INTRODUCTION

With the peaceful rise of mainland China and her accelerated economic integration with Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, the concept of Greater China has been gaining enormous currency in the past decade. It has become part of the lingua franca in business industries, media, as well as culture and education sectors.

In contrast with the rising prominence of Greater China had been inadequate knowledge taught and the immense unmet demand of society, industries and governments for talents equipped with systematic knowledge and analytical capacity on this unique region. The Hong Kong Institute of Education is the first tertiary education institution in Hong Kong offering master programme in Greater China studies that sees mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau as a whole and integrates related knowledge into one.

Hosted by the Department of Asian and Policy Studies, this Programme teaches public policy, social policy, political economy and international relations. It aims to enrich and update students’ academic knowledge and strengthen their analytical repertoire in the studies of Greater China from multidisciplinary and comparative perspectives. Key courses include Research Methods for Interdisciplinary Studies, Politics and Public Policy in Greater China, Social Science Education: Concepts and Scope, and Political Economy of Greater China. A wide range of electives including research thesis are also offered to students. On top of conventional classroom teaching, we use many creative pedagogies in stimulating critical thinking and strengthening analytical capacity, such as dialogue with senior media and NGO leaders, case study workshop, field visits (to Taiwan and Macau), election observation tours, simulation and role play, and conference participation.