Making a difference in the lives of others and contributing skills and knowledge for a good cause, no matter big or small, are simply the right thing to do. While the HKU community has been making lasting changes in local communities through various skills-based volunteering and pro bono projects, HKU is launching a new university-wide elite capstone course – The Hong Kong Project (HKP), taking students through the entire journey from understanding social issues to devising practical plans for implementation. The HKP will be launched as a pilot project for two academic years (2023-24 and 2025-26) and modifications may be made in subsequence years.
What is the Hong Kong Project (HKP)?
The HKP is a 6-credit one-semester course open to final-year undergraduate students from all disciplines. Students shall work together in groups of four to six from different Faculties to develop solutions to real-life problems faced by an organisation or corporation in Hong Kong. An academic supervisor shall be assigned to each group to help students apply their academic knowledge to the project.
Guidelines for Community Partners
Companies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and organizations from all fields are welcome to be our community partners. There is no strict restriction on the partner’s company size and scale, or industry. During the two-year pilot launch of HKP (i.e. Academic Years 2023-2024 and 2024-2025), only organizations registered in Hong Kong shall be eligible to apply. International organizations that are not registered in Hong Kong may be considered eligible after the pilot phase, subject to the recommendations of the two-year evaluation. Community partners supervisors are responsible for:- Meeting with the students to provide support;
- Monitoring students’ learning by giving feedback and advice on their deliverables; and
- Providing professional evaluation by assessing and grading students’ work.
Guidelines for Guidelines for Academic Supervisors
All Faculty professoriate and teaching staff are eligible to be HKP academic supervisors. Academic supervisors are responsible for:- Liaising with community partners to ensure sufficient support is provided to students;
- Organizing meetings with the students and community partners when necessary;
- Monitoring students’ learning by giving feedback and advice on their deliverables; and
- Providing academic evaluation by assessing and grading students’ work.
Timeline
| Dates | Process |
|---|---|
| July 29, 2023 | Submission of applications from/nominations of community partners Submission of nominations of academic supervisors |
| August 14, 2023 | Announcement of list of community partners and proposed projects |
| Late August (Date to be announced) | Orientation on the HKP |
| August 14-28, 2023 | Applications by students for the HKP |
| By September 1, 2023 (Week 1) | Announcement of application results |
| September 4-8, 2023 (Week 2) | Meeting among students with the community partner and academic supervisor to prepare a learning contract |
| September 11-15, 2023 (Week 3) | Submission of learning contract |
| September 18 – October 13, 2023 (Week 4-6) | Meeting among students with the community partner and academic supervisor to prepare group deliverables proposal |
| October 9-13, 2023 (Week 7) | Submission of group deliverables proposal |
| October 16 – December 1, 2023 (Week 8-14) | Meeting among students with the community partner and academic supervisor to prepare to prepare the final group deliverables: the group presentation and the group written report |
| December 4-7, 2023 (Week 15) | Group presentation: Assessment Student presentation to the Academic Panel, academic supervisor and community partner. |
| December 8-15, 2023 (Week 16) | Submission of Group Written Report Community partners and academic supervisors to assess and grade the written report. |
| Summer Break | Prize Presentation Ceremony |
Download Area
- Guidelines for Community Partners (requires portal login to download)
- Guidelines for Academic Supervisors (requires portal login to download)
- Community Partner Application Form (Annex II) (requires portal login to download)
- Preference Form (Annex III) (requires portal login to download)
- Learning Contract (requires portal login to download)
- Group Deliverables Proposal (requires portal login to download)
- Assessment Guidance and Rubric (requires portal login to download)