Greetings from Lingnan University
Welcome to the Times Higher Education Liberal Arts Forum, which will focus on visionary learning and impactful research in Asian higher education.
Universities play an important role in inspiring students and bringing positive changes to the higher education community through research and social engagement. Lingnan University strives to be a global leader in Asia dedicated to quality education and impactful research.
Together, we will examine the future of liberal arts education in Asia; the applications of technology and innovation in teaching and learning; how the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals can be incorporated into our curriculum, pedagogy, research and wider community engagements; and how practical and innovative solutions can be found to meet the needs of the underprivileged.
This forum will serve as a significant platform to exchange ideas and explore collaboration. We look forward to lively discussions on the importance of liberal arts universities in an era during which STEM and professional subjects appear to be everyone’s choice, and whether a liberal arts curriculum serves as a model for quality education as defined by this SDG. How is the distinct liberal arts ethos and emphasis on creativity conducive to finding innovative and practical solutions? To build a better world, which other SDGs can be achieved with distinction?
Leonard K. Cheng
President
Lingnan University
About Lingnan University
Lingnan University is a liberal arts university in Hong Kong with the longest established tradition among the local institutions of higher education. The university’s history dates to 1888 when the Christian College in China was founded in Guangzhou. It was re-established as Lingnan College in Hong Kong in 1967 and renamed Lingnan University in 1999.
Guided by its core values of "Education: Care for Learning • Research: Impact with Care", the university has grown from a pre-eminent Asian liberal arts university to a global leader in quality education and high-impact research, ranked third in "quality education" in the THE Impact Rankings 2022. Locally, it has achieved the highest score of the eight local public universities for "undergraduate satisfaction with the quality and value they have gained from their teaching and learning experience".
The university offers undergraduate, taught postgraduate and research postgraduate programmes, providing local and non-local students with the best liberal arts education through a broad-based curriculum, close staff-student relationships, a vibrant residential campus, abundant service-learning and exchange opportunities, extensive co-curricular programmes and extracurricular activities.
A truly international university, Lingnan partners with more than 250 educational institutions in 49 countries, and its extended research network includes top universities, institutes and centres all over the world. It is a member of the Alliance of Asian Liberal Arts Universities, the Global Liberal Arts Alliance and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, among others.
On the research front, Lingnan University has made great strides in impact and in supporting the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. In the latest research assessment exercise conducted by a local authority, Lingnan's research in humanities, social sciences and business were classified as "world leading" and "internationally excellent"; and it was placed first or second among all public universities in terms of the percentage of "world-leading" research work in accountancy, sociology and anthropology, social work and social policy, and philosophy.
The university's strength in knowledge transfer lies in gerontechnology and smart ageing, culture and heritage, humanitarian technology and environmental sustainability. Its development of humanitarian projects with high social value and relevance has been exemplified in the continued growth of support from society and industry.