Co-creating virtual summer learning experience along the New Silk Road

To foster multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary learning experiences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) joined hands with the University Alliance of Silk Road (UASR) to organise the UASR Virtual Summer Courses 2021. The summer programmes comprised 97 online lectures, hosted by over 70 experts from UASR universities including Xi’an Jiaotong University and Politecnico di Milano, as well as other speakers from the Chinese Museums Association, the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, the University of Tokyo and Tsinghua University.

PolyU’s School of Hotel and Tourism Management contributed a MOOC programme themed “Innovation and Technology Management in Tourism & Hospitality” (10 lectures), while the Faculty of Humanity offered “Chinese Culture: Tradition, Transformation and Interaction” (15 lectures) to this virtual summer school, enriching Silk Road students’ cultural and tourism understanding.

In addition, in August 2021, PolyU further collaborated with the Heritage Alliance of the New Silk Road (HANSAR) for the Heritage Summer Lecture Series. Dr Casey Schoenberger from PolyU’s Department of Chinese Culture hosted an online lecture on “Introduction to Kun Opera”, sharing classical Chinese performance arts.