2012 Faculty Affairs Committee Social Innovation Internship Survey Report

1

Faculty Affairs Committee, SSSC, SSS, HKUSU

Social Innovation

Internship

Survey Report

Members:

Tang Oi Ching, Phyllis (SSS, HKUSU)

King Kai Wing, Christina (PPAA, SSS, HKUSU)

Chan Yui Lam, Fiona (PSYC, SSS, HKUSU)

Zhang Jialun, Gordon (SOCI, SSS, HKUSU)

Choi Stephanie (SWSAS, SSS, HKUSU)

Leung Nga Wing, Cecilia (BSS Y2)

2

Faculty Affairs Committee, SSSC, SSS, HKUSU

Social Innovation Internship (2011-12 Term-time & 2012 Summer-time)

Survey Report 2011-2012

I. Introduction

The Social Innovation (SI) Internship is a compulsory course for BSocSci students and a choice for

BSocSci (Govt&Law) students other than Global Citizenship. It aims at nurturing a good

understanding of social issues through first-hand experiences, providing a training platform for

students to apply knowledge and skills acquired at the University to real work situations and

enabling students to become more social aware while developing critical thinking and analytical

skills. Students put a lot of emphasis on the SI Internship as the course comprises of 12 credits and

that students put a lot of time and effort in it.

The Faculty Affairs Committee, SSSC, SSS, HKUSU (FAC) has conducted a survey regarding the

expectation before the SI Internship and the actual work content. We focus more on the above two

aspects as students previously often reflected that the work content often differ from their

expectations. The Committee also provided some suggestions on improving the internship. We hope

through collecting students’ opinion, the faculty can have better understandings towards students’

attitude on the scheme and willing to make changes to meet the expectation of both.

II. Methodology

The FAC distributed the questionnaires during the presentation seminars of 2011-12 term-time

Internship held on 16-20th April, 2012 and the presentation seminars of 2012 summer-time

Internship held on 15-16th August, 2012. 75 students from 2011-12 term-time and 65 students from

2012 summer-time have completed the survey. All of them had experience in doing the internship.

The questionnaire of 2011-12 term-time was slightly different from that of 2012 summer-time. The

differences would be elaborated in the results and data analysis part. Both questionnaires are

attached at the end of this survey report.

3

III. Results and Data analysis

2011-12 Term-time

Part A

The purpose of Part A is to explore whether students were clear about the intended purposes of the

internships which were stated on the Faculty webpage and in the internship handbook.

According to the above diagrams, the majority of the students know the aims of SI Internship.

However, compare to the 90% awareness of the first purpose, only around 70% of students were

aware of the second and third one, which shows that there is still room for improving students’

89%

11%

Q1. Do you know nurturing a good understanding of social issues through first-

hand practical experience in local organization is one of the purposes in the SI

Internship?

Yes

No

73%

27%

Q2. Do you know providing a training platform for students to apply knowledge and skills acquired at the University to real

work situations is purpose in the SI Intership?

Yes

No

71%

29%

Q3. Do you know assisting students to become more socially aware, develop critical thinking and analytical ability is the

purpose in the SI Internship?

Yes

No

4

awareness regarding the aims of the program. Since students’ understanding on the intention of the

program may affect how they make use of the internship opportunity, it is important to clarify the

aims of internship with them in order for them to gain the greatest benefit out of the internship.

Part B

This part aimed at exploring students’ former expectations on what they could achieve from the

internship. Seven statements, covering a range of different expectations commonly observed among

students, were designed to explore to what extent students agree with each of them. Expectations

1-2 stress on academic expectations and were designed to echo with the intended purposes of the

internships stated on the Faculty webpage. Expectations 3-7 were expectations on SI program that

was commonly observed among students but was not the stated purposes of SI.

7%

15%

40%

34%

4%

1. I expected the internship can motivate me to learn more about

relevant academic knowledge.

Totally disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally agree

On average = 3.15

8%

16%

33%

36%

7%

2. I expected the internship can let me apply the knowledge I have

acquired in class.

