Dr Sylvia KWOK LAI Yuk-ching, Associate Professor of CityU’s Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, received the prestigious 2021 University Grants Committee (UGC) Teaching Award (Teams) for a CityU-led inter-institutional project which she serves as a Principal Investigator. This is the third time that CLASS faculty members have been honoured with a UGC teaching award since the inception of the Award in 2011.
Led by the positive education advocate, the Joint University Mental-wellness Project (JUMP) aims to enhance students’ wellbeing, enable them to find enriched meaning in their university lives, enhance their resilience to face challenges, develop their sense of social responsibility, and foster positive learning experiences.
The project encompassed a variety of activities, including student and staff development workshops, camps, mental wellness festival, a study tour, and an international conference. It employed a strengths-based and process-focused approach to maximise students’ potential by transforming their attitudes, values, and beliefs.
Not only has the project benefitted 1,100+ staff and professionals and around 4,000 university students, but it has also brought advantages to a further 1,500 members of the wider community by coaching and engaging university students to carry out community projects of their own design.
Apart from receiving positive feedback from both the students and community, the project, with team members and activity participants from five local institutions, also marks the huge success of the interuniversity collaboration. An article summarising the project and a survey on the mental wellness of university students is available here.
The team will use the award to expand the positive transformational learning model and the unique features of JUMP to engage more students and academics. It is hoped that this model will be implemented in a long-term, sustainable manner and that all eight UGC-funded universities will become involved.
The UGC Teaching Award is established to honour staff who excel in teaching in the UGC sector. The key criteria for assessing the nominees include the ability to inspire students and demonstrate superior teaching acumen, the curriculum design, and the achievements and impact on the promotion of teaching excellence.
Check out this UGC video with the sharing of the project team.
Cover photo: JUMP, led by Dr Sylvia KWOK LAI Yuk-ching (centre) of CityU’s Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, was established to address the deteriorating mental wellness of university students. Other team members are Dr PAN Jianyan (1st from left – from HKU), Dr TO Siu-ming (2nd from left – from CUHK), Lorette LEUNG (2nd from right – from EduHK) and Professor Daniel WONG (1st from right – from HKBU).
