The COVID-19 epidemic has had a seriously adverse impact on the global economy and brought challenges to many people around the world. To cope with the situation in Hong Kong, HKU SPACE took certain emergency measures to maintain teaching and learning for our full-time students through online learning with minimal disruption to students’ academic progress. The School also established the Student Assistance Scheme to provide financial relief and job opportunities to our full-time students to help them through this difficult period.

The Scheme will support students in the following areas:

1. Scholarships for students of the HKU SPACE Community College (CC)  and the HKU SPACE International College (IC) 
2. A learning subsidy of $2,000 for all eligible full-time students in 2019/20 to enable them to upgrade their data plans and to buy accessories to support their online learning
3. Full-time jobs to IC graduates

Professor William K.M. Lee, Director of HKU SPACE, said, “The students are always our first priority. During this difficult period, many students may incur additional expenses in adapting to the new mode of online learning. As such, the Scheme is set up to provide a learning subsidy to all full-time students to help them to up-grade their hardware at home and maximise their online learning experience. It will also help to ease the financial burden on their families.“

“But we are not just thinking about today. The outlook for the economy remains grim for the coming year. So to help our IC graduates who may be hard hit by the worsening economy, the growing unemployment rate and the closing down of many businesses, we will be working to provide full-time employment opportunities for them to help them through the storm. A full-time job will also help them gain working experience and improve their skillsets to enhance their competitiveness in the market for the future.”