Perceived Benefits of Studying General Education in Hong Kong PDF

Asia Pacific Journal of Education ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cape20 Perceived benefits of studying general education for undergraduate students in the self-financing institutions in Hong Kong Irene Szeto, Peggy Mei Lan Ng, Wai Sum Phoebe Wong &...

Asia Pacific Journal of Education ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cape20 Perceived benefits of studying general education for undergraduate students in the self-financing institutions in Hong Kong Irene Szeto, Peggy Mei Lan Ng, Wai Sum Phoebe Wong & Leslie Yip To cite this article: Irene Szeto, Peggy Mei Lan Ng, Wai Sum Phoebe Wong & Leslie Yip (2021) Perceived benefits of studying general education for undergraduate students in the self-financing institutions in Hong Kong, Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 41:1, 89-114, DOI: 10.1080/02188791.2020.1791797 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2020.1791797 Published online: 21 Aug 2020. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 350 View related articles View Crossmark data Citing articles: 2 View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=cape20 ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF EDUCATION 2021, VOL. 41, NO. 1, 89–114 https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2020.1791797 Perceived benefits of studying general education for undergraduate students in the self-financing institutions in Hong Kong a b b Irene Szeto , Peggy Mei Lan Ng , Wai Sum Phoebe Wong and Leslie Yipc a Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong, Management and Hospitality, Chai Wan, Hong Kong; b The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, School of Professional Education and Executive Development, Yau Ma Tei, Hong Kong; cTechnological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong, Management & Hospitality, Hong Kong ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY The Hong Kong Secondary Education system moved from the traditional Received 23 January 2018 “5 + 2 + 3” system to a new “3 + 3 + 4” structure in 2012 with emphasis on Accepted 26 June 2020 whole-person development. Under the new reform, students are required KEYWORDS to undertake a block of new general education (GE) subjects apart from Generic skills; general their disciplinary-specific education in their university curriculum. While education; whole-person prior studies mainly investigated the reform of GE and curriculum design, development; self-financing empirical studies on the perceived benefits of GE are sparse. higher education; The current study primarily aims to investigate the impact of GE on the Hong Kong higher education generic skills of university students. A survey of 424 undergraduate stu­ dents enrolled in a self-financing programme in four higher educational institutions in Hong Kong was conducted. The perceived benefits of GE were measured by seven variables, including communication, critical thinking and problem solving, team-work, leadership, lifelong learning and information management skills, ethics, and professional moral knowl­ edge. This study can contribute to the understanding of the interrelation­ ship between GE and the development of generic skills. Results will provide a guideline for educators and management when planning, developing, designing, and reviewing the general education curriculum. Introduction To fully equip students for the rapidly changing world, universities strive to provide a balanced undergraduate education for students to facilitate their whole-person development. The whole- person education can be divided into two bases (Figure 1). Apart from discipline-specific education that students receive from their majors to sharpen their hard skills, they are also offered a wide range of interdisciplinary-generic education, such as general education (GE) to enhance their generic skills and broaden their breadth of knowledge, thereby achieving the whole-person development of university education. GE contributes to an intellectual broadening of the current academic system, helps students develop their all-around generic skills, including effective communication and critical thinking, and improves their generic intellectual skills before the transition into the world of employ­ ment and towards lifelong learning. The existing research studies only corroborate that GE subjects are greatly beneficial in developing the graduate attributes of students (Kereluik, Mishra, Fahnoe, & Terry, 2013; Wolniak, Seifert, & Blaich, 2004). GE studies from Jaffee (2013) and Shek, Yu, Wu, and Chai (2014) further emphasized the importance of GE subjects in developing the generic skills of students CONTACT Irene Szeto [email protected] Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong, Management and