Totally disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally agree

On average = 3.17

4%

8%

21%

54%

13%

3. I expected the internship can enhance my social awareness.

Totally disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally agree

On average = 3.64

4% 3%

27%

49%

17%

4. I expected the internship can improve my ability in handling

administrative work and analytical skills.

Totally disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally agree

On average = 3.73

5

From the above table, the scores for all seven expectations were clustered around ‘neutral’ to

‘agree’. The scores for expectation 3-7 were generally higher than that of expectations 1-2. Students

expected more highly on experiencing work environment (expectation 5), improving their ability in

handling administrative work and analytical skills (expectation 4) and enhancing social awareness

(expectation 3), instead of acquiring academic knowledge (expectation 1) or applying knowledge

learnt in class (expectation 2).

Expectation 1 and 2 were rated the lowest among all 7 items and they are both related to the

academic aspect highlighted in the internship. The low agreeableness towards expectation 1 and 2

hinted a mismatch between the objective of the internship and students’ expectation, on the

academic applicability of the internship.

4% 4%

13%

48%

31%

5. I expected the internship can let me experience working

environment.

Totally disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally agree

On average = 3.97

8% 7%

24%

42%

19%

6. I expected the internship can let me explore my career interest.

Totally disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally agree

On average = 3.57

7%

8%

30%

38%

17%

7. I expected the internship can train my critical thinking.

Totally disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally agree

On average = 3.49

6

Part C

Part C was designed to be a follow-up of part B by asking the respondents whether their internship

experience matched their expectation in various aspects, including their general expectation and

special expectation on—

(1) academic inspirations,

(2) application of academic knowledge,

(3) improving analytical skills and handling administrative work,

(4) enhancing social awareness

(5) experiencing work culture

(6) career interest exploration.

The internship matched my expectation Percentage (to nearest 1%) Average

1 2 3 4 5

1. on academic inspirations 7 20 23 43 8 3.25

2. on applying academic knowledge 7 20 23 45 5 3.23

3. on improving analytical skill and

handling administrative work

5 9 25 52 8 3.48

4. on enhancing social awareness 4 4 27 49 16 3.70

5. on experiencing work culture 5 7 20 49 19 3.70

6. on career interest exploration 7 12 28 39 15 3.43

7. in general 5 9 29 36 20 3.56

7%

20%

23%

42%

8%

1. The internship matched my expectation on academic

inspirations.

Totally disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally agree

On average = 3.25

7%

20%

23%

45%

5%

2. The internship matched my expectation on applying academic

knowledge.

Totally disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally agree

On average

= 3.23

7

In general, the score of each expectation varies from 3.23 to 3.70. This can be interpreted that in

5%

9%

25%

53%

8%

3. The internship matched my expectation on improving analytical

skill and handling administrative work.

Totally disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally agree

On average = 3.48

4% 4%

27%

49%

16%

4. The internship matched my expectation on enhancing social

awareness.

Totally disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally agree

On average = 3.70

5%

7%

20%

49%

19%

5. The internship matched my expectation on experiencing work

culture.

Totally disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally agree

On average = 3.70

7%

12%

28% 38%

15%

6. The internship matched my expectation on career interest

exploration.

Totally disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally agree

On average = 3.43

5% 9%

29%

37%

20%

7. The internship matched my expectations in general.

Totally disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally agree

On average = 3.56

8

general, students’ expectation are fairly met. Their expectation on enhancing social awareness and

experiencing work culture is comparatively higher (scoring 3.70 on average). Yet, in echo with the

feedback in part B, their expectation on academic inspiration and knowledge application is less

likely to be met, scoring 3.25 and 3.23 respectively. In particular, half of the respondents do not

agree that the internship is as academically value-adding as expected.

According to previous personal comments of social sciences students, tasks assigned to them are

often purely administrative and not as academically inspirational as expected. From the

questionnaire results, it is further confirmed that particular positions are not very relevant to

academic knowledge of students. Considering the academic nature of SI programme (from both its

credit-bearing arrangement and the requirement of academic reflections), a careful review on the

working content of internees can be conducted to enhance the academic relevance of offers.

Part D

Part D was designed to investigate why students chose a particular community partner (CP) and

what they expected to be assigned from the CP.

