I recently had a family holiday in Hong Kong. We were kept up-to-date by copies of the South China Morning Post, kindly provided by our Hotel. It’s always interesting to read foreign newspapers to get a different view of the world, and it was refreshing to find that the Ashes test was not dominating the pages, although it did rate a mention in the sports pages.

I kept a copy of the Education supplement from December the 16th as there were a few topics that I felt were worth a mention. If you are researching the “net generation” you might also want to include the term “generation c” in your search strings, where the c stands for “content” or “cell phone”. Brendan O’Malley’s article (Generation C report card on universities: must improve, p. E5) covering the Going Global2 conference in the UK discussed this generation and some of the factors for universities to consider in attracting these potential students.

“when it came to choosing which country — never mind which university, department or course — they (generation c) had an unprecedented and growing choice” — Colin Gilligan.

According to Gilligan, these potential students hold all the cards, and they are pickier than anybody before them, with content “coming out of their ears”.

The article also reported that major English-speaking countries were not encouraging their own youth to travel overseas for university education and that traffic was almost one-way. Figures for Australia were quoted in the article with 7000 Australian students going overseas, but 200,000 international students coming in.

The article also touched on the effect on rural and urban poor in developing countries where Universities are working hard to attract the best and brightest from overseas to secure reputations for excellence and foster international research partnerships. It was estimated that some 170 million students would need to be catered for by universities for their countries to achieve ‘developed’ status. Are these prospective students being overlooked in the quest for international reputations of excellence? 

Hong Kong is currently being marketed as an education hub for South-East Asia. I’ve always considered a bit of culture shock an educational experience and would encourage students to broaden their horizons with some overseas study experience if they can. But if you are the allergic or asthmatic type, then Hong Kong might not be an ideal locale for extended study. Air pollution was thick in the sky, even on the clearest day and I woke each morning with red eyes and it wasn’t from overindulging! But, it felt very safe and friendly even when out at night shopping.

Education was a hot topic for general letter writers to the paper during our stay. It seems that school teachers are doing it tough in Hong Kong with some reporting that their school staffrooms are often half-full at 9.30pm and on weekends as they try to keep up with administrative tasks. In the same education supplement, Clem and Nora Tong outlined a tumultuous year in education with teacher suicides and mass protests over education reforms (Suicides, mass protests and some very embarrassing translation, p. E3).

I managed a very quick visit to the Hong Kong Public Library’s branch in Central. It was very, very quiet in the reading room and the public law library section was almost empty. There are some photos on FlickR, including a sign asking people to walk gently. I grabbed a few brochures as well, and it looks like the public is well-served by the range of electronic resources on offer and according to my guide-book internet access is free in the library too. 

On a lighter note, it was refreshing to see Hong Kong embrace Christmas with no fear (or at least sign of fear) of litigation or political correctness. Nativity scenes, Santa Town, Christmas trees, and decorations abounded and the air was filled with Christmas carols and songs. Even the buildings were lit up with Christmas greetings. Meanwhile though, we heard of litigation in the UK about some perceived slight due to Christmas celebrations and read of the U.S. custom of only wishing happy holidays so as not to upset any non-Christians.

So in the spirit of harmony, I hope you had a happy Christmas or Hannukah, and offer best wishes for the new year, whenever it may fall for you. I look forward to Diwali, Easter and any other festivities that bring joy to our community.