GLSD - Global Studies 4-Year Programme, CUHK 香港中文大學全球研究四年制課程

Exchange Sharing |

Hi, GLSDers (and future GLSD students)! How has been your first semester so far? For our GLSDers, students are required to study overseas universities, and we believe there are some students preparing for a new journey in the coming semesters. Amid pandemic, we have some of our GLSD students sharing their experience at exchange universities offered by the programme in the Academic Year 2021-22. We’ll also have more stories by our students in part 2 soon. Let’s see what they say after the completion of exchange studies!

[Sharing by our student - Calvin Huang]

Eventually this year, the Youth Regional Affairs Dialogue (YRAD) could be held in person in Singapore. I am honoured to represent CUHK to participate in YRAD 2022 from 23 July to 31 July, together with 70+ participants from top Asian universities.

The theme of YRAD this year is social cohesion. We listened to sharings from the Minister, scholars, as well as NGO founders and had discussions from different dimensions including ICT, health care, inter-generational divide, social mobility and income inequality, as well as culture and identity. I learned a lot about geo-politics and culture in Asia and different perspectives on social issues.

Apart from academic exchange, we also made friends with each other. We worked closely and had fun together, so that we all cried on the day of departure. Although we might not be able to meet each other anytime soon, we are always firmly bonded (thanks to technology) and demonstrating social cohesion through our own ways.

Thanks to NTU-University Scholars Programme (NTU-USP) and Temasek Foundation for making this event possible and giving us the best experience in Singapore. Also thanks CUHK Global Studies Programme for sharing this wonderful event with us.

[Sharing by our students - Hermia Chan]

COP26 refers to the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, which was held in Glasgow from 31st October to 14th November 2021. It brought parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Hermia, our Year 4 GLSD student, attended the conference.

* How did you get this valuable opportunity to join COP26?
I obtained the badge from CarbonCare InnoLab (CCIL), a local climate-focused NGO. I participated in their Climate Advocacy Training for Youth (CATY) program and was selected as one of the youth delegates to COP26 through the program.

* What was your role in the COP26?
There are three types of badges at COP: parties, observers and press. As CCIL is admitted by the Conference of the Parties (COP) as observer organizations to the UNFCCC process, they can send representatives to attend any sessions or meetings of the UNFCCC, including COP26.

As observers, we are allowed to attend all open meetings. Through the official UNFCCC constituencies, observers can give intervention in some negotiations and meetings. I actively engaged with YOUNGO (the official children and youth constituency), in particular the Action for Climate Empowerment Working Group.

* How eco-friendly was the conference?
Reusable coffee cups are available across the venue. There are also carbon footprint shown on the food menu. Yet, there are groups calling for more climate-friendly food at COP (i.e. Food at COP).

* Reflection
COP26 is an overwhelming yet inspiring experience to me. I feel energetic that I can meet and talk to other young people who share the same awareness and concern about climate crisis all around the world.

How has your summer been so far? For our year 2 GLSDers, many work as interns this summer to learn and gain practical experience outside the classroom. GLSD3601 - Internship is a required course under the GLSD curriculum. In this course, internship opportunities are provided to students hoping that they can acquire a more holistic educational experience and further explore their career preferences.

On 1 June, some of our students already embarked on their internship journey. So let’s see what they have to say after their first week as interns!

Iris Jockey Club School of Global Leadership:
Being my first time working as an intern, it takes me some time to adjust to the workplace environment and digest all the newly obtained information, such as the workings of the institute and proper office manners. In the first week, I had been working on projects involving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, which are closely related to my concentration in Global Sustainability. These projects allow me to utilize my knowledge at work and deepen my understanding in this area for my studies. Besides, I am lucky to work alongside other GLSDers and have a generous supervisor who even treated us to bubble tea last Friday!

Jin GLOCAL HK:
Despite working from home, my first week at GLOCAL had been rewarding. My primary responsibilities covered researching international affairs, such as the recent escalated Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and managing GLOCAL’s social media pages. My work allows me to brush up my research skills and presents me with the opportunity to build up hard skills, like media marketing and content creation. This internship really fits me as it complements my concentration in Global Politics by learning more about international relations and global history. For instance, we have a group in which we will have daily conversations about and share our opinions on global news.

If you want to know more about summer internships under our Programme, stay tuned for more sharing and stories by our students!

[ ] Finally! There are face-to-face lessons for GLSD students!

When the situation of pandemic becomes alleviated in the city, activities on the campus could gradually resume. Therefore back in February, the course GLSD1003 - Introduction to Global Studies (II) began to be conducted in mixed mode, both in Zoom and CUHK classroom. In the photo, you can find the faces of the course instructor, Dr. Yannie Cheung, and Year 1 GLSD students. I am sure that you can see them smiling even under the masks, don’t you? Hope that the global outbreak of COVID-19 can end as soon as possible so that our classmates in foreign countries now could come back to CUHK and gather with us!

Our Programme would like to share the speech delivered by Queen Elizabeth II on 5 April 2020 as a wish to everyone who is reading: “Using the great advances of science and our instinctive compassion to heal, we will succeed, and that success will belong to every one of us. We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return. We will be with our friends again. We will be with our families again. We will meet again.”

[ ]
If you are not a fanatic of international relations (IR) theories, you may find reading the IR books tedious and similar to each other. Very often these books are written with professional jargons in a plain tone, making them uneasy for readers, especially the starters to interpret. However, the book we are going to introduce which is named ‘Theories of international politics and zombies’ adopted a totally different approach to guide readers into the fascinating world of IR.

