Postgraduate Conference on Interdisciplinary Learning: Re-Imagining Postgraduate Studies in the 21st Century and Beyond
The 21st Century has occasioned new ways of doing things, and this has been apparent in areas such as world economies, business fields and technology advancement (especially in information and communications technology). In view of these changes, higher education institutions have had to respond to keep up with the new market demands. Correspondingly, changes in curriculum and new subjects are continuously being introduced to train a new crop of human resources who can meet current and prospective needs. Inevitably, postgraduate programmes in the 21st Century must respond to dynamic demands. Indeed, postgraduate research topics and methods have evolved and will continue in the future. Likewise, non-research based postgraduate studies are also witnessing dramatic changes in the types of programmes across fields. Programmes of interdisciplinary and even transdisciplinary nature, as well as professional degrees, are growing at a faster pace across the globe. Another critical aspect of the recent changes can be seen in how existing, and new programmes are adopting international perspectives in research and teaching by focusing on global debates in respective subjects as well as international collaboration and partnerships. Moreover, these changes are expected to continue and intensify in the foreseeable future with the imminence of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. With the prevalence of Internet of Things and Systems, human capabilities will be challenged in ways that have not been imagined before in the coming years. Consequently, advanced studies and students for that matter, face new a dawn of expectations and require continuous opportunities for the development of both soft and hard skills in efforts to re-imagine postgraduate studies in the 21st Century.
At the backdrop of previous Postgraduate Conferences by the School of Graduate Studies of Lingnan University, this conference shall offer an essential platform for research and taught postgraduate students to interact with each other and share their current and prospective research and learning experiences with established scholars. In response to the changing educational structures and expectations of the 21st century, the conference shall emphasise on the need for international and interdisciplinary perspectives to learning. It will also explore new frontiers of postgraduate training that prepares students for the dynamic socio-economic and technological environments with the support of renowned and experienced scholars from the three main faculties of Lingnan University; Social Sciences, Business, and Arts. It is also anticipated that the Conference will be graced by scholars from international institutions who will serve as keynote speakers. The keynote speakers will broadly deliberate on what the rest of the 21st Century holds for postgraduate studies and research through their experiences. More importantly, the conference will be fundamentally student-led by emphasising on their research and learning experiences.
Therefore, in keeping with the previous postgraduate events supported by the School of Graduate Studies, the Postgraduate Conference on Interdisciplinary Learning shall provide these opportunities for students:
- Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches to research
- Comparative perspectives to research
- International and global perspectives on learning
- Introduction of modern technologies in research, learning and practice