There are a number of things that make a Lingnan education distinctive: its focus on Liberal Arts (with its emphasis on transferable skills and whole person education); students’ residential experience; students’ involvement in Service Learning; and students’ opportunities to study abroad at a wide range of partner institutions.

Lingnan is committed to sending as many as 50% of its students abroad for a semester, the point being to expose these students to new cultures, to broaden their experiential base, their excitement about learning, and their linguistic skills. Enhanced self-confidence and an increased sense of self-efficacy and competence are also key goals associated with studying abroad.

Visual Studies has been involved in developing exchanges with Aalborg University in Denmark, the Cardiff School of Creative and Cultural Industries at the University of Glamorgan in Wales, and with the Department of Media, Cognition, and Communication at the University of Copenhagen. Aalborg University emphasizes collaborative learning and teamwork, and has pioneered this approach through their well-known project work. Students from Lingnan who have gone to Aalborg have found project work to be inspiring and entirely consistent with their home university's aspiration to produce graduates whose attitudes allow them to work productively and constructively in teams. The Cardiff School at the University of Glamorgan is mostly for students who are able to be out of Hong Kong for up to a full year and who are particularly interested in further developing the studio practice dimension of their Visual Studies training. The University of Copenhagen offers courses that enroll advanced undergraduates and first year graduate students, and are thus geared to Lingnan and other international students who are academically strong. Further exchange links are currently being pursued with the University of Western Kentucky and with the world-renowned Nova Scotia School of Arts and Design.

The above exchanges, and many, many others are administered by the Office of Mainland and International Exchanges. This Office provides regular briefings about the Exchange Programme at Lingnan.

Visual Studies strongly encourages students to think about going abroad during their second year. Our students have gone to a number of different countries, and have all returned with many positive stories to share.