Reasons of choosing a community partner

The first question in Part D asked students to tick the three most relevant factors that influenced

their choice of internship. Results are concluded as follows.

Factors No. of respondents

Personal interest 51

Work content 36

Community partner itself (e.g. reputation) 24 (1 students specifies social awareness

of CP as his considering factor)

Academic knowledge applicability 22

Career prospect 15

Relevance to major 14

Friends’ recommendation 7

Limitation of batch as paramount factor 3

From the response of the survey, the main factors influencing students’ choice of internship include

personal interest, work content, community partner and academic knowledge applicability.

Discrepancy between job description and actual work

Further to that, we have asked respondents to write down their expected tasks and assigned tasks

during their internship. A comparison between them has been done. The majority of cases show

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compliance of actual work content with the description available to students. Some of the

discrepancies also demonstrate reasonable divergence between expected work and actual work. Yet,

there are some special cases that need to be shed lights on.

One of the cases involved YMCA. A particular respondent pointed out that what he expected from

the actual work is to sharpening his public relation skills. For example, he may interact with

different parties and observe maintenance of external relations. However, he was given articles to

write in publications. In comparison, the actual work is less interactive and diverges from what the

student has expected. A similar case was also observed in ‘Videotage’. Differences exist in such a

case where students expect more about direct interaction with artists while in real life they were

assigned duties such as translation, transcription, etc.

To improve, we recommend that job description of each position should have the down-to-earth

tasks stated clearly to lower the ambiguity (and the potential divergence of expectations of the

students). On the other hand, good communication between the Faculty and the Community Partner

ought to be maintained to make sure that expectation of working content will be reasonably met.

10

4%

4%

23%

53%

16%

1. I understand the respective weights of working performance and

integrated essay and project presentation.

9%

17%

22%

48%

4%

2. I think the weights assigned to my performance, essays and

presentation are reasonable.

Part E

Students’ feedback on assessment format is collected in Part E of the survey. Questions were set

regarding the grading of assessment and supervisors. Ten statements were written to see how

students agree with them.

a) Grading

3%

16%

24% 52%

5%

3. I am familiar with the grading criteria of my performance.

3%

13%

35%

45%

4%

4. I am familiar with the grading criteria of my essay.

11

Q1. From the 75 respondents, a large majority (70%) of the students understand the weights of

working performance, essay and project presentation. Only a small percent of students have

confusion on the respective weights, this shows SI internship has provided quite clear guidelines for

the students.

Q2. About half (52%) of the students felt the assigned weight was reasonable. While 22% of them

stated the neutral stance, 26% of the students disagreed with the assigned weight.

Q3. In regards to the familiarity of grading criteria, more than half of the students (57%) agree that

they are familiar with it. Still, around 20% of students are not familiar with the grading criteria.

Q4. Regarding to the grading criteria of essay, half of the students (49%) agreed that they were

familiar with it. 35% showed a neutral stance and around 16% of students were not familiar with the

grading criteria.

Q5. Regarding to the grading criteria of essay, 55% agree that they were familiar with it. 24%

showed a neutral stance and around 12% of students were not familiar with the grading criteria. The

results of Q4 and Q5 suggested that students were more familiar with the grading criteria of

presentation as compared to the integrated essay.

Q6. Less than 40% of students thought the grading system is fair and consistent, while about 30%

hold the opposite view. The number of students who considered the grading system as fair tended to

be small. Improving the system’ consistency by providing clear guidelines to supervisors is

8%

13%

24% 51%

4%

5. I am familiar with the grading criteria of my presentation.

9%

19%

35%

36%

1%

6. I think the grading system (i.e. different interns are graded by

different supervisors) is fair and consistent.

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suggested.

b) Supervisors

Q7. A large proportion of (75 %) students agreed that their academic tutors were willing to help.

Only 8% hold the opposite view. Students were, in a large extent, agreed that they were supported

by their academic tutors

Q8. Almost 70% of students agreed that their academic tutors were equipped with academic

4% 4%

16%

44%

32%

7. I think my academic supervisor is accessible and willing to help.

7%

8%

17%

44%

24%

8. I think my academic supervisor is equipped with academic knowledge

of the field I worked in.

