Listening to students: CIE Student Focus Groups

Open communication practices between students and educators are keys to a university student’s personal and academic growth. CIE has placed much emphasis on providing multiple platforms for productive exchanges between students and staff so as to ensure the sustainable development of the College. Throughout the years more channels have been established for our proactive students to share their views. This year, four sessions of Student Focus Group were conducted from October 20 to 25, 2016.

During the sessions, around 30 Associate Degree (AD) students from different Concentration Studies (including some International Ambassadors) as well as exchange students from the Temasek Polytechnic, Singapore were invited to share their experience with their peers and the management. Year 2 students’ participation in internship, mentorship, exchange programmes and services in student societies has inspired our freshmen and provided useful orientation for their new campus life.

In a relaxing atmosphere, students were free to share views not only about teaching and learning, but also matters about campus facilities. Dr. Sam Lau, AD Programme Director and Director of CIE, attended the four sessions to listen and respond to students’ concerns such as language barrier, assignment workload and campus facilities.

After listening to the students’ sharing, Dr. Lau made some recommendations to the students on how to overcome challenges in learning, and also encouraged the students to proactively participate in school activities and join Academic & Cultural Exchange Programmes for personal growth and preparation for future career in the 21stcentury.

Such exchanges were constructive. The College will forward students’ opinions to relevant parties for follow-up with a view to enrich every student’s learning experience in the future.