The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) proudly announced that its Leadership and Intrapersonal Development (LIPD) Team has been honoured with the 2018 University Grants Committee (UGC) Teaching Award in recognition of their remarkable contributions to teaching and learning.
Led by Professor Daniel Shek, Associate Vice President (Undergraduate Programme) and Chair Professor of Applied Social Sciences (APSS), the team received the coveted award presented to them by UGC Chairman Mr Carlson Tong at a presentation ceremony held tonight (6 September 2018).
The University congratulates Professor Shek and his team on receiving the award. Professor Timothy W. Tong, President of PolyU, said, "Their great enthusiasm in innovating teaching approaches and enhancing curriculums has brought real benefits to students from primary to tertiary levels in Hong Kong and beyond."
Professor Shek led a team of four dedicated scholars of the Department of APSS, namely Dr Lu Yu, Dr Cecilia Ma, Ms Yammy Chak and Dr Li Lin, to launch the LIPD Initiative in PolyU's undergraduate curriculum in 2010. The aims of the Initiative are to provide a holistic learning experience for every first-year student in the new four-year undergraduate curriculum and to foster them with essential personal and social competences through experiential learning approach.
The LIPD Initiative was extended to benefit more students through collaborations with other tertiary institutions in Hong Kong, the Mainland and "Belt-and-Road" countries. To date, the LIPD Team has served over 35 organisations including schools from primary to tertiary levels, as well as non-governmental and community organisations, benefiting 36,000 students. Through regular evaluations and self-reflection exercises, the Team has established an evidence-based practice in enhancing teaching and learning process. The Team has published over 140 papers and hosted four international conferences on LIPD. For two consecutive years, in 2016/17 and 2017/18 respectively, the LIPD subjects won four awards at QS Reimagine Education Award, a prestigious international competition awarding innovative initiatives for enhancing student learning outcomes and employability.
The LIPD Team plans to use the UGC award grant to develop a series of training modules for teachers and professionals who are interested in offering the LIPD subject, "Tomorrow's Leaders", as a credit-bearing subject or a non-credit-bearing leadership programme.
Professor Shek thanked UGC for recognising his team's effort. "Our team aims to unleash the leadership potential in students and promote their personal and social responsibility as well as soft skills. We also learned a lot in innovating ideas and approaches to achieve our goals. I must thank PolyU for giving us full support in LIPD and my team's persistent efforts in achieving teaching excellence."
The annual UGC Teaching Award was introduced in 2011 to honour those who excel in teaching in the UGC sector. The awardees are expected to become "ambassadors of good teaching" to collectively make a real and sustained impact in promoting teaching excellence. PolyU has snatched five awards since 2013, including the award of this year.
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