Service-Learning provides students with opportunities to apply their classroom knowledge and skills to address socio-economic and environmental challenges in local, national and global communities in innovative yet responsible ways. Collaborating with non-governmental and social organisations, Service-Learning projects are carefully designed to cater for the specific needs of different communities.

Themes of Service-Learning projects

The Service-Learning and Leadership Office (SLLO) was formally established in September 2019 to reinforce the University’s commitment to creating a sustainable impact on youngsters and society. It facilitates different academic departments to design and implement their Service-Learning projects, and explores potential collaboration with overseas universities and NGO partners to foster global exposure of students in Service-Learning projects. Some overseas projects were suspended due to the pandemic outbreak in 2019/20, while a number of projects were successfully converted to local or online mode and implemented.

The 6th cohort of the Silk Road SOAR Youth Leadership Programme

To nurture students’ awareness for global issues and foster a sense of social responsibility, PolyU joined hands with other universities to co-organise the 6th cohort of the Silk Road SOAR Youth Leadership Programme, focusing on “Understanding Self” and “Urban Poverty”.

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The 6th cohort of the Silk Road SOAR Youth Leadership Programme

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In the first stage of the programme, participating students from different universities and diverse backgrounds attended lectures, visited government departments and community organisations addressing poverty issues, and spent a night with the homeless to understand their lives in Hong Kong.

The latter part of the programme was transformed into an online mode. The participants delivered online Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) workshops for primary school students both locally and in Cambodia, introducing topics such as marine conservation, hygiene awareness and basic physics. Aided by the latest digital technology, high quality workshops that ensured sufficient interaction and learning effectiveness were delivered.

Spending a night with the homeless in Hong Kong

China-Japan-Korea SERVE’s 2019 programme

The China-Japan-Korea SERVE’s 2019 programme, under the themes of “active ageing” and “co-creation with elderly utilising local resources”, engaged PolyU and fellow universities overseas to help students understand the social challenges created by an ageing population and to inspire them to identify effective solutions.

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China-Japan-Korea SERVE’s 2019 programme

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Students visited several villages in South Korea and interacted with local elderly people and social enterprises. They helped design village landscape and learned about customs and traditions. Based on their observations, the students developed a distribution map of local resources and painted it as a fresco. They also documented stories and recipes told by the elderly people they met.

By joining the above activities, the students gained a better understanding about the needs of the aged and had a good chance to apply their knowledge to alleviate social problems. They were able to share their passion in serving society while building up cross-cultural friendships with fellow students from other countries.

Students visiting local elderlies in South Korea