Brief Review

Summer Institute 2015:
Higher Education for Tomorrow Asian Summit on Higher Education

This was the third year of the Faculty's Summer Institute cum Summit. The Summer Institute is designed for aspiring leaders in institutions and ministries as a learning programme for leadership. The programme provides opportunities for the participants to interact with experts about global, systemic and institutional perspectives for the future of higher education.

Most of this year's participants were practising leaders in leading institutions in their respective systems. Forty-six participants came from six countries including Mongolia (26), Myanmar (8), Cambodia (8), Laos (2), Thailand (1), and Bangladesh (1). Among them were quite a few University Rectors (Presidents) and Pro-Rectors. The participants were mostly supported by international organizations and national government institutions such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Open Society Foundations (OSF) and the Ministry of Education Youth and Sport in Cambodia. Some of the participants received scholarships provided by HKU.

The Summer Institute was guided by five Faculty facilitators, two international experts and 14 resource persons who provided specialized expertise in designated parts of the programme.

The Institute this year attached great importance to student learning through experience, in a redefined notion of the curriculum. Participants learned from first-hand experiences, from a whole range of activities, through interactions with teachers and students from HKU, as well as discussions with prominent guest speakers. There were various site visits, too.

An Asian Summit on Higher Education took place over two days during the two-week programme, where resource persons discussed critical issues about innovations and paradigm shifts in higher education. By the end of the two-week programme, 12 Knowledge Products had been generated by the participants as real-life projects which could be brought home and put into practice in their respective countries or institutions. Based on the feedback collected from the participants, they all declared that this was a remarkable learning experience. They all hoped to continue to make the best use of their relationships with HKU. The idea of Institute alumni was raised and was welcomed by many.

Excerpt from: Faculty of Education (2015). Summer Institute 2015: Higher Education for Tomorrow Asian Summit on Higher Education. Education Matters, Vol. 13.2, p. 9.