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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 2024-25).

 

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
[Special permission from Heads of Department/School or Faculty Deans may be given in exceptional circumstances.]

 

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.

Community Partner

Area of Focus

Project(s)

Agewhale

Elderly Welfare

  • Develop Content for Educational Talks & Workshops on Caregiving (2425A01)
  • Training an AI model to respond to caregiver’s general enquiries on caregiving. (2425A02)

Kodifly

Tech Start-up

  • Creating a Dynamic Product Showcase Video for an Infrastructure Scanning Device using LiDAR technology and AI Data Analytics (2425K01)
  • Understanding Global Challenges in Infrastructure Maintenance for Railway, Highway, Airport, and Construction Companies: A Market Research Study (2425K02)

New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association

Mental Wellness

  • Enhancing Private Sector Engagement for Floral Products and Services (225N01)

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA)

Animal Welfare

  • Creating long term ambassadors for animal welfare (2425S01)
  • Leveraging policy to improve animal welfare practices on pest control2425S02 Public’s perception on the SPCA and competitor analysis (2425S03)
  • How to develop a successful Employer Branding campaign for NGOs? (2425S04)

Save the Children HK

Children Welfare

  • Child-led Research Project: Children’s perspective on safety within organizational settings (2425C01)

Praxis (HK)  

Poverty in Yau Ma Tei

  • Faced with the high cost of living and inflation in Hong Kong, there is a significant gap between the amount of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) and basic living costs. Please study and propose support schemes for CSSA recipients in the Yau Ma Tei area. (2425P01)
  • Study the problem of homeless people in Yau Ma Tei, explore whether the government’s policy of supporting homeless people can respond to their real needs, and propose recommendations. (2425P02)
  • Study the causes of hoarding problems in the Yau Ma Tei and Jordan areas and propose solutions. (2425P03)
  • Study the mental wellness needs and emotional support recommendations for elderly people living alone in Yau Ma Tei. (2425P04)
  • Explore how to effectively let the public and various organizations know about the distribution of supplies in the area, so that organizations can refer to the data for appropriate adjustments and distribute supplies more evenly in the area. (2425P05

 

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 summarises 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 major steps for 24-25 Summer Semester are as follows:

DatesProcess
  
31 July 2024Briefing Session of the HKP on Zoom
14 Aug 2024Applications Deadline: Interested students to submit an application to the Horizons Office
19-21 Aug 2024Announcement of application results
2-6 Sept 2024 (wk 1)First Meeting with academic supervisor
9-13 Sep 2024 (wk 2)Each student group will meet with the community partner and academic supervisor and prepare a learning contract
16-20 Sep 2024 (wk 3)Submission of the learning contract
23 Sep-10 Oct 2024 (wk 4-6)Each student group will prepare the group deliverables proposal
14-18 Oct 2024 (wk 7)Submission of group deliverables proposal
21 Oct-29 nov (wk 8-13)Each student group will prepare the final group deliverables: the group presentation and the group written report
2-6 Dec (wk 14)Group presentation: Assessment
Students shall make a presentation to the Academic Panel, academic supervisor and community partner.
2-6 Dec (wk 14)Submission of Group Written Report
Community partners will assess and grade the written report.
TBCPrize Presentation Ceremony

Application

Applications are now accepted until 14 Aug 2024 (23:59)

Download Area

  • Guidelines (requires portal login to download)
  • *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.