Teachers and students from the Felizberta Lo Padilla Tong School of Social Sciences of Saint Francis University (SFU), including Dean Prof WONG Yu Cheung, Associate Dean Dr CHU Cheong Hay, and three Year 3 students of the Bachelor of Social Sciences (Honours) programme, Lily HUNG from Social Care Stream, CHAN Chun Hei from Psychology Stream, and Abid NAIEELA from Social Work Stream, were interviewed by HK01 recently to share the programme features and their learning experiences.
Lily HUNG studied the Higher Diploma in Human Services programme at Caritas Bianchi College of Careers (CBCC) after DSE, then articulated to SFU and became the first batch of Year 3 intake of the Social Care Stream. She said the Stream was led by experienced teachers and the curriculum was designed to be practical and wide-ranging, with a multi-dimensional approach to understanding the society. Apart from the general social policy and research methodology, the course also taught how to write proposals to compete for grants and to convince stakeholders to provide resources for services.
Prof WONG Yu Cheung added that the Social Care Stream is designed for students who want to serve the community but may not want to work as social workers. The curriculum is closely related to the community, but it covers a wider range of areas and has more diversified working methods than social workers, such as social marketing and data analysis, and adopts different approaches in solving social problems. The Psychology stream focuses on positive psychology and mental health, which is in line with the needs of the of the current society, and will help students to find jobs after graduation.
CHAN Chun Hei did not attend the DSE due to depression and anxiety disorders. Later, he pursued the "1+2+2" articulation pathway, starting from 1-year Diploma Yi Jin (currently Diploma of Applied Education) in Caritas Institute of Community Education, then articulated to the Higher Diploma in Human Services programme, and finally the third year of the Psychology Stream, enabled him to obtain a Degree in just one year more than his peers. He believes that "1+2+2" allows students to study in a familiar environment, which is conducive to better results.
Abid NAIEELA, who is of Pakistani origin, studied the Higher Diploma in Social Work programme after the DSE and articulated to Undergraduate Social Work programme. She said Caritas – Hong Kong provides a large number of social work internship opportunities, and also job trials in the past two years to help social work students familiarise themselves with the requirements and operations of the workplace. She also pointed out that the proportion of ethnic minority social work students at SFU is the highest in Hong Kong, and that they are entitled to full scholarships and cost of living allowances, as well as exemptions from the Chinese Language requirement of the DSE.
Dr CHU Cheong Hay mentioned that the teaching staff of the social work programme at SFU is strong, including academics, frontline staff and senior professors, and there is a clear articulation pathway, a number of CBCC graduates will be admitted to SFU.
The related media coverage is in Chinese version only