Educational use of free and open source software (FOSS): international development and its implications for higher education

Purpose Free and open-source software (FOSS) has been used worldwide because of the advantages of user control, cost-saving, flexibility, openness, freedom, more security and better stability. The purpose of this study is to explore the status quo of educational application of FOSS and the trends from international perspectives and its implications for higher education in Hong Kong. Design/methodology/approach The method of cluster analysis was used in this study. The Web of Science database was used as the data source and all relevant literature for the year 2010–2020 on the theme of “FOSS” was collected for analysis. The information visualization software CiteSpace was used for citation visualization analysis, revealing the research results of FOSS worldwide, including hot spots and development trends. Findings This paper found that FOSS has become an important research area and is playing an important role in the reform and development of education. Meanwhile, the development and application of FOSS have regional imbalances and strong differentiation, including the educational sector. The paper also found that although FOSS has entered the stage of interdisciplinary development, the research and development of FOSS in the field of education is insufficient, which poses a huge challenge to decision-makers, teachers and students. Originality/value Implications for higher education in Hong Kong including: attach importance to and vigorously promote FOSS research and practice to benefit more teachers and students; teachers and students need to be trained for acquiring the awareness and skills of FOSS applications and formulate different strategies; the government should provide greater support to formulate and implement a short and middle-term development plan to facilitate the application of FOSS; and Hong Kong higher education institutions may strengthen exchanges and cooperation with counterparts around the world to jointly promote the development of FOSS. It is hoped that the findings will provide a reference for the study and application of FOSS in higher education in Hong Kong.

Exploring Hong Kong Nonprofit Education Programs

The nonprofit sector in Hong Kong has developed under unique historical circumstances, including the introduction of the nonintervention policy by the British colonialism and the political transition to the Chinese government in 1997. These historical developments obviously had an impact on the development and expansion of the nonprofit sector within Hong Kong and the requisite qualifications for nonprofit employees that have been in a continuous state of flux. For example, during the 1960s, social work education in Hong Kong was developed through the influence of the professionalization movement in human service organizations, which encouraged the development of nonprofit education in Hong Kong. This study was undertaken to identify NPO/NGO degree programs at the university level in Hong Kong along with their curricula, finding 20 NPO/NGO degree programs within seven universities in Hong Kong including a total of 163 listed courses. The results show that NPO/NGO education programs in Hong Kong were developed based on an interdisciplinary perspective, that the programs highlight service provision and advocacy, while the Greater China regional contents, such as cultural, historical aspects of the Greater China, are reflected in the programs.