The OUHK has always positioned itself as providing education directly relevant to the needs and aspirations of society — education which is practical, inclusive and responsive to social change. As part of this educational mission, the University is active at many different levels in involvement and engagement with local communities, through research endeavours, community nursing, and voluntary service activities among others. This chapter offers a picture of the kinds of activities the OUHK is involved in that are reinforcing its close links with the society it serves.

Working towards a healthier society

The OUHK’s strengths in healthcare training have shown themselves strongly in a series of community health initiatives and voluntary activities by members over the year. In fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, OUHK nursing students were able to draw on the University’s QEM funding to drive various health initiatives. In March 2020, the School of Nursing and Health Studies designed, produced and delivered 4,000 ‘goodie bags’ containing anti-pandemic gifts and health information, all of which were donated to St James’ Settlement and five local nursing homes. Volunteers also joined up with St James’ Settlement to undertake visits to elderly people living alone in the period surrounding the Dragon Boat Festival in May and June 2020, an activity that included initial training, preparation of gift bags containing food items and disinfectant products, and follow-up calls after the visits. Later, the School of Nursing and Health Studies also helped out by taking part in N95 respirator fit tests for Hong Kong Red Cross staff and volunteers.

July 2019 saw the conclusion of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust’s five-year sponsorship of the Community Healthcare Education programme offered by the University — but not the end of the programme itself. Some 420 volunteers completed the Home Health Watch programme in 2019, and the programme overall has been judged so successful that the University decided to take over the funding itself and launch a new and enhanced version of Home Health Watch Health Volunteer Training Programme in October. A special feature of the new version was the launch of a new eCare app, which offers a host of extra benefits covering appointment and medication reminders, carer support, a drug information database, and much more. In May 2020, volunteers under the Home Health Watch programme distributed hundreds of sets of health information leaflets and alcohol rub to NGO partners, while in August the programme produced a catchy song about handwashing for kids in collaboration with the voluntary organization Young Collections Musical Studio.

Inclusiveness for all

The OUHK has always been about promoting inclusiveness, both in education and more generally in society. A number of the initiatives it undertook in the year were specifically aimed at enhancing inclusiveness. For example, it has been participating as a venue partner in the Hong Kong Blind Union’s Jockey Club Smart City Walk Project, a project that involves developing a mobile app to help visually impaired users navigate independently in indoor venues. The OUHK Library is the venue partner here, and to date the only tertiary institution venue to be on the list. Not only is this initiative helping OUHK students who are visually impaired, but the University’s active participation in the scheme is positioning it as a role model for inclusiveness.

Inclusiveness is also about celebrating the contributions to Hong Kong of all its communities, including its many ethnic minorities. In pursuit of the goal of promoting intercultural understanding and inclusiveness, around 50 LiPACE students developed a radio programme called ‘Voices from Hong Kong’ under RTHK’s Community Involvement Broadcasting Service. The culturally diverse OUHK team developed individual episodes on topics such as food and drink, festivals and fashion, inviting special guests onto each show to discuss their significance. The Elder Academy of the OUHK, also run by LiPACE, launched an Enriched ICT Training Programme for the Elderly, with the sponsorship of the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer. This free programme consists of nine components designed to help the elderly understand and use new digital technology in their own lives. Its goal is to improve participants’ access to and use of government e-services, digital medical services, mobile applications and social media, thus empowering their social inclusion.

Training professionals

The OUHK has established a partnership with the Hong Kong Customs College through an agreement signed in mid-2020. Under the agreement, the University will offer two modules on Sociology and Psychology as part of the induction programme for all new Customs Inspector and Officer trainees. Worth 30 credits in total, these modules will contribute to the award of the Certificate in Law Enforcement and Customs Management and, for those pursuing the Bachelor of Social Sciences in Law Enforcement and Security Management, will count towards the degree.

The OUHK was awarded a grant by the Education Bureau (EDB) to run a series of workshops in‘Applying Science Process Skills on STEM Education in Primary Schools (2019/20)’ for the EDB’s STEM Education Enriching Knowledge Series. The Series is part of the EDB’s three-strand STEM professional development courses, designed to help teachers enhance their teaching of STEM subjects. The first set of sessions were completed in June, with the remaining sessions being postponed until October due to the outbreak of the third wave of COVID-19.

In June 2020, the OUHK signed an MOU with online news outlet Southcn.com, as part of the opening ceremony of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area Information Centre. The two parties will work together to create a Hong Kong-focused database for the new Information Centre that will include information to help facilitate the flow and integration of talent, information and technologies across the border. Earlier, in August 2019, two other MOUs were signed between the OUHK and the Salvation Army and Hong Kong Lutheran Social Service which between them will open up new research and learning opportunities for staff and students of the School of Arts and Social Sciences. Another section of the University that is ramping up its collaboration activity is LiPACE, which has been active in the year in developing relationships with several Japanese universities for the purposes of securing more local learning opportunities for students studying for its Higher Diploma in Japanese Studies. In November 2019, LiPACE also signed MOUs designed to boost the School’s arboricultural programmes. One of these was with Mendel University in Brno in the Czech Republic, and the other with ABA International (Awarding Body Association), for support and accreditation for LiPACE’s arboricultural training programmes.

