Tourism and Management” and “Cultural Management and Digital Future”, commencing coming fall, will be a single degree programme offered in a one-year full-time mode. Lectures for these programmes will take place in Lingnan@WestKowloon.
In collaboration with the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, Lingnan Business School will launch the Master of Science in Arts Technology and Business Programme in the fall of 2023. This is the first interdisciplinary master programme in Hong Kong that is taught in Mandarin Chinese. It targets to nurture the next generation of arts managers and arts business leaders with rigorous commercial capabilities, entrepreneurial and innovative mindset, and aptitudes of appreciation and exploration of Arts Tech, to facilitate the fast-changing art and creative industry development in Greater China and other parts of Asia. The programme will also be conducted in the new campus in West Kowloon.
Two more master programmes will be launched in 2023 and they are: Master of Social Sciences in Comparative Public Administration and Master of Social Sciences in Housing Policy and Management.
Enrollment for Lingnan’s postgraduate programmes has been consistently increasing over the past few years. In 2022, the number of students enrolling for the master courses registered an increased of 157% when compared with 2021.
In alignment with the HKSAR Government’s support for universities in Hong Kong to offer education services in the Greater Bay Area, Lingnan has been collaborating with some higher education institutions in the area. Plans are underway to establish Institutes for Advanced Studies and innovation centres with Mainland institutions for joint research, PhD training and wider R&D engagement. The University will also actively explore the feasibility of establishing a collaborative campus in the Greater Bay Area.
Thanks to the hard work and commitment of the entire university community, Lingnan University has overcome immense challenges caused by social unrest and COVID-19 pandemic over the past few years. With a vision to excel as a leading Asian liberal arts university, Lingnan University will spare no effort in embracing emerging opportunities and scaling new heights in education, research and community care.