This article investigates Hong Kong employers’ views on graduate competencies that facilitate new graduates’ success in the workplace. The methodology involves the use of a questionnaire to elicit responses from business employers on the importance of specific competencies contributing to the success of fresh graduates at work. The findings indicate that all of the competencies examined are important to a degree. ‘Ability and willingness to learn’, ‘teamwork and cooperation’, ‘hardworking and willingness to take on extra work’, ‘self-control’ and ‘analytical thinking’ are the five highest-ranking competencies measured, although all are clearly necessary for success. Hard and soft skills are rated equally important by employers overall. Recommendations for developing competencies among university students prior to their entry to the workforce are discussed. As the competencies are of a practical nature, it is suggested that universities work together with industry to develop workplace-oriented programmes. This is the first research, to the authors’ knowledge, that approaches desirable graduate competencies from the perspective of the skills gap in the context of Hong Kong.

In the age of lifelong learning and increased competition for time, motivation becomes a salient issue. Students need to be more intrinsically motivated in the absence of more formal structure. This is especially true in online learning environments where direct instructor influence is mitigated. Online learning environments typically embrace many choices in ways in which learning material is presented and interaction with students is supported in both individual and collaborative contexts. As such, it is imperative that we better understand the implications of various learning activities and associated technologies on aspects of intrinsic motivation in elearning. In this paper we examine these effects through qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with students in an online MBA program. Results encourage use of a pedagogically driven portfolio of learning activities supported by well-selected and integrated audio, video, and data technologies. Extension to use of mobile devices in ubiquitous e-learning contexts is explored.

Creativity and morality are key attributes that stakeholders demand of organizations. Accordingly, higher education institutions and professional training programs also seek to cultivate these attributes in future leaders. However, research has hitherto shown that, under certain conditions, creativity may conflict with morality. This complicates the development of creative individuals who are also moral. We examined the complex relationship between creativity and moral reasoning with data collected from a group of undergraduate students. By considering the cognitive processes behind creativity and moral reasoning, we propose perspective taking as a moderating factor. Specifically, we found that while creative individuals might not necessarily adopt a lower level of moral reasoning, there was a more nuanced moderating relationship among creativity, perspective taking, and moral reasoning. That is, individuals who were weak in perspective taking tended to adopt a lower level of moral reasoning if they were also creative. Perspective taking was also directly and positively associated with moral reasoning. We explore the implications of our findings for future research and curriculum/program design.

Traditionally, medical students spend their electives practising clinical medicine. However, Eoin Young, Rob Melvin, John Coombes, and Miriam Samuel decided to use their basic computer knowledge to teach

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