Conference Theme: Research into Practice in the Four-year curriculumPlenary speaker of the keynote addressGlobalization has posed immense challenges to higher education institutions worldwide. In the last
two decades, discussions of the attributes that university graduates should have in order to cope
with rapid changes on a global scale and the positioning of universities to attract the best talents
have taken centre stage in the discourse of tertiary education. In this presentation, I shall examine
the ways in which higher education institutions have tried to meet these challenges. I will then
examine the rationale behind the 3-3-4 educational reform in Hong Kong as proposed by education
policy makers, what it hopes to achieve and the challenges that it has posed, particularly to tertiary
the ways in which higher education institutions have tried to meet these challenges. I will then
examine the rationale behind the 3-3-4 educational reform in Hong Kong as proposed by education
policy makers, what it hopes to achieve and the challenges that it has posed, particularly to tertiarypublished_or_final_versio