Celebrating 10 Years of Community Engagement
Donors Enriching Student Experience
Community engagement is an invaluable learning experience that supports the holistic development of the student. We believe that all students, regardless of financial situation, should be able to engage in service learning opportunities. Thank you to funding from our donors, students who ordinarily would need to take up part-time to meet their financial needs can now take part in service projects and service learning trips. Our heartfelt thanks goes out to all of our donors in the past ten years.
HKUST Connect would not have been a reality if it were not for the gift from Mr and Mrs Senta Wong. Their donation helped to start our initiative for service-oriented learning opportunities for students to contribute back to society with our skills and knowledge.
"I am deeply impressed by HKUST’s strong sense of mission in rolling out this initiative of community engagement. Not only do we share a common vision in serving the community, we also have a strong shared commitment to the development of socially responsible individuals and institutions. It is my privilege to contribute to an initiative that envisions and creates a better tomorrow."
Mr. Senta WONG
Chairman & CEO
Wongs Kong King International (Holdings) Limited
Students participating in service learning trips can learn about a place, its culture, and its people through hands-on community-based service projects. Thanks to funding from our generous donors, Connect Overseas Service Learning Grant was set up in 2014 to support students to participate in service learning trips organized or coordinated by HKUST Connect. Less financially advantaged students who are passionate in community engagement can receive subsidies to partially or fully cover their program fees.
The Paul & Eileen Lin Grant is provided for engagements in the Mainland of China for serving underprivileged children. The Li Ka Shing Foundation Overseas Service Learning Grant is open to students lacking resources and would like to go on overseas service learning opportunities endorsed by HKUST Connect. Awardees for both grants are selected based on their passion, demonstrable record of community service, and degree of financial need.
In 2013, Mrs. Choi Ma Oi Kuen's donation created the Mrs. Choi Ma Oi Kuen Public Service Leadership Program Award to nurture student leaders with a passion for community service. Her ample donation is designated to fund the Program for ten years. From 2013 to now, 22 Public Service Leaders have benefited from this program, each student participant is awarded $25,000, including a project funding to implement their own service project.
This fellowship is very beneficial to my career development as my understanding about the society and various social service organizations was enhanced. I hope to pursue a career in corporate social responsibility industry. Nowadays, a CSR officer does not only work on monetary donations and in-house sustainability measures, but also actively cooperates with NGO partners to organize community projects as NGOs are more specialized in social issues and possess stringer networks of needy. I could use my knowledge about NGOs gained from this fellowship to help my future company identify suitable NGOs to cooperate and organize community projects that would fit both the interests of my company and NGOs.
Tiffany CHU
BSc in Biology, Year 3
Students' Holistic Development Scheme is available to encourage students to engage in co-curricular programs endorsed by the Dean of Students' Office. Donors to the Scheme provide an allowance to motivated students participating in the endorsed co-curricular programs, focused on personal growth, leadership development, and service learning. It is open to all students participating in the endorsed programs and those with financial need will be given additional consideration.
The Community Engagement Project Fund is set up with a purpose to stimulate and support student-initiated projects that have social impact and bring about positive change. Funded projects reach beyond the campus to the larger community, demonstrate an awareness of and concern for social issues and dynamics, and include constructive and effective actions that lead to an improvement of a social condition.