4% 7%

13%

47%

29%

9. I think my company supervisor is accessible and willing to help.

9%

9%

15%

42%

25%

10. I think my company supervisor can provide me with clear and

helpful instructions and guidance.

13

knowledge of the field they worked in. However, 15% of them thought that academic tutors were

not well equipped with the academic knowledge, which suggested a room for improvement.

Q9. More than 75 % of students agreed that their company supervisors were willing to help. Only

11% hold the opposite view. Students were, in a large extent, agreed that they were supported by

their company supervisors.

Q10. 67 % of students agreed that their company supervisors could provide them with helpful

feedback, whereas 18% did not.

Part F

Part F targeted at identifying the information sources of internship that students could get access to.

Students were given four choices, a. Faculty’s website, b. posters or other publication, c. friends d.

others. The following table summarizes the frequency students picked as their information sources.

As expected, the Faculty’s website of SI internship was most frequently rated.

Dominantly 63 students, which account for 75 % of the total number, find official website as the

basic source of information for SI program, while still a relatively big proportion, which is around

15 % got the information from friends, which shows that website’s vital status for students to gain

the information.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

a. Faculty'swebsite

b. posters orother

publications

c. friends d. others Missing

1. I got the information about the SI mainly from:

14

Similar to the above question, the second question asked students on their information sources

about the community partners. Again, students mainly relied on the Faculty’s website for

information about community partner.

62 students, which account for 75 % of the all still regard the official website as the main source of

information for community partners. Posters, friends and other sources, however, show a relative

minor influence in publication. The result once again emphasizes the importance of website

construction for students’ better understanding of SI program.

Students’ view regarding the description of community partner and the application procedures on

the official website was also explored.

Around 45 % of the students found information on the website about community partners of the

010203040506070

2. I got the information about the community partners as a whole mainly

from:

F2. I got the informationabout the communitypartners as a whole mainlyfrom:

4%

8%

28%

45%

12%

3%

3ai. The information on the official website was accurate.

Totally disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Totally agree Missing

15

program was quite accurate which can be rated as 4, followed by 28 % found it medium and 12 %

found very accurate. Average score, however, was around 3.55, which reflected there still existed

some of the problems in accuracy of CP information, which should be very crucial for students’

acknowledgment.

Average score for timely update was 3.34; however, most of the students give a grade of 4 and 3 for

the item which in sum account for around 70 %. Information about CP should be more timely

updated in such a case for better convenience of changing and knowing CPs.

45 % of the students find the information quite useful, followed by 36 % thought it in a medium

level, while only 7% found it very useful. The result can be understood that the information about

4%

14%

30% 39%

10%

3%

3aii. The information on the official website was updated timely.


4% 5%

36%

45%

7%

3%

3aiii. The information on the official website was useful.


16

CP was relatively useful however there still existed room for improvement then.

F3b). Application procedures

Correspondent to the items investigated previously, over half of the interviewees find the website as

relatively the most major source of SI application information, which once again raises our concern

of the importance of website construction for more convenience of application procedures.

Once again, over half of the students found application information was quite useful, followed by

28 % found it in a medium level. Application procedures are very crucial during the whole course,

thus the usefulness of the information then is important.

6% 7%

28%

52%

4% 3%

3bi. The website was my major source of information.


6% 7%

28%

52%

4% 3%

3bii. The information on the official website of SI was useful.


17

Half of the students find the application information was updated relatively timely. Concluded from

the above, the importance of website is very crucial. Thus, it is better if the information can be more

timely updated.

5% 5%

33%

50%

4% 3%

3biii. The information on the official website of SI was updated timely.

Totally disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Totally disagree Missing

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2012 Summer-time

The questionnaire for 2012 summer-time was the same as the one for 2011-12 term-time except for

the following:

(1) Part A – a fourth purpose “To develop work ethics, self-initiative, adaptation to the

organizational culture, and communication skills for successful workplace performance” has

been added as this purpose was added before the start of summer-time internship.

(2) Part F question 1 & 2 – a fourth option “Internship Fair” was added to the existing choices

regarding the information source about the internship and the community partners as a whole.

