Identity and citizenship education in universities: Students’ experience in Hong Kong

This presentation intends to share findings from an empirical study that seeks to investigate college students’ perceptions of citizenship and their experience of learning citizenship on university campuses. For centuries, citizenship education has been a part of political socialization embedded in the nation state’s political culture that direct citizens’ views, attitudes, and loyalty towards politics and their role within the political system. In many societies, particularly those in Western countries, citizenship education is promoted mainly in school education rather than higher education. As a legacy of British colonization, the higher education system in Hong Kong is adapted from Western models of higher education, which are often perceived as standing outside the realm of citizenship and citizenship education. In recent years, however, international literature on higher education has paid increased attention to the need to equip students with knowledge and values about citizenships as well as civic awareness. In Hong Kong, the word “citizenship” has been widely used in its higher educational institutions. Some institutions re-oriented their general education courses to respond to “the challenge of responsible citizenship” in the local society, and to prepare students to become “educated” and “active” citizens. Why the universities in Hong Kong install citizenship education on campus? What are the characters of citizenship education embedded in the university culture? How do university students perceive citizenship in the local, national, and global contexts? My on-going research project seeks to address these issues. Findings from the research are to be shared in this presentation.