International PhD Seminar: Student Experience and Value Orientations in Contemporary Higher Education

Instrumental Rationality and Self-Quantification: A Study of the Value Orientations of Students at Hong Kong Universities in the Context of the Marketization of Higher Education

Against the backdrop of the increasing marketization of higher education, the value orientation of university education is undergoing profound changes. Taking Hong Kong university students as its research subjects, this study explores how market-oriented reforms are reshaping their value orientations and self-perception mechanisms. It focuses specifically on two core phenomena, "instrumental rationality" and "self-quantification", analyzing their roles and inherent tensions in shaping learning motivation, career orientation, and social values. Employing a mixed-methods approach, this research is expected to provide new theoretical and empirical insights into how educational marketization impacts student subjectivity and the humanistic mission of higher education.

Caring university: understanding student experience 

The presentation examines university life beyond economic performance indicators and standardized metrics such as graduate salaries or employability rates. Teaching-focused universities, often marginalized by neoliberal models and global rankings, operate under different conditions from research-intensive institutions. In these settings, faculty devote significant attention to student support and teaching, yet their contributions receive limited recognition within the “publish or perish” culture.

The study introduces the concept of the caring university, highlighting how close and affectively rich faculty–student interactions shape students’ educational experiences. It also discusses how these institutions foster alternative understandings of academic value and student engagement beyond quantifiable outcomes.