Making a difference in the lives of others and contributing your skills and knowledge for a good cause, no matter big or small, are simply the right thing to do. The Hong Kong Project (HKP) is a new university-wide elite capstone course, enabling students to venture through the entire journey from understanding social issues to devising practical plans for implementation. The HKP will run as a pilot project for two academic years (2023-24 and 2025-26).
What is the Hong Kong Project (HKP)?
- 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 for each group to help students apply their academic knowledge to the project.
The HKP will enable students to:
- work with community partners, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and business corporations, on an elite, interdisciplinary and collaborative group project
- learn from coaching by and discussions with industry experts and academic supervisors
- explore key social issues and develop innovative solutions to real-world problems
- develop skills fit for future-ready graduates, including self-initiative, teamwork, communication, project management, leadership, innovation and research skills.
Who is eligible to apply?
- Students in their final year of study to undertake HKP in the First/Second Semesters, with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or above
- Students about to enter their final year of study may undertake HKP in Summer Semester, a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or above
How to form groups?
Students will participate in groups of four to six from different Faculties:
- Group of 4 members: groupmates must be from at least 3 different Faculties
- Group of 5 members: groupmates must be from at least 3 different Faculties
- Group of 6 members: groupmates must be from at least 4 different Faculties.
What project topics are available?
- To choose from the list of projects proposed by community partners here
- Self-initiated projects may be considered after the two-year pilot, i.e., from academic year 2025-26.
What are the deliverables?
4 major pieces of deliverables to be prepared and submitted as a group. These include:
- A learning contract: it outlines the scope of work, proposed learning outcomes and schedule
- A group deliverables proposal: it summaries the major tasks to be undertaken, resources required, potential challenges, etc.
- A 10-minute group presentation: It contains not more than 10 slides, concluding the overall progress, results, findings and recommendations, if any
- A 2,500-word group written report.
What’s the grading system for the HKP?
This course adopts a pass/fail grading system. The credits and grade (pass/fail) shall be shown on student transcripts.
Schedule-at-a-glance
The inaugural HKP will be launched in the First Semester of the 2023-24 academic year through the Horizons Office. The major steps are as follows:
| Dates | Process |
|---|---|
| Sep 25, 2023 | List of community partners and proposed projects will be announced |
| Oct 10, 2023 | Briefing Session of the HKP |
| Until noon, Nov 17, 2023 | Applications: Interested students to form teams and submit a group application to the Horizons Office |
| By Dec 15, 2023 | Announcement of application results |
| Jan 2024 | Each student group will meet with the community partner and academic supervisor and prepare a learning contract |
| Feb 2, 2024 (Week 3) | Submission of learning contract |
| Feb 5 – 26, 2024 (Week 4-6) | Each student group will prepare the group deliverables proposal |
| Mar 8, 2024 (Week 7) | Submission of group deliverables proposal |
| Mar 11 – Apr 26, 2024 (Week 8-14) | Each student group will prepare the final group deliverables: the group presentation and the group written report |
| Apr 29 – May 4, 2024 (Week 15) | Group presentation: Assessment Students shall make a presentation to the Academic Panel, academic supervisor and community partner. |
| May 6 – 10 (Week 16) | Submission of Group Written Report Community partner will assess and grade the written report. |
| Summer Break | Prize Presentation Ceremony |
Download Area
- Guidelines (requires portal login to download)
- Application Form
- *Learning Contract | *Group Deliverables Proposal | *Assessment Guidance and Rubric
(*available upon request and will be sent by email)
For enquiries, please contact the Horizons Office by email at hkproject@hku.hk.