Hospitality, Chai Wan, Hong Kong © 2020 National Institute of Education, Singapore 90 I. SZETO ET AL. Disciplinary-specific based Interdisciplinary-specific educa!on based educa!on i.e. Majoring in Food Science, (General Educa!on) Health Care, Engineering, i.e. Arts, Communicaon, Informaon Technology, Business Languages, Humanies, Social and & Management, Design, etc. Environmental issues, Scienfic Thinking & Technology, etc. Whole-person Educa!on Academic achievement in a specialized field (i.e. hard skills) Effecve communicaon, problem solving, leadership, crical thinking, ethical standards, etc. (i.e. generic skills) Figure 1. Concept of whole-person education. beyond their mainstream study to cultivate these skills and attitudes to live in society. Despite the fact on the perceived benefits from learning GE as a compulsory topic for all undergraduates in Hong Kong, the empirical research about the perceived benefits on GE is still scant. Hence, the present study is conducted to evaluate graduate attributes concerning GE learning outcomes in Hong Kong self-financing higher education institutions and aims to elucidate the strengthening of the concept of whole-person development. Purpose and problem statement Hong Kong higher education has transformed its undergraduate degree programmes from three to 4 years with a new GE curriculum to develop the general capacities and whole-person development of students. Several studies have focused on generic skills to increase graduate competencies or the perception of understanding the current practices of GE after the Hong Kong education structural reform. However, empirical studies on evaluating graduate attributes about GE learning outcomes are sparse. Therefore, this study is conducted to examine the perception of self-financing higher education graduates’ generic skills in the Hong Kong self-financing higher education institutes. Literature review This section comprises the review of academic literature on generic skills, and non-technical skills and the key elements of generic skills in terms of communication, critical thinking and problem- solving, moral and professional ethics, entrepreneurship, team-work, leadership, and lifelong learn­ ing and information management skills. The objectives of this study are as follows: (a) to demon­ strate a clear understanding of the literature, theories, studies, concepts, models, and ideas related to this study (the focus is on generic skill enhancement in graduates and their perception of the  ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF EDUCATION 91 perceived benefits of general education; (b) to clarify definitions and terminology as they arise, and (c) to identify an important research issue and specific research questions that can be feasibly addressed. Generic skills and non-technical skills The definition of generic skills differs from context to context. Names such as generic skills, soft skills, or non-technical skills are commonly used in literature, referring to similar meanings. At an earlier stage, Gallivan, Truex, and Kvasny (2004) suggested the following six types of generic skills that are commonly identified by employers: communication, interpersonal, organization, self-motivation, leadership, and creativity. Generic skills are essential at work because such skills are transferable to multiple work situations, such as information literacy, working with technology, written and verbal communication, working with teams, and numeracy (Bridgstock, 2008). Therefore, the four-year higher education program should be focused on discipline, training, and generic skills development to obtain balance in acquiring professional competence in the workplace. Generic skill elements Graduates should be prepared with the ability to cooperate, communicate, and solve problems in their workplace. Researchers added different generic skill elements, which are comparable with those identified by employers, to be acquired from university education (Bennett, Dunne, & Carré, 1999; Devadason, Subramaniam, & Daniel, 2010; Grossman & Johnson, 2017; Mai, 2012; Pereira, 2013; Shakir, 2009; Stevens & Norman, 2016). Shakir (2009) developed the seven generic skills model and Devadason et al. (2010) validated the result in Asia to understand students’ perception in generic skills development upon completion of their degree programme. The seven important generic skill elements identified in this study according to the literature (Devadason et al., 2010; Kereluik et al., 2013; Shakir, 2009) include the following: (i) communication skills, (ii) critical thinking and problem- solving skills, (iii) entrepreneurship skills, (iv) ethics and professional moral knowledge, (v) leadership skills, (vi) lifelong learning and information management skills, and (vii) team-work skills leadership skills. The following table illustrates the