Bachelor of Arts in Creative and Professional Writing
Hong Kong Baptist University - Faculty of Arts
Key Information
Campus location
Languages
English,
Study format
On-Campus
Duration
4 years
Pace
Full time
Tuition fees
HKD 42,100 / per year *
Application deadline
Request info
Earliest start date
Request info
* for local students and ~HK$145,000 for non-local students
Introduction
The Creative and Professional Writing Programme at HKBU is the first government-funded undergraduate programme in Hong Kong tertiary institutions dedicated to creative and professional writing learning in both the Chinese and English languages. The Programme has developed from a very popular concentration of the Humanities Programme. Apart from cultivating students to write in the creative and professional fields, the Creative and Professional Writing Programme also aims to nurture students' academic potential, cultural dimensions and sense of creativity, and to enhance their professional value.
Two distinct characteristics
- Bilingual Teaching and Learning: Students will read, write and speak in Chinese as well as English, developing their skills in both languages. Bilingual ability enables students to respond to Hong Kong's specific linguistic environment.
- Interdisciplinarity: All the Creative and Professional Writing courses are designed to ensure that students are exposed to the writing demands and strategies of diverse disciplines, including art criticism, language, literature, history, philosophy, media studies, business and science.
Aims of the Programme
- Provide students with a rigorous curriculum to develop creativity and writing skills in Chinese and English languages.
- Develop students’ abilities and social responsibility when writing professionally in different genres and contexts to enhance students’ career opportunities.
- Cultivate students with communication skills, creative and critical thinking to produce original works of fiction, poetry, or nonfiction.
- Enhance students’ cultural literacy and team spirit which would act as a solid basis for their creative and professional writing.
- Build up their knowledge for self-directed and life-long learning in the world of professional writing and publishing.
Kaitlyn Baker / Unsplash
Overseas Exchange Programmes
The Programme provides students with opportunities to study abroad in order to expand their educational and cultural horizons. Students can go to a wide variety of places for exchange, including Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, Australia, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Norway, Estonia, Finland, Denmark, France, Sweden and the USA.
Internship
The Programme has designed a required course “Writing Internship” to create opportunities for students to learn by participating in real-life experiences and working for different institutes.
Curriculum
The Characteristics of the Curriculum
The 60 Major units of the Programme consist of 42 units of Required Courses and 18 units of courses from the two Major Electives of English and Chinese writing. The Required Courses provide fundamental learning in writing and concepts in aesthetics, theories and ideas in creativity, and cultural differences, in order to enhance students' intellectual cognition and skills. Each of the two Major Electives consists of two Modules - one in creative writing and one in professional writing. There are four Modules altogether. Students are required to select at least one course from each of the four Modules, so that they will be trained both in Chinese writing and English writing, and be skilled both in creative and professional writing.
Some of the Required Courses are:
- Writing Seminar: Workshop in Creative Writing
- Professional Writing Practicum: Essentials of the Craft of Writing
- Creativity: Theory and Practice
- Biography Writing
- Editing and Publishing
- Artistic Creativity and Aesthetics Awareness
- Writing Internship
- Writing for New Media
- Food, Wine and Travel Writing for the Leisure Industry
Examples of the Major Elective Courses include:
- Creative Writing in Children’s Literature in English
- Drama Translation
- Chinese Song Lyric Writing
- Writing Diaspora in a Global World
- Writing for Science
- Advertisement Copywriting
- Reading Masterpieces and Writing Your Own
- Modern Chinese Fiction Writing
- Creative Writing: Modern Chinese Poetry
- Special Topic in Creative Writing
Scholarships and Funding
Scholarships
Students of the Creative and Professional Writing Programme can compete for prestigious scholarships provided by the University and other organizations. These include, amongst others, the Sir Edward Youde Memorial Scholarship, HSBC Overseas Scholarship, Li Po Chun Charitable Trust Fund Scholarships, and Providence Foundation Combined Scholarships and Bursaries.
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Career Opportunities
Career Prospects
Not everyone can become a great creative writer, but professional writing always includes a significant creative component. Our society urgently needs writers of all kinds. The professional writing portion of the curriculum, with a good infusion of the creative side, can prepare students to work for a great variety of future careers. It goes without saying that graduates with excellent writing skills, both in English and Chinese, are of great demand. Our Programme not only caters to the needs of the market in news media, publishing houses, editorship of journals, government offices, non-profit and charity organizations, and the education sector, but also in the business, industrial and financial sectors. Employers are likely to choose someone who has graduated with a creative mind, good language and writing skills, because the graduate with proficiency in languages will take years to cultivate, and creative mind is greatly in need.