Have you ever imagined that theories of IR could be linked with supernatural ghouls? Daniel Drezner, the author of this book, made a groundbreaking attempt to inject creative elements into mainstream IR theories. Drezner firstly gave an overview of the existing zombie-themed media productions and analyzed its fast-growing trend. Then, imaginations on the living deads were inserted with predictions of how different IR theories would respond to the biohazard accordingly. For instance, Drezner suggested that Constructivists would offer two policy recommendations in order to tackle the threat. The first policy is to destroy every copy of zombie films ever made. With the destruction, the disastrous socially constructed stereotypes of zombies are believed to be removed and thus ease the panic of people. Another advocacy would be trying to socialize zombies into human culture. Through the socialization process, zombies would eventually abandon their original flesh-eating ghouls identity and possess new identity as human-like actors. As a result, humans could be able to co-exist with the zombies and peacefully interact with each other, as seen from the above figure.

We highly recommend this book as the Course-1001 of international relations since the main ideas of different IR theories, such as Realism, Liberalism, Constructivism, Bureaucratic politics, and so on, are summarized in different chapters and can be utilized to assist the understanding of IR theories effectively. And for readers with previous knowledge in IR, you may still make good use of this insightful book to polish your skills to apply different theoretical frameworks in real-life scenarios.

In a nutshell, we would describe this book as a must-watch item for those who are passionate about global politics.

*If you have read this book before, please let us know your thoughts on it in the comments!

[ ]

How is everyone doing in the first two weeks of the 2nd semester (or in 2021 in general for to-be/non GLSD students)?

We hope everyone is doing great! Here is a glimpse of how GLSD students have been doing since the semester started. Last Thursday, some of our students had their first GLSD2001 Research Methods for Global Studies course taught by Ms. Ng Wing Kei, Vicky. As Global Studies is a multidisciplinary field of study, this course aims to equip GLSD students with knowledge about the research methodology for Global Studies and how to put it into practice for future application.

Despite not being able to have face-to-face lesson, we could still reunite virtually thanks to the Internet. Hope to see you all in reality soon!

[Sharing by our students – Elizabeth Chan & Zoe Hsiao]
The STEP Youth Regional Affair Dialogue is designed for university students in Asia to enhance their understanding of Asian geopolitics, governance and policies. The 2020 dialogue focused on the theme of social inequality. Two of our GLSD students were selected to attend the Dialogue.

Zoe Hsiao: Although I could only virtually attend the event due to the pandemic, I still successfully met new friends who share same concerns with me. Through those conversations in the Dialogue, I got to know more about other parts of Asia and learned to view social inequality from various angles.

Elizabeth Chan: I am grateful that STEP YRAD connected me with friends passionate about social justice in various arenas, enlightened me with the knowledge from their respective specializations; the Dialogue as a whole truly encouraged me that social impact through innovation and cooperation holds great momentum and hope.

[ ]
Where would you go if you want to meet some South Asian friends or enjoy South Asian food in Hong Kong? Many people may suggest the Chungking Mansion. However, do you know that there is a unique South Asian community beneath the industrial setting in Kwai Chung? In this semester, Dr. Celia Tsui, GLSD2201 Globalization, Cultures and Societies, brought us to participate in a cultural tour organized by ‘Kung Yung Koon-The Dost’ (共融館), to get a glimpse of the South Asian history in Hong Kong and their culture.

Message to prospective students: wondering how the programme's content and structure look like? We’re walking you through the recommended course timeline here! DM us if you have further questions about class content and study plan.

"研究發現，香港的教學課程涉及全球性問題的比例，是高學業成績國家／經濟體系中最高的；香港學生在公共衛生問題的意識方面表現卓越，全球排名第一。另外，在家中使用多種語言有助於提高學生的「國際勝任力」，而香港學生以及新加坡、澳門、愛沙尼亞的學生，在家和學校能說兩種或以上語言的比例較加拿大和英國的學生為高；香港新移民學生在「國際勝任力」方面的表現也很出色，例如在換位思考（perspective taking）和認知適應性（cognitive adaptability）方面較本地學生優勝。整體而言，新移民學生令香港在國際化和多元化方面的表現更佳。"
"The result also showed that among the high academic achieving countries/economies, Hong Kong had the highest percentage of students having global issues covered in the curriculum. Hong Kong students performed exceptionally well on awareness of public health issues, ranking top amongst all participating countries/economies. Hong Kong also enjoyed a similar benefit as our counterparts in Singapore, Macau and Estonia in having a high percentage of students who can speak two or more languages at home and in schools rather than those in Canada and U.K. A high percentage of multiple languages at home is conducive to the development of student global competence. Migrants in Hong Kong also performed outstandingly in GC, better than the natives in various aspects such as perspective taking and cognitive adaptability. In general, migrant students have helped Hong Kong become a more global and diversified city."

CUHK Releases the Results of the Global Competence Assessment in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 The EdDataX Research Centre at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) releases the survey res...

GLSD FIRST GIVEAWAY💥

We might not all be physically together in this time but your voice matters, and we want to hear it through a book/movie recommendation!
Recommend your favorite book or movie, get featured on our pages*, and win an audiobook or a $200 book voucher!!📚

3 Simple Steps to Enter:

1. LIKE and FOLLOW Global Studies’ social media accounts (Facebook or Instagram)
2. SHARE this post and CAPTURE the screen as proof.
3. Click the google form link (https://forms.gle/uajAshDiwXZUSaxa9) to gain entrance.

GLSD students will get an audiobook while non-major students, a book voucher!

*Winner(s) may choose to stay anonymous.
*One winner from the GLSD program and one non-major winner
*For reference, please see the caption of this post.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CEq9BDihox8/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Expectant of what you have to share with us! 😍