General Education Courses
Shaw College’s General Education (GE) courses uphold the University’s vision of "Whole Person Education". Through interdisciplinary and service-learning courses, the programme cultivates students' pursuit of knowledge, critical thinking, and broadens their horizons while enhancing generic skills. The curriculum covers diverse fields, including humanities, sciences, social sciences, business innovation, globalisation issues, as well as topics on adapting to university life and emotional well-being. Students may select courses based on their interests and academic backgrounds.
Students admitted in 2025/26 or thereafter must complete one service-learning course, aiming to encourage students to engage in community service, fostering civic responsibility through practice and reflection.
Study Requirements
Shaw College students must complete one to two generic GE course and/or service-learning course as specified in the University’s Undergraduate Handbook . Key requirements are summarized below:
| For Students Admitted in 2025/26 or thereafter | ||
| 4-Year Curriculum | One Service-Learning Course^ | 6 credits |
| One Generic GE Course | ||
| Senior-Year Entry | One Service-Learning Course^ | 3 credits |
^ Priority enrollment for service-learning courses is given to students admitted in 2025/26 and thereafter during course registration period under CUSIS. Students are recommended to complete service-learning courses within the first two years of study.
| For Students Admitted in 2024/25 or before | ||
| 4-Year Curriculum | Two Generic GE Courses or Service-Learning Courses# | 6 credits |
| Senior-Year Entry | One Generic GE Course or Service-Learning Course# | 3 credits |
# Priority enrollment for service-learning courses is given to students admitted in 2025/26 and thereafter during course registration period under CUSIS. Students admitted in 2024/25 or before who are interested in taking service-learning courses may add courses with remaining quotas under CUSIS during add/drop period.
Course List
Related Links
Registration and Examinations Section, Registry
Enquiries
General Enquiries / Enquiries about Generic GE Courses
Ms. Kanna Chan (Tel: 3943 7356 / Email: kannachan@cuhk.edu.hk)
Enquiries about Service-learning Courses
Mr. Chris Chu (Tel: 3943 8597 / Email: chrischu@cuhk.edu.hk)
GESC1230 Caring Heart Service Learning (3 Credits)
Aligning the college founding aspiration, “Learning, innovation, and benefitting humankind,” this course provides students with opportunities to apply their academic skills and knowledge to care for and serve the people in the society. It also enhances the understanding of students of community issues, with an aim to promote students’ apprehension of social inclusion. Students will engage in experiential learning to develop loving and kindness, empathy and respect for diversity. Guided by course instructors or NGOs, students will design and implement service-learning projects. The course concludes with a post-service review in which students will share and reflect on their service-learning experience, re-examine their own self to gain deeper and broader appreciation of how their own discipline and academic knowledge relates to the society, and develop an enhanced sense of civic responsibility and a lifelong commitment.
GESC2330 Service Learning: Human Concern (3 Credits)
This is a Service-Learning course which integrates meaningful social service activity with instruction and critical reflection in class to enrich the learning and the betterment of society, aims to foster students’ humanism through civic participation. Based on the principles of Service-Learning, volunteerism and reflective learning, students are required to apply theories and concepts to design and implement a series of services for a specialized community, including direct service, inquiry and advocacy experiences. This course corresponds to SDG#10 - reducing inequality, promoting an inclusive society of all, irrespective of age, gender, disability, ethnicity, or socio-economic status.
GESC2360 Environmental Justice in Action (3 Credits)
This course adopts a service-learning approach to examine how environmental sustainability can be achieved in a fair, just, and equitable manner through impactful community service. By applying the environmental justice framework, students will examine how social inequalities influence the processes and outcomes of sustainable development. The focus of student service will be on making an impact in one of the four dimensions of environmental justice: identifying distributional issues related to environmental impact, recognizing the environmental needs and voices of communities, fostering community participation in sustainability-promoting activities, and developing community capabilities for environmental resilience and sustainable growth. Students will be guided to initiate service-learning projects that address social-environmental issues.