Achievement of desired university graduate attributes through a new 4-year undergraduate program

Abstract

This study investigated how the new 4-year undergraduate program, particularly the "General University Requirements" (GUR) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) contributed to the development of five desired graduate attributes amongst students of PolyU, including critical thinking, effective communication, innovative problem solving, lifelong learning and ethical leadership. The findings based on different evaluation methods, including longitudinal survey studies, Collegiate Learning Assessment Plus, secondary analyses of Student Feedback Questionnaire data, qualitative evaluation studies, longitudinal case study and repertory grid test evaluation are first summarized. Based on the findings, the question of whether the 4-year program contributed to the development of desired graduate attributes was explored. Integration of the available evaluation findings suggests that the GUR has helped the undergraduate students to develop the graduate attributes and the new 4-year undergraduate programme can promote the holistic development of the students.