seven generic skills attained from studying general educa­ tion subjects in previous literature. Communication skills Communication is the most important interpersonal skill in the current business environment (Robles, 2012). Weber, Finley, Crawford, and Rivera (2009) corroborated that the employer selects leaders with high levels of communication skills. Shakir (2009) added higher education curriculum should incorporate communication skills and raise their proficiency in English and Chinese for writing business reports and letters in the workplace. Murillo-Zamorano and Montanero (2018) confirmed that clear oral communication of students in public is one of the most important generic skills that should be acquired before graduation. Furthermore, the enhancement of communication skills is necessary to develop the innovative ideas and future employment prospects of students (Harris & Hua, 2015). A market survey confirmed that 85% of employers in the States rated “very important” on the oral and written communication of graduates and their ability to solve complex problems in the real-world settings (Humphrey, 2016). Employers reflected that communication is the most important generic skill in retailing and tourism industry because communicating with customers and understanding their needs are crucial (Wesley, Jackson, & Lee, 2017). The GE frame­ work has integrated well-designed subject contents, dedicated teaching staff, and collaborative and experiential learning methods to improve the effective communication, critical thinking, problem- solving ability, lifelong learning, and ethical leadership of students in the GE classroom (Shek, Yu, & Chai, 2017). Therefore, we proposed the following hypothesis: 92 I. SZETO ET AL. H1: GE subjects positively influence students’ communication skills. Critical thinking and problem-solving skills Shek et al. (2014) verified that GE subjects should develop students to think in a critical, creative, innovative, and analytical manner to identify and analyse problems and provide justifiable solutions in a complex situation. Cleary, Flynn, and Thomasson (2006) commented that employability skills should include high order or critical thinking, such as planning, collecting, and organizing informa­ tion skills. Rowe et al., proved that GE subjects in science discipline improve the critical thinking and scientific literacy of students. Furthermore, Miller (2017) validated that critical thinking and problem- solving are the most lacking generic skills of engineering graduates in handling complex problems in the workplace. In sum, GE should develop students’ generic skills related to critical thinking and problem-solving. Therefore, we proposed the following hypothesis: H2: GE subjects positively influence students’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Entrepreneurship skills Schelfhout, Dochy, and Janssens (2004) suggested a learning enterprise in an entrepreneurial context, especially for higher education students to conceptualize theories and eventually commer­ cialize a product, in a stimulating environment with peer cooperation and formulated entrepreneur­ ship theory to practice can constitute a powerful learning environment in a business context. Graduates should be able to prepare, build, and explore business plans, which can eventually turn into self-employment (Shakir, 2009). An industry market survey elucidated that 80% of employers in the States rated integrated and applied knowledge in actual business settings as essential and “very important” graduate attributes at present (Humphrey, 2016). Bzhalava, Jvarsheishvili, Brekashvili, and Lezhava (2017) verified that GE improves entrepreneurship skills to successfully enter into the international market workforce. In Asia, employers and academicians considered entrepreneurship and communication skills as highly important for new engineer graduates across India (Ghosh, 2017). Entrepreneurship education is important, especially because 60% of young people are unemployed. Therefore, higher schools embedded entrepreneurship/self-employment contents in the curriculum and teaching materials for teachers to facilitate entrepreneurial and self-employment pathways for young learners. (Zenner, Kothandaraman, & Pilz, 2017). Therefore, GE should develop students’ generic skills related to entrepreneurship. We propose the following hypothesis: H3: GE subjects positively influence students’ entrepreneurship skills. Ethics & professional moral knowledge The main goal of ethics education is to encourage students to recognize social responsibilities (Arfaoui, Damak-Ayadi, Ghram, & Bouchekoua, 2016) within their profession. Therefore, graduates can analyse issues and provide reasonable solutions on ethics while maintaining a sense of respon­ sibility towards society. Mitchell, Skinner, and White (2010) affirmed that