Dear Fellow Students,
Updates to Students from the College Management
Our warmest greetings to you all! Hope the spring season has freshened up your days, and brought you new hope and new energy. It’s time again for us to share the progress and updates from the College management.
Teaching and Learning
Academic results of the 1st semester were released to all students in early March, and the 2nd semester has run for weeks now. As we are more than halfway through the academic year, please don’t hesitate to seek guidance and advice from your mentor, course lecturers and counsellor if you encounter problems in learning. There is always someone in the College ready to support you.
Taking into account of the recent development of the pandemic after the Chinese New Year, the College finds it advisable to continue with the mixed mode of teaching, and we shall review the situation from time to time. Resumption of classes on campus in the 3rd semester might be considered, subject to pedagogical needs and health situation.
Quality Enhancement Support Scheme (QESS)
The government-funded QESS Project, “A Multi-dimensional Approach to Narrow the Learning Gaps among Students”, kicked start with its first workshop held on 28 January, followed with two others in February 2021. With different professionals engaged for the project, six workshops on communication (1), learning (1), management (1) and counselling (3) are planned for each semester during the two-year project period for enhancement of students in respective areas. If you have missed the previous ones, we earnestly hope you could grasp the opportunity to join us in coming workshops.
For students who had joined the Stress Management Workshop, we believe you knew Ms Genevieve Tsui already. She is the part-time counsellor on board in January for the QESS Project to provide guidance and counselling support to students during the project period.
Programme Development and Re-accreditation
We are glad to share with you that the pre-conditions on the Bachelor of Christian Ministry Programme have been fulfilled, pending the formal approval of the Chief Executive-in-Council. As such, we are just one step away from the formal launching of the Programme, planned for September 2021.
Accreditation exercise for the Higher Diploma in Social Work Programme was smoothly held via Zoom in early March 2021 with very good and encouraging comments received from the panel, especially commitment of the College in providing quality education. The Interim Report received from the accrediting body is positive, granting approval of the programme subject to professional recognition by the Social Workers Registration Board in late 2021. To meet the needs of practitioners in the sector for professional development, the College is making application for the addition of a 3-year part-time conversion mode to the existing Bachelor of Social Work Programme. Meanwhile, colleagues have also been busily preparing for the forthcoming internal re-accreditation of the two higher diploma programmes in Psychology and Counselling, and Transformative Business Management scheduled for May 2021.
Graduate Survey
The graduate survey of the 2020 cohort was completed with all graduates reverting their replies, including 10 degree graduates, 10 higher diploma graduates and 4 diploma graduates. As of February, 88% of the 24 respondents are employed (71%) or are pursuing further studies (17%) after graduation. For the employed graduates, the career prospect is in general positive. 88% of them are working in a job related to their area of study. 80% of those employed full-time earn an average monthly salary at or above $20,000, and some graduates of the Bachelor of Social Work Programme receive more than $25,000.
Research Study on the Measurement of “CHRIST” Values
You might recall in last September that you were all invited to participate in an anonymous survey on Student Character Transformation. It is part of the research project conducted to evaluate whether students of the College will be able to develop the “CHRIST” values as set out in its vision. Besides the six factors of “CHRIST” values (Commitment, Humility, Resilience, Integrity, Service and Teamwork), the questionnaire measured students’ views on the importance of character development, law compliance, and attitude to non-violence and future of Hong Kong.
Initial findings of the survey indicated that the questionnaire is successful in measuring the six factors of “CHRIST” values as well as other variables with high reliability and validity. The positive ratings to most items indicate that attaching importance to character development in the College vision is the right way to go in provision of quality education.
The research project is a longitudinal study with the said questionnaire conducted every year to study students’ character development. We look forward to your continual support to future surveys of the project and other related studies to be developed.
Facilities and Campus Re-development
To alleviate the workload of existing staff, we are pleased to have Dr Murphy Ho joining the College in February as the Facility and IT Manager. Dr Ho is very experienced and versatile in facility management and IT services. Besides overseeing the campus maintenance, Dr Ho has been busily working on enhancement of our teaching facilities.
Although progress is yet to be made for commencing the campus re-development, the College has been liaising with the landlord of the campus building, The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC), on the way forward. As an important stakeholder of the project, PAOC has rendered full support and much input to the College. The determination of both parties to pursue the re-development is clear and firm.
Stay Connected
Although vaccination programme has been rolled out in local community, it might still take some time to resume to normal College life. We hope you would find the College Updates useful to keep us connected. Lastly, we would like to give our warmest blessing to you for Easter, which will arrive in a few weeks’ time.
College Management