From February 27 to March 3, the Third Cross-Strait and Hong Kong and Macao Service-Learning Student Conference was successfully held at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Students from Beijing City University (BCU), Fudan University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Zhejiang University, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Nanjing University, and other institutions gathered together to engage in in-depth exchanges on the practical exploration, value reflection, and future development of service-learning.
The conference focused on the core theme of “Value Reflection on Service-Learning from a Student Perspective.” It featured various sessions, including individual student achievement sharing, group presentations, judge comments, exchanges at the Tin Ka Ping Foundation, and a community visit to Cheung Chau Island in Hong Kong. The event provided a cross-regional and interdisciplinary platform for young students. During the conference, student representatives shared their service-learning practices through video presentations. Four groups each presented on different themes, collectively exploring the multiple values of service-learning in personal growth, community development, and social progress.
Hou Yongqi, a master’s student in Music Education from BCU, represented the university at the conference. With solid academic foundation and excellent on-site performance, she won two honors: the Individual Service-Learning Achievement Sharing Honorable Mention (top 15) and the Group Presentation Honorable Mention. Professor Lin Xia from the Social Work program served as the professional advisor for the attending student.
As a music education student, Hou Yongqi used the 2024 “Hope Journey – Leading the Future with Wisdom” Chengdu Service-Learning Project as a case study. She submitted a personal reflection report titled “Seeing the Path of Growth Through the Eyes of Transformation” and delivered a thematic presentation. In the Chengdu project, she served as a whole-process course evaluator, deeply participating in the service-learning activities jointly organized by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Sichuan University. She provided support to over 400 seventh-grade students at the Hongyi Campus of Chengdu Shude Experimental Middle School, including children of migrant workers, disadvantaged children, and those with special educational needs. During her presentation, drawing on her expertise in music education, she explored how music workshops and rhythmic interaction can serve as vehicles for emotional support and cultural identity for special groups. Her transformation from an evaluation executor to a value thinker, as well as her deep reflections on the long-term effectiveness of service-learning, resonated widely among the participants.
In the group presentation session, Hou Yongqi worked with fellow group C members from Huazhong Agricultural University, Macao University of Science and Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Southwest University, and other institutions to deliver a group presentation titled “Reflecting on the Value of Service-Learning from a Student Perspective.” The presentation focused on the bidirectional growth nature of service-learning. Through case studies in rural practice, cultural heritage, community collaboration, and other dimensions, it systematically presented the core values of service-learning in skill improvement, cognitive reshaping, and social responsibility cultivation. Hou Yongqi, drawing on the group’s “three-dimensional evaluation system,” added the unique role of arts education in service-learning and proposed an integration path of “professional knowledge + social needs,” offering a new perspective for the interdisciplinary development of service-learning. The presentation received high recognition from the judging experts.
During the conference, Hou Yongqi also participated in a community visit to Cheung Chau Island in Hong Kong, conducting field research on issues such as children and youth needs, cultural protection, and eco-tourism at sites including Cheung Po Tsai Cave, Kam Kwong School, and Tung Tai Cottage. She noted that service-learning brings professional knowledge out of the classroom and revitalizes it through real social needs, making music a bridge connecting individuals with communities and conveying care and strength.
BCU has long attached great importance to practice-based education and social service. By integrating service-learning into the talent cultivation system, BCU guides students to combine their professional expertise with social needs. Hou Yongqi’s achievement at the conference is not only a vivid demonstration of BCU’s service-learning outcomes but also an injection of new vitality into cross-strait exchanges and cooperation in the field of service-learning. In the future, BCU will continue to deepen student education in service-learning, cultivating more university students in the new era who possess professional competence, social responsibility, and humanistic care, and contributing youthful energy to social development.
