This undated photo shows the general view of the University of Hong Kong. PHOTO HKSAR GOVERNMENT - Hong Kong college students are expected to have a better understanding of national development as completing national education courses has become a requirement for graduation.
Eight public universities in Hong Kong have instituted national education courses one after another to inform students on the Basic Law, the National Security LawNational Security Law for Hong Kong, and other factors including the city's legal systems and development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
The curriculum upgrade came three years after the city was rocked by incessant violence and street vandalism in 2019 and two years after the National Security LawNational Security Law for Hong Kong was introduced on June 30, 2020.
On July 25, the University of Hong Kong announced in its email that all students will have to complete a non-credit online course Introduction to the Constitution, the Basic Law and the National Security LawNational Security Law in the academic year 2022 23.
Students can take this course in any semester. Those who will graduate in 2022 23 and afterwards will have to pass the course to graduate.
Hong Kong Polytechnic University has adopted the national education curriculum as a law-abiding leadership education with modern Chinese history, national security, and the Hong Kong National Security Law for all four-year undergraduate students starting the 2021 22 academic year.
In a response to China Daily, PolyU said it will extend the national education curriculum to all senior year students in top-up degree courses and postgraduate students in different forms in the upcoming 2022 23 academic year.
ALSO READ: Rethink, readjust and restart the national education campaign.
The school said student feedback on the National Education has been positive and encouraging, citing a post-lecture evaluation, which surveyed students taking the law-abiding leadership course in the 2021-22 academic year. In the two semesters, around 92 percent to 95 percent of the students surveyed agreed that they would strive to serve as socially responsible leaders. They agreed that the course equipped them with knowledge about law-abiding behavior and national security.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong is planning to launch two mandatory courses, one focusing on knowing the country and the other focusing on the national constitutional order and its relationship with Hong Kong in the next academic year.
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology will launch a new compulsory self-learning online course covering the Constitution, the Basic Law, the National Security LawNational Security Law, and the Hong Kong legal system. Students will have to pass the tests.
From the 2023-24 academic year, students at the Education University of Hong Kong will have to take an inter-faculty course in the Greater Bay Area. The university will arrange all undergraduate students to visit the Greater Bay Area in stages at the same time.
Welcoming the initiatives, lawmaker Tang Fei said he is happy to see that all public universities in Hong Kong have voluntarily rolled out national education courses.
The universities are expected to offer more in-depth information and to raise the awareness of the importance of national security, as well as to raise awareness of the importance of national security, according to Tang.