(3) Part F question 3a – items iv. to vii. asking for opinions on the Internship Fair were added.

(4) Part F question 3b – item ii. was changed to “The duration of the application period was

adequate” and item iii. was changed to “The online application system was convenient to use”

(4) Part F question 3b – items iv. to vii. asking for opinions on the new online application system

were added.

Part A

Q4 was added in addition to Q1-3.

98%

2%

1. Do you know nurturing a good understanding of social issues through first-

hand practical experience in local organization is one of the purposes in the SI

Internship?

Yes

No

85%

15%

2. Do you know providing a training platform for students to apply knowledge and skills

acquired at the University to real work situations is purpose in the SI Intership?

Yes

No

19

According to the above diagrams, the majority of the students know the aims of SI Internship and it

is quite satisfying regarding the students' understanding about the fourth purpose. However similar

to the situation of 2012 term-time internship, comparing to the 98% awareness of the first purpose,

only 85% of students were aware of the second one. This shows that there is still a room for

improving students’ awareness regarding the aims of the program.

Part B

94%

6%

3. Do you know assisting students to become more socially aware, develop

critical thinking and analytical ability is the purpose in the SI Internship?

Yes

No

89%

11%

4. Do you know developing work ethics, self-initiative, adaptation to the organizational

culture, and communication skills for successful workplace performance are the

purpose in the SI Internship?

Yes

No

0%

10%

22%

48%

20%

1. I expected the internship can motivate me to learn more about

relevant academic knowledge.

Totally Disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally Agree

On average = 3.77

3%

9%

28%

46%

14%

2. I expected the internship can let me apply the knowledge I have

acquired in class.

Totally Disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally Agree

On average = 3.58

20

The scores for expectations 3-7 were significantly higher than that of expectations 1-2.

0% 0%

11%

54%

35%

3. I expected the internship can enhance my social awareness.

Totally Disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally Agree

On average = 4.25

0% 0%

6%

51%

43%

4. I expected the internship can improve my ability in handling

administrative work and analytical skills.

Totally Disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally Agree

On average = 4.37

0% 0% 2%

50%

48%

5. I expected the internship can let me experience working

environment.

Totally Disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally Agree

On average = 4.46

0% 3%

23%

39%

35%

6. I expected the internship can let me explore my career interest.

Totally Disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally Agree

On average = 4.06

0% 2%

17%

53%

28%

7. I expected the internship can train my critical thinking.

Totally Disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally Agree

On average= 4.08

21

Students who disagree with expectations 3-7 were minimal. Students expected more highly on

experiencing work environment, improving their ability in handling administrative work and

analytical skills and enhancing social awareness. In contrast, acquiring academic knowledge or

applying knowledge learnt in class were rated the lowest among all 7 items and they are both

related to the academic aspect highlighted in the internship.

The discrepancy of rating between expectations 3-7 and 1-2 reveals a greater expectation on

vocational experience than academic relevance out of the internship among students. A mismatch

between the objective of the internship and students’ expectation is hinted. It is suggested that it

would be more beneficial to students if the faculty would consider providing more vocational

based internship opportunities to address students’ expectations.

Part C

0%

14%

35% 39%

12%

1. The internship matched my expectation on academic

inspirations

Totally disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally Agree

0%

14%

29%

40%

17%

2. The internship matched my expectation on applying academic

knowledge

Totally disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally agree

22

0% 3%

19%

46%

32%

3. The internship matched my expectation on improving analytical

skills and handling administrative work

Totally disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally agree

0% 2%

17%

47%

34%

4. The internship matched my expectation on enhancing social

awareness

Totally disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally agree

0% 3%

9%

43%

45%

5. The internship matched my expectation on experiencing work

culture

Totally disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally agree

0%

8%

21%

45%

26%

6. The internship matched my expectation on career interest

exploraton

Totally disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally agree

23

In general, the score of each expectation varies from 3.49 to 4.29, which is significantly more

positive in comparison to the previous term-time survey. No one chose “totally disagree” for any of

the questions. This can be interpreted that in general, students’ expectation will more likely be met

in summer internship. Their expectation on experiencing work culture is comparatively higher

(scoring 4.29 on average). Yet, in echo with the feedback in part B, their expectation on academic

inspiration and knowledge application is less likely to be met, scoring 3.49 and 3.6 respectively. In

particular, half of the respondents do not agree that the internship is as academically value-adding

as expected. This echoes with the survey result in term-time survey, and has an implication that the

synergy effect of the internship program with studies is not as high as the program was designed to

be. Either a review on the objective of the internship program in regards to academic inspiration or

a refinement of the program delivery is suggested.

