Felix Klein's notion of "double discontinuity" between university mathematics and secondary school mathematics has persisted in mathematics teacher education. Situating this study in Hong Kong, we investigated three prospective secondary teachers' experiences in higher education and secondary mathematics classrooms, including their…

This study investigates Chinese international students' acculturation strategies and pragmatic intentions to address identity conflicts in Hong Kong study experiences through a developmental lens. We treat conflicts and stressors as indicators of active commitments and the process of engagement as strategic, goal-oriented, intentional investments…

This article investigated the learning experiences of mainland Chinese students in master's degree programmes in Hong Kong. Using a qualitative research approach, 20 mainland Chinese students in master's degree programmes in a first-tier Hong Kong university were interviewed. It observed, first, that mainland Chinese students appreciate the…

In school-to-university transition literature, autonomy has been implied or explicitly explained as an important factor to predict the persistence and engagement of students in higher education; however, little qualitative research addresses students' transition in relation to autonomy, what these students have to go through in terms of becoming…

Retention and attrition are issues of concern in universities worldwide. Researchers have noted that students' satisfaction with academic experience and psychological adjustment on campus play an important role in student retention. The current study examined the mediating role that perceived social support and feeling of connectedness have on the…

The concept of the associate degree is new to the Hong Kong tertiary education system. Public discussion and research have focused much on the policy and operational aspects of this tier, but empirical efforts to examine associate degree students' learning experiences and how it relates to the policy are relatively sparse. The present study…

Research has confirmed that supportive social networks and associated resources play a critical role in the adaptation of migrating international students to host communities. Access to such social networks and resources requires migrating students to invest in and make efforts at academic socialisation, as mediated by various social processes.…

Transitioning from school to university is a major development for learners, often accompanied by difficulties. When overseas students arrive at university for the first time these challenges are multiplied. It is suggested, however, that these difficulties can be mitigated to a certain extent via the use of online social networks. The present…

Educators worldwide are faced with challenges of understanding how undergraduates are making their school-to-university transition and becoming inducted into their academic discipline. A recent study investigated Hong Kong first-year Chinese students' experiences of transition from school to university and induction into their discipline in…

Students' adjustment to the university environment is an important factor in predicting university outcomes and is crucial to their future achievements. University support to students' transition to university life can be divided into three dimensions: academic adjustment, social adjustment and psychological adjustment. However, these…

This paper reports the findings of qualitative case studies aimed at exploring student experiences of offshore programmes delivered in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia by Australian universities. The paper draws on a cross-case analysis of the studies to develop propositions about student experience and identity formation in the context of…

Interviewed novice and experienced, part-time students in Hong Kong about their teaching and learning beliefs. Novice students with didactic/reproductive beliefs about teaching and learning found it difficult to adjust to higher education if the teaching was not expository; more experienced students tended to hold facilitative/transformative…