Abstract

The student population has been declining in schools, and there is a growing resource concern by the sector that offers self-financed post-secondary qualifications in Hong Kong. Consequently, the offering institutes need to consider providing the best-fit learning experiences given the fiscal constraints. In this paper, we first examine the challenges that are faced in the traditional approach to offering marketing programs. In preparing young marketing learners in the twenty-first century, educators need to construct small-scale research projects to enable them to practise marketing skills and to provide opportunities for learners to meet practitioners through other learning activities outside classes. Neither compromising quality in learning nor offering a perfect solution to program development, we explore alternative options for the enrichment of student learning experiences within small budgets, the flipped-classroom concept, and mass open online courses (MOOCs) using strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis. Potentials and limitations are discussed to see whether suggested learning modes could provide alternative opportunities in educating young marketers for the twenty-first century and “FIT” for the purpose in terms of mastering a way of working, i.e. fluent communication, independent and interdependent working, and thinking critically and creatively (FIT), within a smaller budget