Dear readers,

People from all corners of the world are struggling with the health crisis and economic recession derived from either the onset or resurgence of the COVID-19 epidemic.  Hong Kong is no exception.  The recent leap in cases with unknown sources of infection has pressurised this city’s administration into stepping up a raft of control measures including the ban on dining-in at restaurants from 6pm until 5am and mandatory mask-wearing in all indoor public places, etc.  It remains unknown when the fight against this pandemic can come to an end.  We are, therefore, repeatedly advised to learn to live with it.  However, with such a protracted war, as it were, it is easy to feel weary.  “Battle fatigue" has indeed become the “new normal”.  People who can survive the battle need to possess, as also appealed by the Secretary for Food and Health, self-discipline and patience.  For all that, being the conqueror rests with sanguinity and fortitude.

The “Value Exploration Series” of the I·CARE Achievers Programme has recently rolled out the “Dialogue on Character” with Professor Joseph Sung and Professor Edwin Chan, Co-Chairmen of the Steering Committee for Promoting Personal Development through Social and Civic Engagement of the University, being the hosts.  Influential figures in the city are invited to share their beliefs and life stories, by which the participants can be enlightened on how positive character traits are intertwined with personal success and achievements.

The Social Enterprise Startup Scheme of this academic year selected 16 teams from numerous enrolled projects for receiving a half-year training and individual coaching.  These teams had to formulate business plans if they wished to compete for the CUSE Fund.  Finally, 14 teams were deemed eligible by their respective mentors for attending the Project Presentation Day held on the 30^th of June before the judging panel comprised of the following:

As one of the members of the CUHK Entrepreneurs Alliance (CUEA), this Centre puts efforts into organising activities on social innovation in order to further the establishment of a quality platform for the exchange of entrepreneurial information among CUHK members.  Following the launch of the “Happy Hour” Talk Series by CUEA, this Centre has arranged a webinar titled “Innovative Education Inside Out”.  Details are set out below:

The Yunus Social Business Centre at CUHK, which is an affiliate of this Centre, has introduced the S.I. Leadership Award for application by the CUHK students and alumni who are interested in social innovation.  This award, paired up with training activities and team coaching, serves to encourage participants to advance existing services or products to meet social needs.

The “Jockey Club Youth Programme” launched in 2017-18 by the Yunus Social Business Centre at CUHK (YSBC@CUHK), which is an affiliate of this Centre, has nearly come to an end.  The experience of this programme were assembled earlier to transform into a booklet titled Another Kind of Business.  The copies of it are being placed at this Centre (5/F, Wong Foo Yuan Building) now for free collection by interested persons.

The I·CARE Hong Kong Cultural Tours Project of this academic year is almost concluded.  Although the participating CUHK students could not arrange guided tours for the secondary school students owing to the spike of COVID-19, they led two trips featuring “The Grassroots’ Lives in West Island” and “Inheritance and Preservation of Hong Kong’s Intangible Cultural Heritage” on the 27^th of last month and the 12^th of this month respectively for CUHK members.  A total of 42 students and staff made it to these trips.

The Student Development Portfolio (SDP) is a university-wide electronic platform for capturing and presenting students’ Experiential Learning Activities (ELA) under the whole-person development framework namely I·CARE.  The system of this platform has recently been enriched with a “copy” function so that the University units will not have to input duplicated information when they submit their organised ELA of the current year/ term which resembles the one of the preceding year/ term.

The I·CARE Social Service Projects Scheme encourages students to organise and implement self-initiated social services to facilitate positive growth of the local, regional and global communities.  Three rounds of vetting are originally available in this academic year, but the first two of them were called off due to persistent social movement and COVID-19 outbreak respectively.  The 3^rd round was conducted successfully as the epidemic situation had manifested signs of relative stability.

The University Lecture on Civility (ULC) is one of the overwhelmingly received events of the I·CARE Programme.  It consists of seminars and forums that explore the relationship between men and society/ nature.  Scholars, artists and luminaries from around the world share their unique humanistic points of view with CUHK members and catalyse them to reflect on the meaning of life.

This Centre is delighted to receive the “New Partner” award under the Y-Care CSR Scheme 2018-19 from the Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong (CYMCA).  The two units first had associations with each other by the participation of this Centre’s Director in the judging work of the CYMCA’s Be a Global Citizen Campaign Award Scheme.  They furthered cooperation on the grooming of CUHK students as social service providers and the dissemination of personal protective equipment to the community.

Please click on the image below for more information.