ethics is the most important among all generic skills in the current workplace. Employers desire for employees with high work ethics, integrity, and courtesy to portray professionalism on their job role (Cleary et al., 2006; Cobanoglu, Dede, & Poorani, 2006; Holtom, Gass, & Bowen, 2007; Robles, 2012). Specifically, a university-wide undergraduate program should include certain employability attributes, such as professional integrity, global citizenship, ethical education, communication and teamwork, and lifelong learning for the preparation of employability and personal development in the future (Shivoro, Shalyefu, & Kadhila, 2017). Swenson-Lepper (2005) affirmed that ethical sensitivity was  ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF EDUCATION 93 higher among those students with greater general education (Tormo-Carbó, Seguí-Mas, & Oltra, 2016). Hence, GE should develop students’ generic skills related to ethics & professional moral knowledge. We propose the following hypothesis: H4: GE subjects positively influence students’ ethics & professional moral knowledge. Leadership skills Graduates should understand the role of a leader and take turn as a member to carry out respon­ sibilities interchangeably (Shakir, 2009). Leadership and interpersonal development skills are desired attributes and competencies to nurture graduates as future leaders (Shek et al., 2014). Furthermore, Barsanti, Hayne, Bower, and Peeples (2017) proved that leadership and ethics are the core compo­ nents in the GE curriculum of the School of Engineering. Shek (2017) stated that a subject entitled “Tomorrow’s Leaders” in University is used to promote leadership competencies in students. Graduates are required to learn the engineering leadership topics and familiarize with the ethics culture in the future. In the business and hospitality industry, the scholars and practitioners agreed that leadership and management skills should be embedded in the curriculum to enhance graduate competency and productivity (Jiang & Alexakis, 2017). Therefore, GE should develop students’ generic skills related to leadership. We propose the following hypothesis: H5: GE subjects positively influence students’ leadership skills. Lifelong learning and information management skills Jaffee (2013) elucidated that GE is presented as a coherent integrated curriculum that develops basic generic skill competencies and capacities to contribute to the lifelong learning and career success of a person. Besides, the learning outcomes of GE broadly covered the areas in lifelong learning and global outlook, thereby increasing the global competitiveness of Hong Kong students (Chen, Leung, & Cheng, 2012; Eake, 2012). For instance, an information technology manager in the hospitality industry should possess the knowledge of information management skills to cooperate with senior management, peers, and customers (Robles, 2012). According to the Australian sport and recreation employers, if universities align the undergraduate lifelong learning programs with the industry, then the program should include information retrieval and numerical skills, personal learning, and continuous development skills (Tsitskari, Goudas, Tsalouchou, & Michalopoulou, 2017). In the Australian health-care industry, medical practitioners rely not only on clinical training skills but also on generic skills, including team-work, leadership, entrepreneur, and lifelong learning skills to effectively design the health-care system (Thomas, Gilbert, & Thompson, 2017). Therefore, GE should develop students’ generic skills related to lifelong learning and information management skills. We hypothesize the following: H6: GE subjects positively influence students’ lifelong learning and information management skills. Team-work skills Falchikov (1986) proved that 73.8% of students in the peer group assessment system think more structurally and critically, are more self-confident, and learn better than students in the individual assessment scheme. Shakir (2009) corroborated that graduates should learn how to cooperate with people to achieve a common goal in the workplace. In the professional fields, such as construction, computer engineering, and accounting, employees are required to handle diplomatic cases and act as effective team members in business projects (Robles, 2012). Therefore, Shek et al. (2014) further 94 I. SZETO ET AL. confirmed that students work on team projects to improve their communication skills and gain confidence after completing the GE study. Ibrahim, Zulkafli, Shah, and Amranm (2017) proved that teamwork, communication, and leadership skills are the most important generic skills, especially for new graduates to survive in the business world. For the information and communication technol­ ogies or manufacturing industries, employees should possess strong numerical skills on