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Transdisciplinary Individualised Major Programme caters to personalised learning needs

30 Aug 2024

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Dr Nick Zhang, Assistant Professor of HKBU’s School of Communication and Programme Director of Bachelor of Arts, Science and Technology (Hons) in Individualised Major (left) and Year 2 student Cox Kwong.
The BAScT programme incorporates the Google Career Certificates Programme into their courses to cultivate the students’ transdisciplinary problem-solving and analytical skills through the support of information technology. Interested BAScT students are also eligible for other courses of the GCC programme.
BAScT students participated in a study tour to Shanghai, where HKBU students teamed up with students from Shanghai University of Sport to co-create health promotion proposals in a transdisciplinary manner.
Each BAScT student is paired with an academic supervisor and a community adviser from the industry. Students will explore global challenges and come up with solutions in a real-life setting. With the support and guidance from the team, students get to put their learning into practice.

Since 2022, Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) has been offering a four-year programme: Bachelor of Arts, Science and Technology (Hons) in Individualised Major (BAScT). This programme integrates transdisciplinary and personalised elements, allowing students to tailor their major studies and course combination, according to their interests and developmental needs. Faculty members with different academic backgrounds and industry experts will also provide one-on-one guidance to help students complete their academic research or social impact projects.

 

A new trend in transdisciplinary learning

Dr Nick Zhang, Assistant Professor of HKBU’s School of Communication and Programme Director of BAScT, notes that transdisciplinary education has become an emerging trend in higher education worldwide. Prestigious institutions like Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Tokyo have all introduced different inter-/transdisciplinary undergraduate programmes. Dr Zhang emphasises that the individualised major programme at HKBU focuses more on students’ awareness of social issues and curiosity in learning. It encourages them to identify real-world problems and global challenges, thereby developing the learning pathway that best suits their needs.

Dr Zhang says: “The programme’s ‘one-on-one’ guidance model allows students to receive more attention and appropriate help during the learning process; and the ‘problem-oriented’ curriculum design provides them with greater autonomy in choosing their learning pathways. Therefore, the students of this programme grow and mature faster. The programme team also explores various opportunities for industry engagement, summer internships, and even overseas exposure, helping students to gain a deeper understanding of the complexity of today’s fast-changing society and adopt a more global outlook.

 

Student-driven exploration to tackle future challenges

Year 2 student Cox Kwong Kok-sing is among the first cohort to undertake the individualised major programme. He recognises the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in recent years and has decided to pursue a major in “Digital Cultures and Media Technologies”. During a summer internship at a local digital marketing company in his first year of study, he observed that AI applications not only boost work efficiency, but also bring many innovation opportunities and technical challenges.  Kwong aims to further study the applications of AI in a specific industrial context and its impact on human creativity and communication behaviour.

In addition to “Digital Cultures and Media Technologies”, the approved transdisciplinary individualised majors declared by the first cohort BAScT students include: “Human-Centred AI”, “FinTech and Digital Innovation”, “Health Technology and Social Change”, “Social Inclusion and Educational Technology”, “Sustainability Studies”, and “Sustainable Finance and Data Analytics”. 

Dr Zhang adds that the programme inspires students to solve real-world problems from a broader perspective. He encourages students to consider entrepreneurship after graduation, giving back to society through innovative products and services.

 

Flexible course design enhances competitiveness

In the 2022-23 academic year, HKBU introduced four new transdisciplinary undergraduate programmes, aiming to integrate science, technology, and the humanities to equip students with the right skills to tackle future challenges. BAScT is the most flexible programme, which allows students to choose courses offered by all faculties and departments (except the School of Chinese Medicine) according to their learning interests and career aspirations. At the same time, the curriculum design also includes 36 units of “Solution-based Learning Modules” that span four years of study, enabling students to explore social problems or global challenges step by step, apply their knowledge and skills from domain courses to analyse and address real-life problems, and complete project reports under the guidance of academic supervisors.

This brand-new programme has received great support from the industry not long after its establishment. It is worth mentioning that in 2023, BAScT in HKBU became the only undergraduate programme in Hong Kong that was supported by the “Google Career Certificates (GCC) Programme”. All BAScT students who received scholarships provided by Google Hong Kong to finish their professional certificate courses for free, including practical skills such as data analytics and project management. This innovative programme not only caters to students’ individual learning needs but also provides them with more room for personal development, such that they are up for any challenges that come their way.