According to previous personal comments of social sciences students, tasks assigned to them are

often purely administrative and not as academically inspirational as expected. From the

questionnaire results, it is further confirmed that particular positions are not very relevant to

academic knowledge of students. Considering the academic nature of SI programme (from both its

credit-bearing arrangement and the requirement of academic reflections), a careful review on the

working content of internees can be conducted to enhance the academic relevance of offers.

Part D

Part D was designed to investigate why students chose a particular community partner (CP) and

what they expected to be assigned from the CP.

0%

5%

15%

51%

29%

7. The internship matched my expectation in general

Totally disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Totally agree

24

Reasons of choosing a community partner

The first question in Part D asked students to tick the three most relevant factors that influenced

their choice of internship. Results are concluded as follows.

From the response of the survey, the main factors influencing students’ choice of internship include

work content, personal interest, community partner and academic career prospect. This shows

little divergence with the results in summer internship. Yet, a greater proportion of student was

subject to faculty allocation, which potentially undermines the students’ satisfaction and the

experience yielded from the internship program.

Discrepancy between job description and actual work

Huge discrepancy between students’ original expectations and actual job requirement was not found

in summer-time internship. Only a student who worked in SPCA had expected to take care of

animals but reported that the actual work was ‘so different’ that he was required to do mainly paper

work and translation. In another case, a student who worked in the Yang Memorial Methodist Social

Service had expected some tasks related to doing research and paperwork, but he mainly helped

with monitoring and looking after the clients and hosted small activity classes.

25

Part E

a) Grading

0% 1%

11%

63%

25%

1. I understand the respective weights of working performance and integrated

essay and project presentation.

7%

12%

23%

44%

14%

2. I think the weights assigned to my performance, essays and presentation

are reasonable.

4% 9%

28%

53%

6%

3. I am familiar with the grading criteria of my performance.

0%

8%

28%

44%

20%

4. I am familiar with the grading criteria of my essay.

26

Q1. From the 65 respondents, a large majority (88%) of the students understand the weights of

working performance, essay and project presentation. Only a small percent of students have

confusion on the respective weights, this shows SI internship has provided quite clear guidelines for

the students.

Q2. About half (58%) of the students felt the assigned weight was reasonable, while 23% of them

stated the neutral stance, 19% of the students disagreed with the assigned weight.

Q3. In regards to the familiarity of grading criteria, more than half of the students (64%) agree that

they are familiar with it. Still, around 13% of students are not familiar with the grading criteria.

Regarding to the grading criteria of essay, more than half of the students (64%) agreed that they

were familiar with it. 28% showed a neutral stance and only 8% of students were not familiar with

the grading criteria.

Q4 & 5. Regarding to the grading criteria of essay, 57% agree that they were familiar with it. 35%

showed a neutral stance and around 8% of students were not familiar with the grading criteria. The

results of Q4 and Q5 suggested that students were more familiar with the grading criteria of

presentation as compared to the integrated essay.

Q6. 54% of students thought the grading system is fair and consistent, while about 14% hold the

opposite view. The system’ consistency seemed to have been improved.

0%

8%

35%

43%

14%

5. I am familiar with the grading criteria of my presentation.

6% 8%

32%

39%

15%

6. I think the grading system (i.e. different interns are graded by different

supervisors) is fair and consistent.

27

b) Supervisors

Q7. A large proportion of (83 %) students agreed that their academic tutors were willing to help.

Only 5% hold the opposite view. Students were, in a large extent, agreed that they were supported

by their academic tutors

Q8. Almost 79% of students agreed that their academic tutors were equipped with academic

knowledge of the field they worked in. However, 7% of them thought that academic tutors were not

well equipped with the academic knowledge, which suggested a room for improvement.

