First and foremost HKMU educates. Our goal each year is to produce a new generation of talent that is competent, committed, principled, and switched on to the latest technological and social trends. We also want our students to be fully career-ready, with an entrepreneurial spirit and a readiness to work hard doing things they love. This ambition is what drives all our efforts, across multiple spheres, to shape our students into the best possible versions of themselves.
Interacting with the world
We want our students to be citizens of the world; that means they need opportunities to get out and interact with it. After nearly three years of pandemic isolation, HKMU was delighted to organise the first post-Covid tour to the Greater Bay Area (GBA) in June, with funding from the Katie Shu Sui Pui Charitable Trust. Elsewhere, over a thousand of students took part once again in global internships, as well as exchange programmes and study tours to expand their international exposure and broaden their horizons. Closer to home, most HKMU students had opportunities to take part in local internships, placements and practicums that enabled them to test the waters in their fields of interest.
Students' global footprint
Career Month and Career Fair 2023
Getting HKMU students career-ready
One of HKMU's commitments is to boost its students'
career-readiness and ensure they are sought after in
local and regional job markets. In pursuit of this, we
have established a new Industry Partnerships and
Student Development Committee. One of its remits is
to promote collaboration with industries with the goal
of enhancing students' learning experiences and
boosting their professional development. In
November 2022, the Committee ran a major HKMU
Employers' Networking Event, which brought
together around 100 employer representatives from a
wide array of industries and sectors. Titled “Me&U
Create Infinite Opportunities”, the event proved an
effective platform for building connections with Hong
Kong employers and promoting HKMU and its
students to them. Some of them returned with job
opportunities for our students at the HKMU Career
Fair in March 2023, which showcased more than 2,000
job vacancies and internship places from over 100
employers.
In addition, the School of Open Learning held its own Career Week in April, with a special focus on careers for those studying part-time and by distance learning. During the year, students also benefited from the experience and networks of HKMU alumni via the Student Affairs Office's Me&U Career Mentorship Programme. Supplementing these were project-based industrial investigation programmes that gave students the chance to engage in real-life business projects. One of these, run in collaboration with Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) and titled “HKSTP x HKMU Start-up Project Launcher”, placed nearly 50 students in ten start-up projects. Elsewhere, Ming Pao Education Publications Limited and SOCAM Development Limited engaged students from the School of Arts and Social Sciences for the production of education materials and marketing videos respectively.
Cultivating an entrepreneurial spirit
Entrepreneurship is a hallmark of Hong Kong, and a quality that we are determined to foster in HKMU students. This year we ran our very first Entrepreneurship Day in July, bringing in noted entrepreneurs and industry partners to connect with students and alumni. The event also served as the occasion to announce the winners of HKMU's MetroChallenge entrepreneurship competition. Winning projects included many with beneficial social applications, such as a CogniCare project for dementia patients, Electronic Piano for Shared Living designed to improve the cognitive abilities of the elderly, and Light G, an integrated smart parking solution.
The entrepreneurial theme continued with our Meet the Unicorn Weekend Market in February, a two-day event featuring 27 stalls run by HKMU students that attracted over 2,000 visitors. This year, HKMU was for the first time invited to participate in the Hong Kong Techathon, the only self-financing institution to be so involved. Thirty HKMU students joined more than 900 participants from other universities in a programme that involved pitching for project seed funds from HKSTP and local universities. Within the University itself, the new HK$50 million HKMU Startup Fund was approved in March, aimed at encouraging students, staff and alumni of the University to start their own companies and turn their creative ideas into commercial products or solutions.
MetroChallenge
Meet the Unicorn Weekend Market
High performance outside the classroom
Throughout the year we have been challenging our students to strive for breakthroughs in many areas of endeavour, including in sports, arts and culture. Last year, HKMU achieved a milestone by achieving full admission into the University Sports Federation of Hong Kong (USFHK), and our students did the University proud in the current year with some sterling performances in various USFHK sports competitions. Highlights included gold medals won by students in the taekwondo Men's Black Belt (under 80 kg) and Women's Black Belt (under 49 kg) events, a strong placing for the University's Dragon Boat team in the USFHK Dragon Boat Championship, and a gold medal for a HKMU sprinter in the 100m final of the USFHK Annual Athletic Meet.
In September 2022, HKMU hosted a first-ever University-wide culture and performing arts show presented on campus, Stories of Love. Around 30 talented students from different Schools presented a live show incorporating theatre, music and dance. The performances were united by a spirit of love and enthusiasm, symbolised by the final rousing performance of the new Student Anthem, “We Are All HKMU”.
Students who shine
The list of special achievements and recognitions attained by HKMU students is longer and broader in scope than ever this year. From creative writing to filmmaking, from business administration to innovation, our students have not stopped making their mark and showing their talents to the world.
Literary awards / writing competitions
Film and design
Business
Innovation and entrepreneurship
Sports
Community service
External scholarships
Others
