Twenty CityU students were awarded HSBC scholarships at the annual HSBC Scholars Day on 15 June 2018, with fourteen of these students coming from the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS). This event, supported by the Hongkong Bank Foundation, took place at the HSBC main building in Central, and was kicked off with a welcome from the Head of Corporate Sustainability of HSBC Asia Pacific, Mr Huifeng ZHANG.

This year, among the twenty CityU awardees, six recipients were awarded the HSBC Overseas Scholarship, two of whom were from CLASS. These two awardees are Christina KOSHY (third from the right) from the Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences and CHAN Yan-lam Cynthia (fourth from the right) from the Department of English.

Majoring in Psychology, Christina found that depression is rapidly becoming one of the world’s most costly diseases. She is determined to study clinical psychology, with a research focus on mental health issues in the local education system. The HSBC overseas scholarship has given her a valuable opportunity to further her studies for two years under the Joint Bachelor’s degree program of CityU with Columbia University.

Cynthia, our second awardee of the Scholarship, will be studying at the University of Lancaster for one semester. Cynthia wants to investigate ways of integrating active learning and STEM education into the existing curriculum without pressuring students. She hopes to apply her research to improve the Hong Kong education system.

Applying for the HSBC scholarships is never an easy task. However, Christina and Cynthia received all the help they needed from the University. The Career and Leadership Centre provided help through its one-on-one interview coaching sessions, and CLASS’s Chan Feng Men-ling Chan Shuk-lin English Language Centre offered workshops on how to write applications more eloquently. Cynthia also thanked the staff from the Department of English for putting her in contact with past scholarship awardees, who gave her helpful information on living expenses in the United Kingdom and guidance on the transfer of course credits.

The Hongkong Bank Foundation offers a range of scholarship schemes to local tertiary students every year. Among the fourteen CLASS students, besides Christina and Cynthia who were awarded HSBC Overseas Scholarship, nine of them received HSBC Social Work Scholarships 2017/18, and three of them received HSBC Hong Kong Scholarships 2017/18.