Ranking leap affirms Lingnan University’s efforts in providing quality liberal arts education
For a past period of time Lingnan University has taken many strategic moves to strengthen different aspects of its liberal arts education. These initiatives prove to be successful and begin to bear fruit. According to the results of the QS University Rankings: Asia 2016 announced in mid June, Lingnan’s ranking surged by 33 places to the position of 109 among Asia universities. This is the highest position ever attained by Lingnan in this ranking exercise, another affirmation on the University’s excellence in liberal arts education after it was named one of the “Top 10 Liberal Arts Colleges in Asia” by Forbes in 2015.
In terms of individual indicators, Lingnan University was also ranked 48th in the propor on of academic staff with PhD, 7th in the total number of inbound exchange students, 15th in international faculty index, 29th in international students index, and 5th in the total number of outbound exchange students among Asian universities.
With the vision to excel as an internationally recognised liberal arts university distinguished by outstanding teaching, learning, scholarship and community engagement, Lingnan is dedicated to nurturing all-round excellence in students and committed to contributing to society through high quality research and knowledge transfer. To bring its liberal arts education to next level of excellence, Lingnan University has in place strategic initiatives to further enhance student learning and strengthen its global engagement through inter-university collaborations in teaching, learning and research. The University is also actively expanding its postgraduate studies programmes by working together with leading institutions worldwide.
Recently, the University has laid down its Strategic Plan for 2016-21 which addresses the education needs of the present and future generations. With the plan being put into full implementation, the University will be fueled with new, ongoing momentum with the focus on academic development and research as well as student development. To name just a few initiatives, the University plans to strengthen its academic development and research by partnering with leading universities or institutions in the region and beyond to jointly offer a global elite liberal arts programme for top students in Asia, offer strategic regional or international postgraduate programmes, promote regional and international cooperation for research excellence and internationalise student learning. On student development, the University will endeavour to replace its civic engagement programme with a service-learning requirement in 2016/17 as part of the University’s focus on whole student development, broaden its Core Curriculum commitment to increase the number of interdisciplinary learning opportunities, and enhance its undergraduate students’ language proficiency.