Opportunities, Challenges and Creative Teaching Practices of New International and Local Recruits in Hong Kong

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by Mimi

Internationalization in higher education in Hong Kong creates enriched learning opportunities while also introducing adjustment challenges for new instructors with non-Asian backgrounds. The study analyzes reflective teaching experiences from twenty-five recruits in social sciences and humanities, using NVivo 11, to identify solutions for meeting obstacles, establishing effective inclusive pedagogy, and addressing unresolved issues. The paper considers how local and nonlocal students collaborate amid diverse knowledge and working experiences across undergraduate and postgraduate programs.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

New International Academics

Opportunities, Challenges and Teaching Practices

Inclusive teaching strategies

Solutions and unresolved issues

Athens Journal of Education-Volume 6, Issue 2 – Pages 111-126 Opportunities, Challenges and Creative Teaching Practices of New International and Local Recruits in Hong Kong By Paula Hodgson􀀍 Internationalization in higher education in Hong Kong has brought many enriched learning opportunities for students, because international recruits create an alternative learning culture that embraces global perspectives and international research to the curriculum. However, those new to teaching and with non-Asian backgrounds may experience a steeper learning curve as they adjust to a new culture, systems and expectations while working in Hong Kong. Of about 80% local students, educators need to find creative strategies to facilitate them to have interactions and collaborations with nonlocal students, 15% of whom are from mainland China and have different learning habits. In addition, they have to manage teaching undergraduate and postgraduate programs, which have students from diverse knowledge and working experiences. Twenty-five recruits from social sciences and humanities participated in the study and their reflectionson their teaching experiences were analysed using NVivo 11. Solutions on meeting the challenges, good teaching practice and unresolved issues are discussed. Keywords: higher education, inclusive teaching, International academics, new recruits, pedagogy Introduction "Hong Kong as an education hub" was cited in the University Grants Committee report (2010), and a forecast that "Asia will constitute about 70% of the global demand for higher education" in 2025 was also in the report (p. 55). There has been an ongoing strategy of recruiting international and mainland staff while promoting a good mix of international and local students in various programs in universities in the past two decades in Hong Kong (Lo & Ng, 2013; Lee, 2014). At the same time, internationalization means learning English (Choi, 2010), because many university students have had Chinese as the medium of instruction in school as part of the academic adaptation (Yu & Wright, 2017) . The new four-year curriculum emphasizes an outcome-based education, and this has elicited many changes to the curriculum in both content and structure by local universities, including strategies on broadening science and arts education, bridging co-curricular activities, and outcome-based assessment to match international standards (Lanford, 2016). Despite the American style of liberation arts education being adopted at undergraduate level, many international staff have been recruited with new courses that were designed during the educational reform. This paper presents a study of new recruits to a local university in Hong Kong. 􀀍Professional Consultant, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. [https://doi.org/10.30958/aje.6-2-2](https://doi.org/10.30958/aje.6-2-2) doi=10.30958/aje.6-2-2 Vol. 6, No. 2 Hodgson: Opportunities, Challenges and Creative Teaching… New recruits may mean new to university teaching, new to teaching in Hong Kong but with a few years of teaching in university in other part of the world, or new to teaching in this university but have experience of teaching in Hong Kong. To acquire proficiency in university teaching, new recruits may start from their own learning experience as students. However, to educate 21st-century learners, they need to create a learning environment that focuses on student thinking and learning because they are living in an ever-changing world (Whitcomb, Borko, & Liston, 2009). In preparing for new recruits in the changing educational landscape, the central unit that provides the orientation and emerging pedagogies play a significant role in building both staff capacity to adapt in their transition to working in a new environment and have opportunities to reflect on effective pedagogies that invite inclusivity in the context of Hong Kong. This paper will discuss the outcomes ofthe dialogical approach with new

FAQs

What challenges do new international and local recruits face in Hong Kong universities?

New recruits may encounter a steeper learning curve when adjusting to a new culture, systems, and expectations, especially when working with students from different learning habits.

How was the study conducted?

Twenty-five recruits from social sciences and humanities participated, and their reflections on teaching experiences were analyzed using NVivo 11.

What outcomes does the paper discuss?

The paper discusses solutions for meeting challenges, good teaching practice, and unresolved issues related to effective teaching in a Hong Kong university context.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by Mimi