18 January 2020

The HSUHK Professional Mentorship Scheme is a signature programme of the university which provides a precious opportunity for HSUHK students to learn from our mentors, who are all seasoned professionals and senior executives from various industries and/or renowned corporations. Under the Scheme, students will receive career guidance from their assigned mentors during a period of eight months.

The University first launched the mentorship programme in 2009 and this year has marked its 11^th anniversary. In view of the competitive job market, The Mentorship Scheme is rebranded this year. Under this newly-rebranded scheme, apart from the mentoring relationship which still remains as a core part of the Scheme, mentees will also be provided with an array of professional trainings, including an image building workshop and a mock interview session, so that they can better prepare for their future career and thus standing out from the crowd. The Scheme has received an overwhelming number of applications and more than 110 students have joined the Scheme as mentees, which doubled the number in previous year.

The HSUHK Professional Mentorship Scheme Kick-off Ceremony, attended by over 30 mentors and 110 students, was held on 18 January 2020 at the Auditorium of the University to kick-start the Scheme. Dr Tom Fong, Vice-President (Organisational Development) delivered a welcome speech to all the attending mentors and mentees. In his speech, he expressed his sincere gratitude to the professional network with over 50 mentors, who are either friends or alumni of the University with strong specialisations in different fields, including accounting, human resources, aviation, banking and finance, education, entrepreneurship, information technology, logistics/ supply chain, marketing and PR, real estate, social services, etc. He highlighted the growing significance of the mentorship programme as it could help facilitating mutual understanding across generations. According to Dr Fong, The HSUHK Professional Mentorship Scheme was an ideal platform for professionals and students to exchange their ideas and thoughts openly.

Dr Fong was also grateful that more than half of our mentors have committed to offer or refer internship opportunities to HSUHK students. HSUHK has planned to introduce a thematic campaign “One Student, One Internship”, whereby all undergraduate students will be offered an internship learning experience locally, regionally or internationally during the course of their studies at HSUHK. The support from our mentors was indeed crucial for equipping students with real work experience.

Ms Rebecca Chan, Director of Student Affairs, followed by giving a remark to encourage all mentees to cherish this precious opportunity to expand their professional network and build lasting friendships with mentors and fellow mentees. Also, two former mentees shared their rewarding mentorship experience at the Ceremony. Both mentees were thankful for the support from their mentors, who inspired them to pursue their current career. They encouraged the current mentees to be proactive in order to get the most out of the Scheme.

At the end of the Ceremony, all mentors were presented with a small pot of succulent plants as a token of appreciation for their unfailing support to HSUHK and its students, representing that the sharing from mentors facilitating the growth of mentees.

The Ceremony was followed by a networking session where mentors and mentees could freely interact with each other. All of them have spent a joyous afternoon at HSUHK together and were looking forward to a fruitful mentorship experience ahead.