Media

One hundred and fifty high-school students have travelled from around the globe to the University of Hong Kong (HKU) to explore how they can harness the immense variety of online tools responsibly and positively to find solutions to the world’s most pressing problems.

Asia’s first IB World Student Conference kicked off on August 12 (Monday) with interactive sessions and workshops taught by industry leaders and academics - some of whom are HKU alumni who have successfully started their own social entrepreneurship projects.

During the opening ceremony, HKU Vice Chancellor and President Professor Lap-Chee Tsui said to the students: “I hope you work together with your peers and learn from your mentors to use the power of social media to change this world for the better.”

The five-day conference focuses on the theme “iResponsibility: Explore How We Engage in the Online World” and is jointly hosted by the International Baccalaureate (IB) and HKU.

Part of the conference sessions will occur at Cyberport, a creative digital community of technology and digital content tenants, which has partnered with the University for this event. At Cyberport the students will take interactive tours of its high-tech multimedia centres and learns hand-on skills from its resident innovators.

Along with immersing themselves in a university environment, students will also have a chance to discover the fast-paced, techno savvy, 24/7 metropolis of Hong Kong through a variety of activities and trips around the city.

Keeping in line with the theme, the participants have been engaging with each other and their guest speakers not only in the sessions, but also over various social media channels like Twitter and Instagram. Several of them are writing regular blogs to record their experience through multimedia online.

About HKU
Founded in 1911, HKU is the territory's oldest university, with a long heritage of academic excellence and service to the community. Today, HKU is a world-class comprehensive research-led university, with close to a hundred of its faculty ranked by the Institute for Scientific Information as being among the world's top 1% of scientists.

With a strong international outlook and a tradition of English language instruction, HKU attracts the best academic staff and the brightest students from the territory and around the world. The University is committed to nurturing talent and leaders for both the local and global community and to cultivating internationalism on campus. We strongly support international academic collaboration, and staff and student exchanges at all levels, with over 400 higher education institutions.

About Cyberport
Cyberport is a creative digital community with a cluster of technology and digital content tenants. It is owned and managed by Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited which is wholly owned by the Hong Kong SAR Government. With a vision to establish itself as a leading information and communications technology (ICT) hub in the Asia-Pacific region, Cyberport is committed to facilitating the local economy by nurturing ICT industry start-ups and entrepreneurs, driving collaboration to pool resources and create business opportunities, and accelerating ICT adoption through strategic initiatives and partnerships. Equipped with an array of state-of-the-art ICT facilities and a cutting-edge broadband network, the Cyberport community is home to four grade A intelligent office buildings, a five-star design hotel, and a retail entertainment complex. For details, please visit: www.cyberport.hk.

About the International Baccalaureate
Founded in 1968, the International Baccalaureate (IB) is a not-for-profit foundation which offers four high quality and challenging educational programmes for a worldwide community of schools. For more than 40 years, IB programmes have gained a reputation for their rigour and high academic standards, for preparing students for life in a globalised 21st century, and for helping to develop citizens who will create a better, more peaceful world. Currently there are over 1 million IB students attending nearly 3,500 schools in more than 143 countries. To learn more, please visit: www.ibo.org.

For press enquiry and interview arrangement, please contact Rhea Leung, Manager (Media) of Communications and Public Affairs Office, at 2857 8555 / 9022 7446 or rhea.leung@hku.hk or
Betsy Lee, Executive Officer, Academic Liaison Section at 2219 4202/ 6373 9927 or betsylee@hku.hk.