2%

5%

14%

51%

28%

8. I think my academic supervisor is equipped with academic knowledge

of the field I worked in.

4% 5%

12%

45%

34%

9. I think my company supervisor is accessible and willing to help.

4% 10%

13%

41%

32%

10. I think my company supervisor can provide me with clear and

helpful instructions and guidance.

2%

3%

12%

48%

35%

7. I think my academic supervisor is accessible and willing to help.

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Q9. More than 75 % of students agreed that their company supervisors were willing to help. Only

9% hold the opposite view. Students were, in a large extent, agreed that they were supported by

their company supervisors.

Q10. 73 % of students agreed that their company supervisors could provide them with helpful

feedback, whereas 14% did not.

29

Part F

Items iv. to vii. are added to both 3a and 3b. 3bii and 3biii have been amended.

Though the official website was the main source of information for the Internship, when comparing

to the result of the term-time, increasingly more students acquired information from posters or other

publications, friends and the Internship Fair as well.

52 students, which account for nearly 85 % of the students still regard the official website as the

main source of information for community partners. Posters, friends and internship fair, however,

show a relative minor influence in publication. The result once again emphasizes the importance of

website construction for students’ better understanding of SI program.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

a. Faculty'swebsite

b. posters orother

publications

c. friends d.internship fair

1. I got the information about the SI mainly from:

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

a. Faculty'swebsite

b. posters orother

publications

c. friends d. internshipfair

e. others missing

2. I got the information about the community partners as a whole mainly

from:

30

3a) The Faculty webpage and the Internship Fair

Students’ view regarding the description of community partner and the application procedures on

the official website were also explored.

Nearly 70% of the students found the information on the website accurate, rated 4 or above. The

accuracy of online information has been improved indicated by a rise in average score from 3.55 in

2011 term time SI program to 3.82 this summer.

Approximately 80% of the students give a grade of 4 and 3 for this statement, and average score for

timely is 3.46. We strongly recommend that faculty would improve the frequency of update of

0%

5%

26%

52%

17%

3ai. The information on the official website was accurate

Totally disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Totally agree

1%

9%

42% 37%

11%

3aii. The information on the official website was updated timely.


31

information since any subtle change to the program would cause a lot of inconvenience to the

students if they are not timely informed.

46 % of the students find the information quite useful, followed by 28 % neutral opinion, while

18% found it very useful. The result reveals that the information about CP was relatively useful

however there still existed room for improvement.

Nearly half of the students agreed that the information provided at the Fair was accurate, while most

of the others gave a neutral opinion. The importance of information accuracy is shown between the

lines, and it is definitely better if students’ contentedness would be higher for this statement.

2%

6%

28%

46%

18%

3aiii. The information on the official website was useful.


0% 4%

27%

34%

13%

22%

3aiv.The information provided at the Fair (including presentations by community partners) was accurate.


32

Half of the students agreed that the information provided was useful in choosing a community

partner. For the SI program, the choice of community partner has always been students’ priority

concerns. More pointed and useful information is suggested to meet students’ expectations on

information about the community partners.

Over half of the students agreed that the Fair was held smoothly. The different time slots provided

students with more flexibility. Generally speaking, the Fair was a success in its flow.

3avii. Suggestions on how to improve the Faculty webpage and the Internship Fair:

Suggestions were mainly focusing on the time slot problem. Many students had to give up several

CP introductions due to time clash with their courses. It is strong suggested if the faculty could

3%

6%

23%

38%

11%

19%

3av. The information provided at the Fair was useful in choosing a community partner that I wanted.


2% 3%

21%

45%

9%

20%

3avi. The flow of the Fair was smooth


33

provide more times slots for a community partner or re-arrange the time for the Fair to weekend or

evening.

Other suggestions include bigger venue size, more rapid information updating, etc.

3b) Application procedures

Correspondent to the items investigated previously, nearly half of the interviewees find the website

as relatively the most major source of SI application information, which once again emphasizes the

importance of website construction during application.

