CUHK
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Funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust and co-organised by The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)’s Faculties of Engineering and Education, the CUHK Jockey Club AI for the Future Project (the project) held the Phase Two Kick-off Ceremony today (4 November) at TY Wong Hall, Ho Sin-Hang Engineering Building at CUHK, to announce the results of phase one and officially kick off phase two. Representatives and teachers from more than 80 local secondary schools attended the ceremony. Teachers and students from Yan Oi Tong Tin Ka Ping Secondary School and Chinese YMCA College were also invited to share their experiences of teaching and learning AI since they started participating in the project.

Since 2019, CUHK’s Faculties of Engineering and Education have been working in partnership with schools all over Hong Kong on an innovative project to embed AI literacy into the school curriculum, so as to equip today’s learners with the AI skills that will be fundamental to succeed in tomorrow’s economy. With an additional injection of $98 million of support, phase two will see the project continue for four more years (2022-26), currently with approximately 35% of the territory’s schools due to participate. Phase two aims to introduce AI education to 238 local secondary schools, or about half of them, and mainstream AI education across the curriculum.

CUHK’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President Professor Isabella Poon Wai-yin expressed her gratitude to The Hong Kong Jockey Club for its generous support. She said, “AI and computer science are consistently regarded as jewels in the crown among CUHK’s impressive array of prestigious subjects, ranked 3rd and 10th globally by the U.S. News & World Report 2023 respectively, and both ranked no. 1 in Hong Kong. CUHK’s Faculty of Education is also committed to training competent and passionate schoolteachers and education leaders in their chosen fields of study, so as to cultivate the next generation of excellence for Hong Kong. Through the CUHK Jockey Club AI for the Future Project, we will leverage CUHK’s world-leading expertise in computer science and successful teaching experience to help Hong Kong secondary schools promote AI education and equip students with the skills to thrive in what will be one of the most crucial and competitive areas of the world economy. This project demonstrates how CUHK can make a future impact through education and research. It is a tangible example of the education sector promoting citizen science in Hong Kong, echoing the pursuit of academic excellence and civic responsibility in CUHK’s 2021-2025 strategic plan.”

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust has been supporting the CUHK Jockey Club AI for the Future Project since 2019, aiming to mainstream AI education and nurture students’ creativity and innovative thinking. The Trust will continue to support phase two of the project, furthering the development of learning materials and experiences. The Club is delighted that the project has been recognised by the Government. By nurturing young talent in the field of innovation, the Club can help foster Hong Kong’s development as a world-class smart city, in line with its purpose of acting for the betterment of our society.

The project’s principal investigator Professor Yam Yeung, a research professor at CUHK Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, said, “The project has collaborated with many local secondary schools in the past few years and has achieved remarkable results. In phase two, I hope to attract more schools to participate in the project, and expand the collaboration with different industries and regions to build a sustainable AI education ecosystem, so as to lead the new generation into the AI future and master 21st century skills.”

In the sharing session, Ms Lee from Yan Oi Tong Tin Ka Ping Secondary School said, “The AI curriculum is very comprehensive, from cognition to knowledge and then ethics, and from simple to deep topics. At the same time, it provides flexibility for teachers to support learner differences in the classroom.” Leung Chun Wai, a student from Chinese YMCA College expressed her keen interest in learning this emerging technology. She mentioned, “AI is used for many applications. I believe that AI technologies will be introduced in even more different types of work in the next decade. Learning AI can help us get ready for the future. Also, AI applications involve knowledge of different disciplines, and that can improve my creativity and problem-solving abilities.”