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
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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.
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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.
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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.
Totally disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Totally agree Missing
4% 5%
36%
45%
7%
3%
3aiii. The information on the official website was useful.
Totally disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Totally agree Missing
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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.
Totally disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Totally agree Missing
6% 7%
28%
52%
4% 3%
3bii. The information on the official website of SI was useful.
Totally disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Totally agree Missing
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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.
28
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.
Totally disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Totally agree
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.
Totally disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Totally agree
0% 4%
27%
34%
13%
22%
3aiv.The information provided at the Fair (including presentations by community partners) was accurate.
Totally disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Totally agree Missing
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.
Totally disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Totally agree Missing
2% 3%
21%
45%
9%
20%
3avi. The flow of the Fair was smooth
Totally disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Totally agree Missing
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.
Totally disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Totally agree Missing
3%
11%
11%
58%
15%
2%
3bii. The duration of the application period was adequate.
Totally disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Totally agree Missing
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.
Totally disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Totally agree Missing
3%
6%
17%
62%
9%
3%
3biv. The online application system was technically stable.
Totally disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Totally agree Missing
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.
Totally disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Totally agree Missing
2%
5%
20%
58%
12%
3%
3bvi. Overall, the application process was smooth and satisfactory.
Totally disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Totally agree Missing
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.