handling their routine tasks, but good communication and team-work skills are also necessary for the production process (Grundke, Jamet, Kalamova, Keslair, & Squicciarini, 2017). Hence, GE should develop students’ generic skills with team-work. Therefore, we propose the following hypothesis: H7: GE subjects positively influence students’ teamwork skills. To investigate the influence of students’ generic skills, we used the instrument developed by Shakir (2009) and Devadason et al. (2010) to examine students’ perception towards the GE curricu­ lum and generic skill enhancement. The seven generic skill elements (Table 1) include the following: communication skills, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, team-working skills, lifelong learn­ ing, professional ethics, entrepreneurship, and professional ethics, which will be tested hypotheti­ cally (Figure 2). Whole-person education in the new system One of the primary purposes of tertiary education is to develop critical thinking. The report of the task force on General Education at Harvard University (2007) asserted that “GE is taught in a distinctive way and the service of distinctive goals”. Its objective is to teach students to think critically and analytically to help them understand and appreciate the complexities of the world and their role in it (Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, 2007). Jaffee (2013) validated that all GE programs provided in Hong Kong universities aimed to “broaden knowledge” or “strengthen interdisciplinary programs” that apply to problem-solving or addressing a complex topic with appropriate solutions. GE course proposals develop the integrative learning of students across disciplinary boundaries on generic skills. These proposals provide an additional year of university education to strengthen students’ performance on “analytical and problem-solving abilities”, “technical skills required for the job”, “English language proficiency” and “management skills”. Besides, the Hong Kong University Grant Committee members (2005) strongly believe that the additional year of the GE study is used to build broad knowledge and a solid foundation to nurture the whole-person development of students. GE is built upon a “balanced approach to whole-person education” that combines Chinese humanistic ideals and Western liberal art contents, provides students with a broad intellectual perspective, and instils in them the basic understanding of values of different academic disciplines. To examine the GE landscape of the Hong Kong self-financing higher education sector, we summarized the GE curriculum of the self-financing institutions to evaluate whether their attempt to a whole-person development approach fulfils the general university requirements. The purpose of GE is to contribute to the development of graduate attributes, the self-financing higher education institutions also emphasize the importance of GE education to improve the essential competencies of graduates to match employers’ requirements. Table 2 shows a review of the GE curricular patterns in three Hong Kong self-financing institutions, as addressed by the Quality Enhancement Support Scheme of Education Bureau, Federation for Self-financing Tertiary Education (FSTE, 2017), nine common areas of intended learning outcomes are identified by reviewing the General Education intended learning outcomes (GEILOs) of the Hong Kong self-financing institutions as follows: (1) Critical thinking and independent problem-solving skills; (2) Information technology and quantita­ tive skills; (3) Language and communication skills; (4) Interpersonal skills and teamwork; (5) Appreciation of cultural diversities; (6) Social responsibility and ethical value; (7) Creative and innovative thinking; (8) Knowledge generalization in local, regional and global contexts; and (9) Physical fitness/health. Table 1. The generic skills attained from studying general education subjects previously mentioned in the literature. Critical thinking Communication & problem-solving Entrepreneurship Ethics & professional moral Leadership Lifelong learning & information man­ Teamwork skills skills skills knowledge skills agement skills skills Arfaoui et al. (2016) ✓ Barsanti et al. (2017) ✓ ✓ Bzhalava et al. (2017) ✓ Chen et al. (2012) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Cleary et al. (2006) ✓ Cobanoglu et al. (2006) ✓ Eake (2012) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Gallivan et al. (2004) ✓ ✓ Ghosh (2017) ✓ ✓ ✓ Grundke et al. (2017) ✓ ✓ Falchikov (1986) ✓ Humphrey (2016) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Harris and Hua (2015) ✓ Holtom et al. (2007) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Ibrahim et al. (2017) ✓ ✓ ✓ Jaffee (2013) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ James & James (2004) ✓ ✓ ✓ Jiang and Alexakis (2017) ✓ ✓ ✓ Kereluik et al. (2013) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Miller (2017) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Mitchell et al. (2010) ✓ ✓ Murillo-Zamorano and ✓ Montanero (2018) ✓ Robles (2012) ✓ ✓ Rowe et al. (2015) ✓ Schelfhout et al. (2004) ✓ Shamim, (2017) ✓ Shakir (2009) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Shek and Leung(2014, Lin and ✓ ✓ ✓ Shek2019) Shek et al. (2017) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Shivovo et al. (2017) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Swenson-Lepper (2005) ✓ Thomas et al. (2017) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Timm (2005) ✓ ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF EDUCATION Tormo-Carbó et al. (2016) ✓ Tsitskari et al. (2017) ✓ ✓ ✓ Weber et al. (2007) ✓ Wesley et al. (2017) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 95 Zenner et al. (2017) ✓ 96 I. SZETO ET AL. Communication skills + H1 Critical thinking and problem-solving + H2 + H3 Entrepreneurship skills General + H4 Ethics and Education professional moral modules knowledge + H5 Leadership skills + H6 Lifelong learning and information + H7 management skills Teamwork skills Figure 2. A modified conceptual model of.Devadason et al. (2010) Table 2 illustrates two major approaches to design GE programs. The three institutions (The School of Professional Education and Executive Development (SPEED) of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, The Open University of Hong Kong and the Technological and Higher Education Institution of Hong Kong) consider language courses as the only mandatory “generic courses”, plus interest electives component in their GE curriculum design aims to build a solid foundation on students’ whole-person development to satisfy the rapidly changing needs of society. Methodology The study consisted of structured questionnaires and focus group interviews with final year students, who are selected from different academic disciplines (Table 3). A cross-sectional quantitative survey was conducted for the main study. The survey instrument was adopted and modified from the questionnaire, which was originally devised by Devadason et al. (2010). The instrument developed for this survey has two sections. The scales of interest are the seven categories of skills designated in the Devadason’s model. For each scale (or each generic skill category), there are at least three items to ensure the reliability of the responses. More importantly, the distilling of groups of questions for each generic skill category allows for students to reflect on their own perception and experiences after studying GE modules. The first section focused a total of 28 items rated with seven 5-point Likert scales ranging from 1 (strongly disagree to have improvement) to 5 (strongly agree to have improvement) to collect information on the impact of GE on students’ generic skills associated with the following seven disciplines, including communication skills (4 items), critical thinking and problem-solving skills (7 items), entrepreneurship skills (3 items), ethics and professional moral knowledge (4 items), lifelong learning and information management skills (4 items), leadership skills (3 items) and teamwork (3 items). The latter part of this section also included seven 5-point Likert scale questions ranging from 1 (strongly disagree to have improvement) to 5 (strongly agree to have improvement) about the enhancement of these generic skills after taking the GE (7 items). The researcher gave a briefing about the interpretation of scales to students before they filled in the questionnaires. The item scores were used to operationalize the seven dimensions of generic skill development in GE subjects, and each dimension of generic skill development is correlated with the Table 2. Literature review summary: comparison of GE structures in three Hong Kong self-financing institutions. Language/ GE Compulsory GE Electives Study Examples of GE Electives Learning Institution GE Core Modules Requirement for Selection Outcomes School of Professional 2 language & communication 3 modules Creativity and Everyday Demonstrate a solid foundation of inquiry skills for life-long Education and Executive modules in English (9 credits, including 2 Life learning Development (SPEED), The 1 language module in Chinese China-related, and 1 Accounting for Non- Apply critical and creative thinking skills Hong Kong service-learning Business Students Communicate coherently in written and spoken language Polytechnic University subject) Chinese and Western Apply quantitative reasoning/problem-solving skills Cultures Demonstrate the capacity for ethical reasoning and responsi­ Chemistry and Modern ble actions Living Recognize the important characteristics of diverse peoples and cultures Examine the major regional and global issues