Nearly 75% the students found the duration of the application period was adequate, followed by 28

37%

48%

11%

3% 0% 1%

3bi. The website was my major source of information regarding the application procedures.


3%

11%

11%

58%

15%

2%

3bii. The duration of the application period was adequate.


34

% found it in a medium level. Application duration should be adequate for students to consider their

choices thoroughly and also have enough time for entering their information and personal

statement.

More than half of the students found the online application system convenient to use.

Stability of the website does not seem to be a big problem. Most students agree the website was

stable during the application procedure indicated by over 70% rated 4 or above.

0%

9%

11%

66%

12%

2%

3biii. The online application system was convenient to use.


3%

6%

17%

62%

9%

3%

3biv. The online application system was technically stable.


35

Nearly 60% of the students agree that the result was announced timely. However, we can see a very

high disagree rate which approaches 10%. It arouses our interest that maybe some of the CP results

were not timely announced and might cause inconvenience to the students especially non-local ones

who have to arrange their summer plans in advance. Thus, the communication between faculty and

students for result announcement should be more improved.

Overall speaking, students were content with the application process with 70% rated 4 or above on

this statement.

3bvii. Suggestions on how to improve the application procedures:

Suggestions mainly focus on the improvement on whole application system. Some students

complained that re-typing the ECA is very troublesome.

2%

9%

26%

48%

12%

3%

3bv. The announcement of results was timely.


2%

5%

20%

58%

12%

3%

3bvi. Overall, the application process was smooth and satisfactory.


36

IV. Overall suggestions

Purposes of the Internship

Suggestion 1: As some students are unaware of the intended objectives of the Internship, they

should be specially highlighted during promotional activities (for example during Internship Fair)

and stressed upon in the workshops prior to the Internship.

Suggestion 2: As vocational experience rather than academic relevance of the internship was more

treasured among students, the Faculty can consider requiring the community partners to put

emphasis on vocational training along with academic components.

Suggestion 3: Regarding the discrepancy between students’ expectations on the Internship program

and intended objectives of it, the program delivery needs to be refined to bring out the importance

of academic components.

Working content

Suggestion 4: Regarding the discrepancy between job description and actual work of some

community partners, a careful review on the working content of internees to enhance the academic

relevance of offers should be conducted.

Suggestion 5: The objectives of the Internship should be clearly communicated to community

partners.

Suggestion 6: Regarding the discrepancy between job description and actual work of some

community partners, the job nature of each position should be described in a down-to-earth manner

with lower ambiguity.

Suggestion 7: Good communication should be maintained between the Faculty and the community

partners to make sure that expectation of working content will be reasonably met.

Information source

In addition to the suggestions in the “SI and Global Citizenship Internship - Review of the

application process for 2012 summer-time” of last June regarding the Internship Fair and online

application system, we propose the following suggestions too.

Suggestion 8: As the Faculty webpage is the main source of information for students and also some

students may browse it even when they have no intention of applying for internship yet, it is of

utmost importance to update it as frequently as possible, particularly information about community

partners.

37

Suggestion 9: The time schedule and content of the Internship Fair should be scheduled to enable

students to get as much useful information as possible. Also, adequate publicity work should be

done so that students can make arrangements and as many students can attend as possible.

V. Overall suggestions

This survey is an extensive review of the SI Internship which touches on aspects regarding the

knowledge of purposes, expectation of the Internship before doing it, working content, opinions

towards the assessment format and investigation about the information source.

Comparing to the results of the 2011-12 Term-time Internship, more students were aware of the

purposes and also significantly more students agreed that the Internship matched their expectations

on various aspects. However, frequent updates are necessary so to reduce ambiguity and to let

students have a clearer picture of the requirements of Internship, job requirements of community

partners and the application process prior to their application.

The Faculty Affairs Committee, SSSC, SSS, HKUSU believes with constant review and refinement

of the Internship, it will continue to be a beneficial and meaningful programme to students in the

Faculty of Social Sciences. The Committee is willing to cooperate and discuss more with the faculty.

We hope this survey can be useful in assisting the Faculty in improving the programme as well.

Documents

2012 Faculty Affairs Committee Social Innovation Internship Survey Report