Institute of Healthcare

The University’s impressive new Institute of Healthcare (IOH), due to come into use at the end of 2020, could not have been completed without the generous gifts of many individuals. Among the most recent of the many generous donations received for the IOH was a gift of HK$10 million by the late Dr Yang Xiangbo, Co-Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of Shirble Department Store Holdings (China) Limited. Ms Barbara Mok Wai-kun and Ms Betty Yip Yuk-bing, as executrixes of the estate of the late Ms Mok Sau-king, donated HK$30 million from the estate. OUHK Honorary Fellow Mr David Chan Ting-chuen and Mr Lam Hon-mo, Chairman of Chi Hong Charitable Foundation Limited, each gifted HK$1 million, while Mr Daryl Ng, Director of the Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation and also a Honorary Fellow of the University, made another HK$1 million pledge. Three donors offered gifts of HK$500,000, namely, Ms Chole Suen Yin-wah, acting on behalf of the Simon Suen Foundation, Dr Wong Kwai-lam, Chairman of IncitAdv Consultants Limited, and Mr Albert Li Tak-him, Director of Mightybush Company Limited. Medical equipment and devices worth more than HK$2 million for the proposed IOH Physiotherapy Clinic were donated by Deltason Medical Limited.

Funds to boost research work

During the year, the Government announced a new Research Matching Grant Scheme for local degree-awarding institutions that is providing an excellent way for the OUHK to expand its applied research. As its name suggests, the new scheme will match donations received by eligible institutions up to a maximum of HK$500 million, with the first HK$50 million being matched 1:1, and thereafter 2:1. With this background, some exceptional donations have been received in the year. In late 2019, alumna and Honorary Fellow Ms Katie Shu Sui-pui continued her history of OUHK philanthropy by donating HK$500,000 to the Katie Shu Sui Pui Charitable Trust — Research and Publication Fund (Applied Research), while Ms Connie Fong Yin-king, another alumna and University Fellow, gave HK$4 million to four research projects related to physiotherapy and nursing. Entering 2020, the Joyce M Kuok Foundation donated HK$5 million to support the University’s research development, followed by a pledge of HK$200,000 from Curie Limited for a contract research project on coated materials for face masks, a gift of HK$200,000 from the Croucher Foundation sponsoring conferences, and another of HK$100,000 from the Si Yuan Foundation. Alongside cash donations, the University benefitted from some valuable donations in kind, including translation software licenses worth US$576,000 in support of a School of Arts and Social Sciences project on blended learning and the acquisition of translation technology skills from Memsource.

Scholarships and bursaries

Thanks to the generosity of the University’s philanthropic partners, scholarships and bursaries distributed by the OUHK to students have continued to increase year-on-year. The 2018/19 total of HK$8.2 million to 855 students was already an OUHK record, but that was surpassed in 2019/20, when over HK$11 million in scholarships and bursaries was distributed to more than 1,000 students. At the same time, several external donors have been generous in their gifts in support of students. In December 2019, Lu’s Foundation donated HK$1 million in support of students facing financial difficulties. The donation has been named the ‘Lu Chan Koon Fung Bursary’, and is to be distributed over a three-year span to students affected financially by the social unrest and the coronavirus pandemic. Lu’s Foundation then followed this up with another HK$1 million donation in August 2020 to set up a bursary for all students affected by COVID-19. In addition to their contributions towards research and the IOH, Ms Katie Shu Sui-pui donated HK$3 million to set up the Katie Shu Sui Pui Charitable Trust— Residence Scholarship for mainland Chinese undergraduate students, and Mr David Chan Ting-chuen gave HK$500,000 for a new bursary. Another donor associated with the OUHK who donated HK$500,000 to establish a bursary was Council member Ms Diana Chen Ningning. Seasoned educator and OUHK Honorary Fellow Dr Maggie Koong May-kay renewed her commitment to early childhood education by donating HK$1 million to establish the Maggie Koong Student Exchange Fund, for full-time undergraduate students studying in this field.

Gifts from supportive alumni

On the University’s 30th anniversary, OUHK alumni responded enthusiastically to a call to support their alma mater’s development. Under the ‘Infinity 30’ Fundraising Campaign launched in June 2019, alumni were invited to contribute funds, in multiples of 30, to either the Alumni Scholarship and Bursary Fund or the University’s long-term development. Coming to a close at the end of 2019, the campaign generated as much as HK$667,000 from more than 200 supportive alumni. As a token of thanks, the University recognized those who donated more than specific amounts as Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum Donors on an Honour Roll.

To strengthen and extend its wide range of networks across the community, both locally and beyond, the OUHK welcomed several visits by partners during the year. These included visits by the Hong Kong Institute of Construction, by representatives from the mainland institutions Shaoguan University, the Dalian University of Foreign Languages, and the Qingyuan Education Bureau, and by members of the Chen Yidan Foundation. A large group of Hong Kong secondary school principals were also welcomed to the campus, where they were shown many good reasons for recommending the OUHK as an excellent destination for their students.