Production and usage of e-cases in public and nonprofit management education in Hong Kong

Due to the demand for professional education in the public and non-profit management, the University of Hong Kong has establish a master degree in non-profit management, a master degree in public policy, and a doctoral degree... [ view full abstract ]

Due to the demand for professional education in the public and non-profit management, the University of Hong Kong has establish a master degree in non-profit management, a master degree in public policy, and a doctoral degree in public administration within the past few years. These new programs seek to provide professional training for students from the local as well as around the world that are interested in working in the government and non-profit sector in Asia. However, during the preparation process of developing these programs, little teaching materials (such as cases and e-cases) that focus on the Asian context and background, were found. Our faculty thus launched an e-case bank and became to facilitate the production of cases in the Asian context. This paper will discuss the process and experiences of producing these e-cases as well as the evaluation of using these e-cases in the master programs in public and non-profit management. Through an online survey of the Government and Law students and MPA students at the University of Hong Kong, this paper examines the perceptions of the usage of e-cases in the public and non-profit management. The results show that students found it meaningful to solve managerial problems presented in local Asian context cases. However, there were also a number of technical difficulties identified by our students. This paper will then discuss some implications and recommendations for further usages of e-cases for master programs in public and non-profit management.