PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Issue Date: 16 October 2020
Contact: Willie Heung, Development Director (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
HK’s Efficient COVID-19 Preventive Arrangements Facilitate Arrivals of 129 Overseas Students from 86 Countries at LPCUWC
As College Year 2020/2021 was approaching, there was one daunting challenge to Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong: to bring its overseas students of over a hundred from 86 countries to Hong Kong.
In the middle of August, the first batch of 22 second-year students arrived. Days later, the numbers increased. To date, there are 129 overseas students who are back on campus, joining local students in face-to-face classes under the IB Diploma Programme.
Two overseas students are currently completing their quarantine, while three are still in search of flights due to travel restrictions in their respective countries. All are supported with blended learning that includes synchronous and asynchronous classroom activities with students who are taking classes face-to-face.
“We were optimistic that we would have our overseas students joining us in Hong Kong, but we kept our estimates at a conservative. The result is just remarkable. It truly exceeded our expectations. This demonstrates tenacity and resilience on the part of our students and their parents, strong teamwork among staff, students and alumni, and a high regard for Hong Kong’s management of the pandemic,” Arnett Edwards, College Principal said.
The presence of overseas students in LPCUWC is a strong feature of UWC. They enrich discussions, broaden perspectives, and reinforce the value of diversity in achieving a holistic campus experience.
A full-service residential school, LPCUWC acknowledges the efficiency of information dissemination on the centralised website on COVID-19 of the Centre for Health Protection and the arrangements for deep-throat testing for arriving passengers at the Hong Kong International Airport. As word was shared among their peers, this bolstered the confidence of overseas students to travel to Hong Kong.
“Travelling to Hong Kong seemed intimidating as a first-time international student, but from the moment I landed, there were people guiding me through immigration processes and showed me how to do my deep throat COVID-19 test,” first-year student Manaal Abbas from Pakistan shared.
All overseas students who are now on campus have completed the government’s compulsory 14-day quarantine at a hotel that LPCUWC arranged in advance.
Manaal recalled how her two weeks of quarantine “flew by very fast”. LPCUWC appointed a Student Support Team dedicated to attending to the needs of arriving overseas students and developing a fun and enriching lineup of activities while the students were in quarantine.
Classes have started on 24 August and 7 September for second-year and first-year students, respectively, and were administered online. Transition to face-to-face classes comes after the recent EDB’s announcement on resumption face-to-face learning. Local students’ settling in on campus starting 20 September was also scheduled after the same EDB announcement. Similar to the requirement on overseas students, local students were asked to submit a negative COVID-19 test result.
Around 45% of the student population in the College are from Hong Kong. Close to 60% of the total number enjoy some type of need-based scholarship, including three full scholarships for students from Israel, Lebanon and Slovakia that have been sourced from income from the College’s solar power system project.
To date, there is no staff or student in the College who has been reported to have been infected with the virus. ###
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新聞稿
即時發布
2020年10月16日
傳媒聯絡: 香蔚霖,發展總監(Willie Heung, Development Director) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
港防疫安排奏效 來自86個國家、129海外學生順利返抵李寶椿校園
受新冠肺炎疫情影響，當2020/2021學年臨近，香港李寶椿聯合世界書院（李寶椿）克服艱鉅的挑戰，順利協助來自86個國家的逾百名學生抵港，讓莘莘學子得以重返校園。
8月中旬，首批合共22名的二年級海外學生平安到埗。人數隨後逐漸增加，至今已有129名海外學生回到校園，與本地學生一起參與國際文憑大學預科課程的面授課堂。
現時2名海外學生將會完成隔離檢疫程序，另外3名學生因各自國家的旅遊限制，而正尋找合適的航班啟程。有關學生得到本校的充份支援，透過混合學習模式，包括與其他面授上課的同學，一起參與同步和非同步的課堂活動。
「我們對所有海外學生能逐步重返香港校園，一直持樂觀態度和保守的估計，而目前結果理想，實在遠超我們的期望。這充份展示出書院同學和家長的堅毅和適應力；員工、學生和校友之間的團隊合作精神，以及對香港管理新冠肺炎的高度重視。」校長艾德華（Arnett Edwards）說。
本校的海外學生突顯出聯合世界書院（UWC）的獨特之處，他們令討論更豐富、廣闊彼此的視野，並且在達致全方位校園經驗的過程中，進一步突顯多元化的重要價值。
衛生防護中心透過中央網站有效地發布新冠狀病毒資訊，以及為到達香港國際機場的乘客進行深喉測試的安排，我們這一所全面的寄宿學校表示肯定和感謝。同儕之間互相分享經驗，亦大大增加了海外學生前往香港的信心。
來自巴基斯坦的一年級學生馬納爾·阿巴斯(Manaal Abbas)表示：「作為一名新入學的國際學生，當時想到要前往香港會感到緊張和害怕。但從我落地的那一刻起，便有專人協助我完成入境程序，並且指導如何進行深喉測試。」
現時所有在校的海外學生，已在書院安排的酒店完成政府要求的14天強制隔離措施。
馬納爾回想起兩周隔離的日子，她形容「過得飛快」。為讓學生得到全面支援，書院特別成立了學生支援組，專門為抵港的海外學生提供全面支援，並為他們在隔離期間，安排有趣和豐富的活動。
本校二年級及一年級學生已分別8月24日及9月7日正式在網上開課。在教育局公布最新安排後，我們亦開始進行面授課堂，本地生亦於9月20日開始在校內上課。本地生與海外學生一樣，需要提供新冠病毒檢測的陰性結果證明。
書院約有45%的學生來自香港。近60%的學生根據需要而獲得不同類型的獎學金，當中包括為來自以色列、黎巴嫩和斯洛伐克的三名學生提供全額獎學金，有關奬學金來自書院的太陽能發電系統上網電價收入。
學院至今沒有工作人員或學生報告曾感染新冠病毒。###