The University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong)

The University of Hong Kong, founded in 1911, is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. As a University committed to cultivating internationalism on campus, HKU has academic links with more than 400 overseas universities and plays host to over 3,300 international students. It is also a founding member of Universitas 21, a network of comprehensive research intensive universities aiming to advance higher education institutions’ plans for internationalisation. Visit HKU’s website>>

Research on Community

One of HKU’s strategic research priorities is community, focusing on the themes of:

• Law, Policy, and Development
• Public Health
• Sciences of Learning

For example, HKU researchers are cataloguing the child obesity situation and testing the effect of the physical environment on physical activity. The continual demand for educational improvements is being tackled from the perspective of how to incorporate technologies into new scientifically based, knowledge-building models for teaching and learning. Learn more>>

Migrant Outreach Education Initiative

First launched in 2008, MOEI provides intensive English-language training to Burmese refugees and migrants residing along the Thai-Burma border. It employs student-centered methods to maximize the interaction and engagement of students, and boost their critical-thinking skills and self-confidence. Moreover, it uses non-traditional teaching methods, such as games, conversation, discussions and songs. It aims to make a measurable impact on students’ lives and life chances by responding to the expressed community needs for enhanced English skills. The program also boosts student advocacy through Burma Connect, which is a student group being established to advocate Burmese human rights on HKU campus. All of its core members are MOEI Thailand veterans. The group is now planning to enhance Hong Kong’s engagement with Burma issues, and to build a support system to help refugees and migrants along the Thai-Burma border. The MOEI is also expanding its efforts to China, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka. Learn more>>

Humanity in Focus

Humanity in Focus was set up by a group of students who returned from a service learning project in Cambodia in summer 2006. It is one of the first youth initiated and managed NGOs in Hong Kong focusing on global humanity and poverty issues. Since summer 2006, HIF has developed from a group of 5 founders to an organization that has attracted youth from various universities, secondary schools and young professionals from various fields. In Cambodia, the Development Project Team of HIF works together with local community leaders to carry out development projects, which aim at empowering low-income families by providing them with the necessary materials, social support and skills. In Hong Kong, HIF educates and mobilizes local youth to discuss world poverty and humanitarian issues via the educational programs offered by its Youth Education Team. Each year, it organizes the Young Global Citizenship Program (YGCP) with financial support from Oxfam Hong Kong. The YGCP aims at training and empowering university students to become advocates for change via research, training and frontline services. Learn more>>