The University Grants Committee (UGC) Teaching Award in the Collaborative Teams category for 2023 went to the Internationalisation at Home (IaH) team from the PolyU School of Nursing. We congratulate the team on receiving this prestigious award in recognition of their outstanding interdisciplinary pedagogical work pioneering the adoption of IaH activities in nursing education. Their approach goes beyond conventional clinical practices to prepare students for their profession in Hong Kong’s culturally diverse society and provides an alternative to the previously offline “overseas exchange” learning experience to develop students’ cultural awareness and global competence.

The team is led by Prof. Engle Angela Chan, Interim Head and Professor of the School of Nursing, with School members including Dr Arkers Kwan-ching Wong, Assistant Professor; Mr Timothy Kam-hung Lai, Associate Professor of Practice; Dr Betty Pui-man Chung, Assistant Professor of Practice; and Dr Doris Yuet-lan Leung, Adjunct Assistant Professor.

To provide students with an interactive platform to exchange insights, the team has worked closely with Malmo University in Sweden and La Trobe University in Australia to design a series of online student-led group activities focusing on major challenges in nursing. Since 2015, the School of Nursing has adopted IaH activities in its BS (Hons) in Nursing programme, and later integrated it into a Service-Learning subject, a summer exchange programme and collaborative projects with local and international peers. This has impacted over 1,100 undergraduate and postgraduate students globally and enabled cultural exchange activities to continue during the coronavirus lockdown.

To advocate for their IaH approach, the team has published nine journal articles and seven presentations at international and local conferences. They are presently working to expand the impact of IaH in other disciplines and employ virtual reality technology to provide students with an immersive learning experience.

Prof. Chan is delighted that her team’s work has been recognised by the UGC and expressed her heartfelt gratitude to teammates and the University for their effort and support. She calls for wider adoption of IaH activities by collaborative partners, joining hands with PolyU to help nursing students enhance their global competence and ability to communicate with culturally diverse patients through in-depth understanding of clinical practices worldwide.