The Review 2014

Project Mingde was started 10 years ago when an alumnus offered funding to encourage Engineering students to build a primary school in a remote village in China. The Project provided a valuable experiential learning opportunity in that the students not only applied what they learned in a real environment, they also experienced village life and culture. The success of that initiative spawned other projects and as of 2014, about 300 students have been involved in designing and building a primary school, kindergarten, student dormitory, footbridge and community centre in rural areas of China, and are working on a new community centre. Civil Engineering students lead the projects, from initial discussions with beneficiaries to feasibility and design and supervising construction work. Students in other Engineering departments, Social Sciences and Architecture have also participated over the years. Project Mingde: A Decade of Building in Rural China THE REVIEW 2014 ⎜ 13 HKU Engineering students visit ongoing Mingde Project developments in Guangxi province. Opportunities to Put Learning to the Test Experiential learning has become embedded in all faculties. Students are encouraged to apply their learning in real-life situations and deepen and consolidate their knowledge. For instance, Dentistry students provide oral health education and outreach services in the community; Business and Economics students conduct consultancy projects; and Architecture and Engineering students develop community-building projects. Many of these projects are credit bearing and conducted under the supervision of teachers. The Gallant Ho Experiential Learning Centre supports both staff and students, addresses safety and security issues related to off-campus learning, and administers the Experiential Learning Fund, which in 2013-14 provided more than $1.4 million to support 11 projects involving 473 students. In March 2014, it also organised a symposium for 120 participants from more than 50 organisations and HKU to encourage partnerships and explore future possible experiential learning opportunities. The residential colleges and halls have also taken on the idea that learning happens beyond the classroom. The four colleges promote academic discourse and community service, and in 2013-14 they organised such events as a conference on oysters, environmental tours and a luncheon with the elderly. The halls, which have a long and rich heritage, are also broadening student experience through overseas learning visits to such places as Japan, Korea and the UK. A desire to boost the profile of technology at HKU led a team of students to create TecHKU, a website that covers student achievements, startups, research, career trends and events, and also organises its own events. Engineering and Journalism students launched the website in November 2013, and so far have organised the Girls4Tech workshops to promote technology to secondary school girls and hosted a conference for industry. Computer Science student Donald Lam, the founding editor-in-chief, said: "We want to make technology a more prominent part of HKU, something people get excited about. We want more people to see what fantastic projects HKU Engineering students have been up to, and to see the opportunities HKU and Hong Kong can offer." The Self-Starters Behind TecHKU TecHKU's poster for Girls4Tech International Champions A team of Law students won the Oxford International Intellectual Property Moot, defeating 23 other teams from Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. In the moot final, they appeared before prominent international judges in the intellectual property field. PCLL student Tom Ng Ka- cheung said it was highly educational. "The mooting experience gave us the opportunity to interact with leading practitioners, and it has improved our advocacy skills tremendously," he said. His teammates were JD students Byron Chiu and Peter Dong. Winning combination (from left): Team Coach Mr Kelvin Kwok, Byron Chiu, Tom Ng and Peter Dong. Teaching and Learning