Hong Kong Metropolitan University latest to introduce compulsory national security course on ‘common core values’ of good citizens
- Rebranded Open University will stress integrity, fairness, perseverance and innovation in new course
- University keen to recruit overseas students from countries in China’s Belt and Road Initiative
From November, students will have to attend the relevant courses under its general education modules. They will take part in online seminars, write essays and be graded on a pass-or-fail basis, but all students must complete the courses before they graduate.
“We hope all graduates from our university will share common core values and be trained in integrity, fairness, perseverance and innovation,” university president Paul Lam Kwan-sing said in an interview last week.
Teaching these core values would mean exploring issues such as the need to be law-abiding and citizens’ civic responsibilities, he added.
With more than 19,000 students and nearly 1,000 staff, the city’s biggest self-financed school rebranded itself as Metropolitan University from this academic year to “better reflect its status and strategic goals”.
It is the fifth higher education institution to reveal compulsory courses on the national security law, which bans acts of subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces and has led to the arrest of more than 150 people so far.
Under the law, the government is required to promote national security education in universities and schools.
