Liberal Arts and the Legacy of China’s Christian Universities

Higher Education in Asia: Moving Ahead

Topic: Liberal Arts and the Legacy of China’s Christian Universities

Co-organizers: Social Contexts and Policies of Education (Academic Unit) (SCAPE), Consortium for Higher Education Research in Asia (CHERA)

Date: March 3, 2022 (Thursday)

Time: 10:00-11:15 am (HKT)

Format: Zoom

Registration: https://scape.edu.hku.hk/mar322/

Chair: Prof Gerard Postiglione, University of Hong Kong

Speakers:
Prof Peter Ng, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Mr Leping Mou, University of Toronto
Prof Ruth Hayhoe, University of Toronto

Discussant:
Prof Ruth Hayhoe, University of Toronto

Abstract

The United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia celebrates its centennial this year. Founded in 1922 to support 13 Christian universities in China, it has reached out to universities throughout Asia since 1952 with a special vision for whole-person education through the Liberal Arts. In this presentation Dr. Peter Ng will highlight current research in China on the history of Christian higher education, which sees it as a platform of inter-cultural encounters and as a means to develop new forms of liberal arts educational activities, including multicultural and comparative religious studies, also new ways to integrate Chinese and Western cultures. Leping Mou will then present research on three current programs in the Liberal Arts that have inherited elements of this legacy. He will look at the distinctive ways in which they have developed in three contexts of Greater China – Yuanpei College at Peking University, Lingnan University in Hong Kong, and Tunghai University in Taichung and point to the features each can bring to the nurture of global citizens with capabilities to meet the complex social challenges of the 21st century. Ruth Hayhoe will conclude with some thoughts on how this legacy may play a bridging role between Asia and the West and open up some discussion on ways in which to facilitate this.

Bio

Speakers

Peter Tze Ming Ng (PhD., ULIE, UK) is a retired Professor of Religious Education at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Research interests: Chinese Christianity and the History of Pre-1949 Christian Higher Education in China. Recent work includes Reflections on the Study of the History of Christian Higher Education in China, 1986-2015 (2017).

Leping Mou is a PhD Candidate at OISE, University of Toronto and lecturer at University of Toronto Mississauga. His doctoral research examines liberal arts education for whole person cultivation in Chinese contexts. He serves as the Co-Chair for the Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education 2022 Annual Conference.

Speaker & Discussant

Ruth Hayhoe is a professor at the University of Toronto. She served as Secretary for Education, Science and Culture in the Canadian Embassy in Beijing (1989-1991), and Director of the Hong Kong Institute of Education, now the Education University of Hong Kong (1997-2002). Recent books include China Through the Lens of Comparative Education (2015), Canadian Universities in China’s Transformation (2016) and Religion and Education (2018).