University Review

The School of Chinese Medicine launched the “Everbright Care • Long COVID Chinese Medicine Rehabilitation Programme” to help people who suffer from the after-effects of COVID-19 (or “long COVID”). Under the programme, HKBU Chinese medicine practitioners provided a free “long COVID” consultation service and Chinese medicine to people who were hospitalised after infection and have since recovered, as well as recovered elderly people aged 65 or above. The programme is supported by a generous donation from the Hong Kong Community Anti-Coronavirus Link, funded by the Hong Kong office of the Everbright Group.

The Dr. Stephen Hui Research Centre for Physical Recreation and Wellness, with funding support from The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, launched a three-year “Jockey Club Mus-Fit for Health Project” (Mus-Health), to design a series of exercises to train the muscle strength, endurance, balance and flexibility of 5,000 elderly people. The project recruited 99 ambassadors, aged 50 to 69, who have completed the training offered by the Jockey Club Mus-Fit Action project. The ambassadors help the Mus-Health participants develop a regular exercise habit for staying healthy and active.

Professor Helan Yang (Academy of Music) collaborated with the HKBU Library and the HKSAR Government’s Music Office to digitise the scores of Chinese instrumental ensemble music. They developed the project “Resounding the Scores”, an online collection of parts and full scores of more than 50 pieces of Chinese instrumental ensemble music. Supported by the Digital Scholarship Grant managed by the HKBU Library, the project preserves the past of Hong Kong’s Chinese musical development while educating future generations about Chinese instrumental ensembles.

The Academy of Visual Arts (AVA) was selected as one of the university partners of Art Basel Hong Kong 2023. Apart from setting up a representative booth at an exhibition held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in March 2023, AVA also organised a parallel exhibition at the Kai Tak Campus, featuring the creative works of four AVA alumnae. In a time when climate change is affecting all aspects of society, both the HKBU exhibition and the booth of Art Basel Hong Kong aim to inspire conversations about creating a culture of care, as well as caring for the environment and people.

HKBU successfully organised the inaugural “AI x HK OpenCup” competition with the Hong Kong Society of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. The contest encouraged youngsters to address sustainability challenges in Hong Kong with innovative ideas and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. The competition was well-received by students in Hong Kong, with 69 and 152 teams joining the Secondary and Tertiary Students Category respectively, and around 920 students participating in the tournament.

The CLAP-TECH Pathway Project, launched by HKBU under the Jockey Club Multiple Pathways Initiative, held a creative boot camp in August 2022. The three-day camp was designed for the first cohort of secondary school students taking the “Multimedia Storytelling” course, an Applied Learning course within the senior secondary curriculum that aims to help them master the skills for creating compelling video content. Students were able to develop their interests, skills and competencies through an in-class curriculum and a wide range of workplace exposure activities, such as mentorships, internships, company visits and projects.

The HKBU Centre for Sino-Christian Studies launched a one-year “Cultivating Peace” programme in collaboration with SKH Bishop Baker Secondary School, SKH All Saints’ Middle School, and St. James’ Settlement. 60 secondary two to four students reflected on the meaning of peace through social service initiatives, social studies projects and art activities. One of the programme highlights was the art exhibition titled “Floating Platforms”, which was held in May 2023 at the Cattle Depot Artist Village. It showcased the artworks created by HKBU students, artists, and secondary students, exploring the changing distance and boundary between people, and how they found the right balance in their relationship for peacebuilding in the community.

The Leadership Qualities Centre of the Office of Student Affairs organised the “Summer School 2022 @ Imagination Lab” programme in August 2022 for 80 primary four to six students. It aims to enhance primary students’ motivation for learning and inspire their creative thinking through diversified summer activities. HKBU students carefully crafted a series of learning activities, including excursions, sports activities and film screenings, to stimulate the primary students’ creativity and team spirit. The programme not only provided an invaluable opportunity for primary students to participate in face-to-face activities during the post-pandemic period, but also allowed HKBU students to unleash their potential and serve the community.

Over 80 HKBU students and elderly volunteers from the Undergraduate Halls’ Community Engagement Organisers Positive Ageing Learners Programme formed “Buddy Teams” to identify the needs of the frail elderly in the community. As a result, more than 50 home improvement projects were completed, and thematic care packs were delivered to elderly individuals in the community to improve their quality of life. Moreover, the Buddy Teams connected through arts and crafts workshops, service trainings and local tours, accumulating 1,000 service hours in six months. Other outreach programmes included providing Tui Na services to the elderly in need, sharing Thai-boxing and health management skills with underprivileged children and teenagers of different ethnicities, caring for stray animals, offering tutorial classes for secondary school students as well as bread distribution to the homeless, among other activities.

Student volunteers joined the “Serve-cation 2022-23” programme organised by the Leadership Qualities Centre of the Office of Student Affairs to serve the local communities in Thailand and Indonesia. The students visited a village school in Lamphun, Thailand. They provided voluntary teaching to more than 100 students and interacted with the local residents. Adopting the brain-based learning approach, the students created three teaching plans for the school. Meanwhile, another group of HKBU students went to Bali in Indonesia and participated in diversified activities such as visiting elementary school students, cleaning up the beach and planting baby mangroves.