and relate them to the socio-political, cultural, economic and technological factors Appreciate the impact of scientific and technological devel­ opment on society and individuals The Open University of English & Communications for 4 modules Chinese Literature To develop students’ general capabilities and competencies Hong Kong Business I (20 credits) of general Film Appreciation required for professional success and personal enquiry of new English and Communications education course from Financial Investment knowledge beyond college years for Business II the School of A&SS/ Nursing To broaden students’ outlook on life and enhance their insight E&L/ and social awareness, as well as nourish them to become S&T morally and intelligently responsive to the 21st century Keep abreast of developments in the profession and pursue independent and lifelong learning The Technological and Higher GE Language modules 4 modules (20 credits) of Modern Chinese Demonstrate a capacity for critical thinking, self-reflection, Education Institution of Chinese 1 general education Environmental and analysis; Hong Kong Chinese 2 course from 3 faculties Sustainability Recognize ethically,socially and globally responsible action English for Academic Studies 1 Spanish Engage in self-directed learning; English for Academic Studies 2 Stress Management Demonstrate effective oral and written communication skills; English for Professional Engage in creative problem-solving; PurposeGE Core Modules` Demonstrate interpersonal skills associated with leadership Habits of Scientific Thinking and teamwork; and Social Dynamic of Apply the broad principles of the Humanities, Sciences, and Organizations Social Sciences to practical problems and contemporary ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF EDUCATION The Human Spirit issues. 97 98 I. SZETO ET AL. Table 3. Demographic background of the respondents who participated in the survey (N = 424). Items N % Gender Male 164 38.7 Female 258 60.8 Missing 2 0.5 Institutions School of Professional Education and Executive Development (SPEED), 225 53.1 The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) The Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) 46 10.8 The Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong (THEi) 153 36.1 Academic Disciplines Business & Management 173 40.8 Design 43 10.1 Hospitality & Tourism 91 21.5 Science & Technology 50 11.8 Social Sciences 60 14.2 Others 7 1.6 Age groups Under 18 7 1.7 18–20 108 25.5 21–22 194 45.8 23–24 104 24.5 25–26 8 1.9 Above 26 3 0.7 importance of GE in the previous studies (Beard, Schwieger, & Surendran, 2008; Devadason et al., 2010; Jaffee, 2013; Shek et al., 2014). Section two contained 7 multiple-choice questions related to respondents’ demographic background such as age, gender, institutions, etc. (Appendix 1). Besides the survey, focus group interviews were conducted in 2018 (i.e., a total of 4 groups, each group consisted of 3 to 4 students). Semi-structured and open-ended interview questions were asked by the interviewers to collect the students’ opinions and experience about the GE curriculum in local self-financing institutions (Appendix 2). Sampling method Convenience sampling method was used in this study. The researchers sent the questionnaires to an administrator of each institution, and the administrator then distributed to the undergraduate students in different academic disciplines including Business and Management (n = 173), Design (n = 43), Hospitality and Tourism (n = 91), Science and Technology (n = 50), Social Sciences (n = 60), and Others (n = 7) in three Hong Kong self-financing higher education institutions (Table 3). Also, a total of 15 undergraduate students from these three institutions attended the focus group inter­ views in 2018. Both survey and focus group interviews provided valuable data to researchers for analysis. Results Different statistical methods were used to analyse the quantitative data including Cronbach’s alpha test, linear regression method and Pearson correlation coefficient in which Cronbach’s alpha test was used to estimate the reliability (internal consistency) of the seven measurable generic skill items. Linear regression method was used to examine the causal relationship between GE (the independent variable) and the seven generic skills (dependent variables) respectively, to find out whether students’ generic skills had improved after having taken the GE subjects; and Pearson correlation coefficient was used to measure the strength of relationship among the seven generic variables  ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF EDUCATION 99 under the GE. Statistical software SPSS version 24.0 was used to process the quantitative data for analysis. Survey Results illustrated the Cronbach’s alpha αfor the seven generic skills items ranged from 0.899 to 