Bachelor of Social Sciences (Honours) in Global and China Studies

Programme Director: Dr KANG, Yi

The Bachelor of Social Sciences (Hons) in Global and China Studies programme inspires students for success in this new space by offering them interdisciplinary knowledge, research skills training, and multipolar experiential learning opportunities.

Our graduates will be distinguished by their grasp of how “global” processes are “locally” made and shaped. Key global processes include globalisation (the global integration of economic, cultural, and political systems), internationalisation (upscaling of national activities), and transnationalisation (synchronous conduct of daily life in multiple locations). We accent the changing links between Hong Kong, China and the world to illustrate the specificity of the global local nexus and place this in comparative historic and geographic context. Understanding the global local nexus empowers students to see the multiple economic, social, and cultural dimensions of structural change, and motivates them to recognise their own potential for transforming lives around them.

The programme emphasises the integration of inter-disciplinary global studies knowledge, cross cultural experiential learning, and conducting independent research. Students will deepen their research skills and have an opportunity for comparative experiential learning in China, Asia, Europe, and beyond. The research-led philosophy prepares students to be resilient graduates who value knowledge and can work in teams to produce knowledge. Students are encouraged to advance their linguistic skills, including Putonghua proficiency through language courses and internship opportunities outside Hong Kong. The programme also allows students to pursue a Minor programme to develop their academic capacity in a further area.

This programme aims to:

1. Provide students with a broad and interdisciplinary framework for analysing contemporary challenges and opportunities arising from the unprecedented, complex, and intense interactions and processes unfolding globally, including globalisation;
2. Introduce the concepts, debates, critiques, and insights of Global Studies, with special attention to the global local nexus and the changing relations between Hong Kong, China, and the world;
3. Empower students to integrate practical, experiential, and empirical knowledge of China and one other region with concepts and theories;
4. Equip students with the range of methods and skills that supports their research on Global and China Studies;
5. Enhance students’ with the range of methods and skills that supports their research on Global and China Studies ;
6. Inspire students to value interdisciplinary knowledge, its creation, and exchange;
7. Support students as they make sense of the world around them and appreciate their positionality in these changes.

Bachelor of Social Sciences in Global and China Studies Combined Degree Programme with Sciences Po Bordeaux (SPB)

Students who have met the required qualifications in the first two years, may opt for a combined degree pathway with Sciences Po Bordeaux — an elite tertiary education institution in France that provides rigorous training in social sciences at large, and contemporary world affairs in particular. Eventually, the students who fulfil the requirements will graduate with three degrees: the Bachelor Degree of Sciences Po Bordeaux at the end of the third year, the BSocSc (Hons) in Global and China Studies at the end of the fourth year from HKBU and Sciences Po's master degree (Diplôme de Sciences Po) at the end of the fifth year.

The structure of the curriculum is as follows:

Requirements