Objectives
The purpose of the Programme for Economic Education is twofold:
- to promote the excellence of economic education; and
- to improve the understanding of public policy issues from economic perspectives.
The members of the Programme are scholars and experts of economics and education from Department of Decision Sciences and Managerial Economics, Faculty of Education, Department of Economics, and Centre for Learning Enhancement and Research.
Professor Michael Fung, Director of the Programme, Dr. David Chow and Dr. Fred Ku, Associate Directors, are well-experienced faculty members in Department of Decision Sciences and Managerial Economics and often cooperate with Education Bureau in promoting economic education.
Academic activities and exchange
Through collaborating with different organizations and units, the Programme embarks on various academic activities and exchange. For instance, supported by Teaching Development Grant, the Programme set up an online platform (PMER) furnishing multimedia educational resources. In addition, members of the Programme endeavor to organize and participate in seminars on economics and education to share their experience with other researchers and educators. In 2015, the Programme organized a visit with Taiwan National Chiayi University to promote interaction and exchange views with Taiwanese students and teachers on youth entrepreneurship and socio-economic environments of Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Teaching cases and other publication
The Programme endeavors to promote Hong Kong economic education and publish teaching cases of economics and other educational resources. For example, working together with Education Bureau in 2013, the Programme published 10 multimedia teaching cases “When Adam Smith meets Steve Jobs”, taking the first step towards the use of video in teaching material in Economics. There is also the series of Policy Analysis, in which public policies on housing, Individual Visit Scheme, minimum wage, and health care etc., are studied from economic perspective. What’s more, David Chow, Michael Fung and Fred Ku also published a book in Chinese in 2013: «宏觀經濟名詞解讀».
Knowledge transfer and community service
Knowledge transfer and community service are important missions of the Programme for Economic Education. Through various talks and sharing sessions, the Programme works towards enhancing the quality of economic education in both tertiary and secondary education. Cooperation with Education Bureau in organizing teachers’ seminars to support the NSS curriculum of Economics, holding video teaching case contests and policy debate are some of the examples of the Programme’s work and aspiration. Since 2012, the Programme for Economic Education also have organized “Young Economist Scheme”, aiming to nurture CUHK students’ passion for economics, and also to help underprivileged secondary students in preparing for HKDSE. Up to now around 400 students have been benefited.
