An educational fieldtrip was organized for a bunch of BEd(Geog) year II students in February 2024 to T-Park Hong Kong for studying the technical processes of transforming sludge to electricity and learning the concepts of waste management and sustainability. The journey started with a professional guide tour which allowed our students witness the various stages of waste treatment from waste segregation to energy recovery through utilizing the most advanced recycling technologies. Students also had the opportunity to explore the state-of-the-art incineration plant to understand how the burning of the waste efficiently at high temperatures (850C) could generate electricity and reduce waste volume so as to produce clean and renewable energy for the communities.
Teaching beyond the classroom walls is one of the teaching approaches we adopt in the SSPS. Through hands-on experiences, students could develop a deeper understanding of the subject topic – the global environmental issues in this case.
Upon the implementation of the National Security Law and enhancement of the electoral system, Hong Kong has entered a new phase of "Patriots Administration". Chief Executive John Lee proclaimed in his 2022 inaugural Policy Address that Hong Kong has achieved a major transition from chaos to order and is now at the crucial stage of advancing from stability to prosperity. The new order has brought about notable changes in the sphere of politics, administration and civil society, expected to deliver better governance systems, governance capability and governance efficacy, so that "our people [...] have a sense of gain and a real taste of the fruits of effective governance" as promised by Mr. Lee. To what extent has such a goal been borne out by public policy performance and results?
Mr Edwin Au-yeung, Ms Natalie Au Wing-lam and Mr Gary Chan Chi-hung shared with their fellow juniors currently studying at SSPS their job-finding and work experiences.
The Bachelor of Education (Honours) (Business, Accounting and Financial Studies) [BEd(BAFS)] programme organized a two-day-one-night GBA trip on 11th and 12th December 2023, themed in “An Exploration of Hengqin and Macao from Innovation and Economic Development Perspectives”.
On the first day of the trip, students visited the Zhuhai UM Science & Technology Research Institute (ZUMRI) and Novotown. Students could understand the importance of the industry families for Hengqin’s development, including sci-tech research and high-end manufacturing, traditional Chinese medicine, culture and tourism.
We visited the Centre for Macau Studies and the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship of University of Macau on the second day. Students learned about the most updated development of Macao’s economy, the Greater Bay Area, and the In-Depth Cooperation Zone from the seminar conducted by Prof. Henry LEI. Moreover, the visit to the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship enabled our students to broaden their horizons from the successful stories of outstanding incubation teams, together with the facilities and team office environment offered by the Centre.
Hong Kong used to be a major gateway to China and an intermediary between China and the world particularly the West. However, the world has changed now. Intense US-China rivalry, regional conflicts and anti-globalisation sentiments are defining the new normal. Also, China has transited from an era of reforms through opening to Western markets and methods to the present new era of the China path to modernization. After 2019 China has taken national security as a priority in the city while the doubtful West now sees it as a system less separate from the mainland. Hong Kong seems caught in a dilemma and risks losing its strategic distinctness and connectedness. Can it reinvent its intermediary role in a more complex and polarized world?
On January 17 (Wednesday), 2024, the Master of Arts in Personal Finance Education [MA(PFE)] Programme invited Ms Alice LYU to share her insights on the trends and prospects in the field of Hedge Funds in Hong Kong.
Ms LYU is one of the Board of Directors and the Hong Kong Regional Director of the Hedge Fund Association (HFA). HFA is an international organisation devoted to advancing transparency, development, and trust in alternative investments. Ms LYU previously worked in an Asia-leading consulting firm. She has been directly responsible for advising the leading financial institutions and the registered fund managers in Hong Kong, mainland China, and Singapore regarding Asian compliance, regulatory, and risk management.
During the seminar, Ms LYU introduced the concept and the features of Hedge Funds. She shared her insights in Hong Kong's hedge fund sector with the students. She also provided her view on the prospect of the hedge fund in the uncertain world.
During the Q&A session, Ms LYU interacted with the students from MA(PFE) on career development in the hedge fund sector, personal wealth management, and some other financial sectors.
Recently the Year 3 Students of Bachelor of Social Sciences (Honours) in Global and Environmental Studies have finished the Overseas Field-based Learning in Tokyo, Japan. This compulsory and credit-bearing field trip was designed to provide students with distinctive learning experience by site visits and dialogue with the locals and students, allowing the students to acquire knowledge not only from papers and classrooms but also on-site observation, in-person experience and ideas exchange.
The sites and learning activities were meticulously selected aligning with three distinct learning themes: urban development and transformation, environmental technology and disaster management, and Japanese society and culture. Students embarked on a visit to the Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel, the world's largest facility for flood control, to gain insights into how technology can mitigate environmental impact and manage disasters effectively. Additionally, they observed the bustling Shibuya Scramble Crossing in Tokyo, a focal point for understanding urban development, and explored museums such as Showakan to deepen their understanding of Japanese cultural and societal development. In addition to site visits, students have visited the campus of Waseda University and Tokai University, which are the esteemed universities in Tokyo and the East Japan area, and were privileged to have a fruitful discussions with students and professors about the common problems regarding to achieving sustainable development goals in both Japan and Hong Kong.
The success of this trip is indebted to our teaching staff, whose global network of connections with professors and alumni has been pivotal to the success. Through this Overseas Field-based Learning, our goal is to equip students with the knowledge and empathy needed to become adept problem solvers, possessing a diverse and comprehensive skill set capable of addressing any challenges in global and environmental development.
