OUHK offers flexible postgraduate courses for working adults

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While everybody talks about open education today, do we know the true meaning of it? Perhaps the keyword is “flexibility”. It is all about expanding access to learning for everyone by eliminating the barriers that can preclude both opportunities and recognition for participation in institution-based learning -- like barriers encountered by the working population. That’s where the Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) comes in.

“With its establishment in 1989, OUHK has always seen making higher education available to all through open and flexible learning with a focus on individual strengths and multiple competences as its fundamental mission,” says the OUHK Vice President (Academic) Prof. Danny Wong. He noted that the University offers high-quality courses at a variety of levels, including a wide range of full-time courses, and around 100 postgraduate programmes. The courses are available through multi-mode means to cope with individual needs, including distant learning programmes, part-time face-to-face sessions, or a combination of both.

In 2015, nearly a thousand adult learners graduated from OUHK’s postgraduate courses, enriching their lives and furthering their careers. “OUHK’s flexible learning approach sets it apart. It fits my work schedule and career development plan,” says Dickson Kwan, a 2015 graduate of the Master of Science in Safety, Occupational Health and Environmental Management. Kwan works as a Civil Engineer at Welcome Construction Co. Limited (“Welcome”).

After obtaining his Civil Engineering degree at Exeter University in Britain in 2002, Kwan returned to Hong Kong to study for a master’s programme in Civil Infrastructural Engineering and Management at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Following graduation, he began working in Chun Wo Construction and Engineering Company, and later moved to Welcome.

Kwan realised that he didn’t know enough about safety and environmental management to pursue his chosen career. “I had picked up measurement and tender management skills from the previous courses, but I didn’t have enough knowledge about safety and environmental management. That meant it was difficult for the company to consider promoting me to Safety Officer,” he says.

With the support from Welcome, Kwan decided to enroll in a part-time master’s programme in Occupational Safety and Environmental Management. After evaluating the similar programmes offered by other institutions and OUHK, Kwan chose the latter.