Lingnan University organises briefing session for projects in celebration of the 100th birthday of Dr Tin Ka Ping

4 Apr 2018

briefing session for projects in celebration of the 100th birthday of Dr Tin Ka Ping

Mr Sam Tin Hing-sin, Chairman of the Board (3rd right on the front row), Prof Kenneth Young, Director (3rd left on the front row) and Mr Oscar Lau, Advisory Board Member (2nd left on the front row) of Tin Ka Ping Foundation attended the briefing session and take a photo with Prof Leonard K Cheng, President of Lingnan University (2nd right on the front row) and Lingnan staff and students who participate in the two projects supported by the Tin Ka Ping Foundation.

To celebrate the 100th birthday of Dr Tin Ka Ping, Tin Ka Ping Foundation has donated HK$3 million each to nine local higher education institutions including Lingnan University to support activities in nurturing their students.

 

Lingnan University organised the Briefing Session for Projects in Celebration of the 100th Birthday of Dr Tin Ka Ping today (4 April) to give an introduction on the two funded projects, namely the “Lingnan Student Voluntary Tutoring Scheme: Online Tutoring for Rural Students in China” and “Lingnan High-Flyers Programme”.  Mr Sam Tin Hing-sin, Chairman of the Board, Prof Kenneth Young, Director and Mr Oscar Lau, Advisory Board Member of Tin Ka Ping Foundation attended the briefing session.

 

Dr Tin Ka Ping founded the Tin Ka Ping Foundation in 1982.  “To celebrate the 100th birthday of Dr Tin Ka Ping, the Foundation donated HK$3 million each to nine universities in Hong Kong to support university student development, so as to convey the message that “China’s future lies in education”, and the aim of giving back to the society and contributing to the motherland,” Mr Sam Tin Hing-sin said.  “We value the strong partnership with Lingnan University, which has been going from strength to strength over the years.  We look forward to nurturing more talents for the society together.”

 

In his speech at the briefing session, Prof Leonard K Cheng, President of Lingnan University said Dr Tin Ka Ping has all along devoted concerted effort in charity, and Lingnan University has enjoyed his special patronage as the Foundation has been supporting the University over the years.  “Bearing in mind Dr Tin’s sincere expectation on Lingnan, we will capitalise on our advantage as a liberal arts institution and strive to achieve the best results for the projects in order to benefit students,” said President Cheng.

 

The “Lingnan Student Voluntary Tutoring Scheme: Online Tutoring for Rural Students in China”, led by Prof Wei Xiangdong, Professor of the Department of Economics and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences of Lingnan University, aims to promote quality education in rural China.  The project rides on the ongoing development and popularisation of Internet technology to build online classrooms, thus allows Lingnan students to participate in providing teaching and education support for children in villages of the Mainland, and contribute to the enhancement of the quality of education in rural China.

 

The project has three main objectives.  The first one is to select a group of not less than 30 rural schools in several national poverty-stricken areas in Hunan and Jiangxi provinces, and build online classrooms there to connect with Lingnan University.  The second one is to improve education standards in the rural areas by organising Lingnan students to join voluntary work or service-learning projects to offer real-time, online classes for these schools.  It can also deepen Lingnan students’ understanding of the country, contribute to their moral and cultural enrichment, and promote exchanges between the two places.  The third one is that an expert team comprising professors from Lingnan University will conduct scientific assessment on the project’s effectiveness in raising the education standard for children in rural areas, then further provide policy recommendations to relevant departments.

 

The other funded project is the Lingnan High-Flyers Programme established for outstanding Lingnan students with leadership potential.  Through a series of professional training and practical opportunities, it cultivates students’ entrepreneurial attributes including creativity, courage to take risk, outstanding abilities in planning and problem-solving, insightful mind and the charm as a leader, who are willing to give back to the University and the community with what they learned.

 

The programme comprises three phases.  In phase I, training workshops are offered by renowned international training agency to boost students’ entrepreneurship mindsets, acquire decision-making and problem-solving skills, and develop insights on the needs of the society in order to prepare for the practical actions in phase II.  In phase II, selected students form their own teams to develop innovative and practical means to execute their project proposals that could help tackle local and global issues.  After stringent assessment, winning teams will enter the final phase which is a 3-day Executive Leadership Training Programme offered by a renowned international training agency, and a study tour to either North America or Belt and Road countries in summer.  The programme received overwhelming response from Lingnan students, with a total of 160 students joined the phase I training workshops and 22 of them selected to participate in the phase II competition.