0.906 which above the acceptable threshold level of 0.7 (DeVellis, 2012; Kline, 2013) (Table 4). All question items for each generic skills were reliable for measurement since the internal consistency obtained was good for the overall scale. In return, this can increase the credibility of the seven generic skill variables. In order to distinguish and measure the impact of the GE to each of the generic skills, to find out whether students’ generic skills would improve or not after taking the GE, linear regression method was used to examine the impact of the GE (the independent variable) on each of the seven generic skill variables (dependent variables). Results showed that the GE had significant influences (with p-value < 0.01) on students’ communication skills (t = 13.20), critical thinking and problem-solving skills (t = 14.96); entrepreneurship skills (t = 12.62), ethics and professional moral knowledge (t = 16.54), leadership (t = 15.55), lifelong learning and information management skills (t = 14.33), and teamwork skills (t = 13.18) (Table 5). To verify whether all generic skill dimensions were significantly correlated under the GE pro­ gramme, Pearson r relationship was used to examine the data. Results illustrated that from students’ perception and experience, all the seven generic skills in the GE were significantly related to each other (with p < 0.001) in which most of the generic skills had a strong or moderated relationship with other generic skills (0.438 < r < 0.692) (Table 6). This showed all the generic skills in the GE were interrelated. A bar chart was drawn to demonstrate the importance of generic skills under GE was not the same across academic disciplines (Figure 3). Results corroborated that lifelong learning and information management skills are the most important generic skills in the discipline of Business & Management, Hospitality & Tourism while critical thinking skills were the most important in the discipline of Design, Table 4. Descriptive statistics, reliabilities of study variables (n = 424). No α Generic Skills Attributes n Mean SD of items Cronbach’s alpha Communication skills 424 3.2695 0.70945 4 0.901 Critical thinking and problem-solving skills 424 3.3612 0.80314 7 0.899 Entrepreneurship skills 424 2.9827 0.89197 3 0.906 Ethics and professional moral knowledge 424 3.2889 0.77239 4 0.899 Leadership skills 424 3.2013 0.85137 3 0.900 Lifelong learning and information management skills 424 3.4334 0.79605 4 0.902 Teamwork 424 3.3758 0.77272 3 0.903 5-point Likert scale was used with 1 = Strongly disagree to have improvement, 2 = Disagree to have improvement, 3 = Neutral, 4 = Agree to have improvement, 5 = Strongly agree to have improvement Table 5. Regression analysis result. Dependent variables Critical thinking Ethics and Lifelong learn­ and pro­ professional ing and infor­ Communication blem- Entrepreneurship moral knowl­ Leadership mation man­ skills solving skills skills edge skills skills agement skills Teamwork Independent β/t-value β/t-value β/t-value β/t-value β/t-value β/t-value Βt-value variable General 0.54 0.59 0.52 0.63 0.60 0.57 0.54 education 13.20** 14.96** 12.62** 16.54** 15.55** 14.33** 13.18** *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01  100 I. SZETO ET AL. Table 6. Pearson correlation of the seven generic skill variables under the GE programme. Communication Critical thinking and pro­ Entrepreneurship Ethics and professional moral Leadership Lifelong learning and information skills blem-solving skills skills knowledge skills skills management skills Teamwork Communication skills 1.00 Critical thinking and problem-.692** 1.00 solving skills Entrepreneurship skills.524**.549** 1.00 Ethics and professional moral.546**.640**.633** 1.00 knowledge skills Leadership skills.586**.592**.594**.574** 1.00 Lifelong learning and information.515**.661 **.438**.577**.592** 1.00 management skills Teamwork.554**.638**.523**.568**.539**.556** 1.00 **Correlation is significant at 0.01 level (2-tailed) Strength of relation: Very weak: 0.00–0.19; Weak: 0.20–0.39 weak”. Moderate: 0.40–0.59; Strong: 0.60–0.79; Very strong: 0.80–1.00  ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF EDUCATION 101 Mean score 4.00 3.50 3.00 2.50 2.00 1.50 1.00 0.50 0.00 Communicaon Crical thinking & Entrepreneurship Ethics & Leadership skill Lifelong learning & Team work skill problem solving skill professional moral informaon skill knowledge management skill Business & Management Design Hospitality & Tourism Science & Technology Social Sciences Others Figure 3. Importance of generic skills to students in different disciplines (N = 424). Science & Technology, and Social Sciences. Besides, results showed that entrepreneurship skills rank the least important among all disciplines. By using ANOVA test, it is found that entrepreneurship skills (with F value = 5.149, p-value