Transnational Education through Engagement: Students’ Perspective

A Computer Science degree is offered by Victoria University both locally in Australia and transnationally in Hong Kong. The degree includes a compulsory final year project subject. The project, a team effort, involves the design and implementation of a reallife computer application for an external client. The project model in Hong Kong was modified to accommodate a variety of time, distance, and cultural constraints, but its core components of group context, project-based problems, and outside focus remained unchanged. Australian teachers responsible for the program consider these three project components essential to transforming computing students into competent graduates. Do Hong Kong students support this view? This paper reports on a study of the students’ perceptions of the project experience and the relative importance of its three components. The paper concludes by considering the implications of the study on the project model.