Dear Fellow Students,
Updates to Students from the College Management
With the year 2022 coming to an end, it is time again for the College Management to share with you highlights of progress and College operation of the past few months.
Graduation Ceremony
Thanks to the concerted efforts of staff and the ease of the pandemic situation, the Graduation Ceremony was smoothly held as scheduled on 4 November 2022 evening at the Southorn Stadium. The event was a great success with the conferment of Bachelor’s Degrees, Higher Diploma and Diploma to graduates of 2019-2022 academic years. We were grateful to have the presence of Mr Chan Mo-po, Paul, the Financial Secretary, as the guest of honour, and members of the Board of Governors and College Council, and many guests rendering their valuable support. We believe nothing was more amazing than witnessing our graduates celebrating such a memorable evening with their families, coursemates, friends and supporters of the College.
College Operation and Campus
Most of us probably have got used to the new norm with the pandemic inevitably being part of our life. Occasionally, we would note that there were contracted cases reported from staff and students. The College has a mechanism in place to carry out timely disinfection in the possible affected area. Offices and Units concerned will communicate the status for implementing other necessary measures to ensure the health and safety of the College community.
We would also like to share the plan with you that the College is going to carry out classroom renovation work during the Christmas and New Year holidays to meet specific programme requirements and operational needs. The renovated classrooms are targeted for use in the 2nd semester.
Teaching and Learning
For the last few months, programme delivery in face-to-face mode has been run without disruption except for a day in November caused by a typhoon. With the end of the 1st semester approaching, we would like to collect feedback from you for continuous improvement. Your mentors, lecturers and programme directors would welcome students’ feedback on teaching and learning. Comments on resources, learning support and student service provision, etc. could be channeled through Student Staff Consultative Meetings, Teaching Evaluation Questionnaires, and student representation in different committees.
For those of you who are seeking opportunities to strengthen your English proficiency, you probably would have known that the School of Education and Psychology has provided two channels to support students’ language learning. The English Support Programme, offered via consultation session during lunch hours from October to mid-December 2022, is designed to help students improve their English in written assignment, and the citation and referencing skills in essay writing. There is also an online course, Improving English Grammar and Vocabulary (GEN9002), available for self-learning at your own pace.
Student Development
The four College Assemblies planned for the 1st semester were conducted with an inspiring talk series on the theme of “Virtue from Evolvement” arranged for the sharing session. We had the College’s President, guest speakers Dr Tik Chi Yuen and Prof Joseph J Y Sung, and students of the Christian Ministry programmes invited to share their perspectives about the meaningful topic.
The new round of Self-financing Post-secondary Scholarship Scheme for 2022/23 has been rolled out. In past years, different students of the College were awarded the Scholarship in recognition of their outstanding academic performance, or achievements and talents in non-academic fields. As the Scheme is about to close application, check out your mail box now for the application details.
As announced earlier, the new counsellor from Baptist Oi Kwan Social Service, Ms Lau Kee Kwan Carine, was on board in November. You may reach her on campus for consultation or chit-chat during her duty days on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Different from the project-based activities for skills enhancement and support in the last academic year, the focus of student development programmes this year is to provide you with more variety and fun-filled activities after class.
Programme Re-accreditation
The recent two months have been quite hectic for the faculty with panel visits of the regulatory body scheduled for the re-accreditation of three learning programmes. The combined re-accreditation exercise of the Diploma in Pre-University Studies and Higher Diploma in Christian Ministry programmes was smoothly held in November. The two programmes were approved with a validity period of 3 years and 4 years respectively commencing September 2023, subject to confirmation in the final report. Before leaving for the Christmas holiday, we shall have the re-accreditation of the Higher Diploma in Early Childhood Education programme.
Festive Greetings
Lastly, in the spirit of Christmas, may you and your family spend some quality time together in the holidays, and enjoy moments filled with lots of love, warmth and blessings.
College Management