{"id":25926,"date":"2021-11-12T16:32:20","date_gmt":"2021-11-12T08:32:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.gcc.edu.hk\/?page_id=25926"},"modified":"2021-12-28T11:33:41","modified_gmt":"2021-12-28T03:33:41","slug":"2021-2022-academic-year","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/alumni.gcc.edu.hk\/?page_id=25926","title":{"rendered":"2021 – 2022 Academic Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

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December 2021<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Dear Alumni,<\/span><\/h4>\n

Updates to Alumni from the College Management<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

Wish you all have joyfully relaxed yourself in a well-earned Christmas and New Year holiday!\u00a0 Enjoy a real break and celebrate the festive season with your family and friends.\u00a0 As 2021 is drawing to a close, it is a pleasure for us to share with you some updates on College operation. \u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

Teaching and Learning<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

It is a blessing that there has been less operational challenges with face-to-face teaching resumed and smoothly delivered in the past few months.\u00a0 Thanks for the on-going support and efforts of staff and students, the College management has been able to maintain a safe campus for in-person teaching and activity.\u00a0 With the completion of the first semester, it\u2019s time for review of teaching and learning for areas in need of improvement. The Student Staff Consultative Meeting was conducted for each learning programme and all students were invited to complete the Teaching Evaluation Questionnaire for courses run in the 1st<\/sup>\u00a0semester. \u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

Student Development<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

It is encouraging to us that the College assemblies in the first semester recorded good turnout with positive feedback.\u00a0 Efforts have been made to ensure students\u2019 engagement, hoping that they could take the opportunity to widen their horizons from the sharing and enlightenment of the speakers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

The government-funded project, \u201cA Multi-dimensional Approach to Narrow the Learning Gaps among Students\u201d, has been running for a year and a half.\u00a0 Professionals of the project team have designed more tailor-made workshops for the 2nd<\/sup>\u00a0semester for enhancement of students\u2019 learning capacity and personal development.\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

Programme Development and Re-accreditation<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

The combined exercise conducted by the\u00a0Social Workers Registration Board to assess the new Higher Diploma in Social Work Programme and to review the existing Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) Programme was smoothly conducted on\u00a025 and 26 November 2021.\u00a0 Application was also made to add a 3-year part-time conversion mode (Year 3 entry) to the BSW Programme.\u00a0 Initial recommendation for approval was indicated by the Panel, subject to the final result to be reported at a later stage.\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

Re-accreditation of two higher diploma (HD) programmes, i.e. HD in Transformative Business Management, and HD in Psychology and Counselling, was also smoothly conducted, via zoom meeting, by the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications on 8 to 10 December 2021.\u00a0 The interim report indicates that both programmes can continue to be offered with a validity period of three year.<\/span><\/h4>\n

National Security<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

Subsequent to enactment of the Law of the People\u2019s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (\u201cNSL\u201d), the Education Bureau has been communicating with the higher education sector on the legal obligations stipulated under the NSL.\u00a0 Like all other local post-secondary institutions, GCC is expected to suitably strengthen our mechanisms and operation with a view to effectively preventing on-campus acts that may contravene the NSL and other laws of Hong Kong.<\/span><\/h4>\n

Graduation Ceremony<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

Given the absence of new Covid-19 cases for months in the local community and taken into consideration of other public events held lately,\u00a0the College management finds that it would be an opportune time to plan for the Graduation Ceremony of the College, which will be the first one since the College\u2019s establishment.\u00a0 The Ceremony is tentatively scheduled for 11 March 2022 (Friday) at evening time.\u00a0 The venue is Southorn Stadium in Wanchai.\u00a0 Further details will be announced in due course.<\/span><\/h4>\n

Alumni Website<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

With input and feedback collected to touch up the design layout and features included in the alumni website, the structure is basically in place.\u00a0 It will be the central platform for providing alumni information, operating service and support work for alumni.\u00a0 Further efforts are being made to co-ordinate and prepare with relevant parties involved to fill in the details for formal operation.\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

Finally, we would like to convey our best wishes to you all.\u00a0\u00a0Hope you will all feel refreshed and energized after the holiday season.
<\/span><\/h4>\n

Best wishes to you all,
College Management<\/span><\/h4>\n

September 2021<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
Dear Alumni,<\/span><\/h6>\n
Updates to Alumni from the College Management<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/h6>\n
Warmest greetings to our first issue of Updates from the College Management of 2021\/22!\u00a0 After the prolonged suspension of normal campus life, students of Gratia were finally back to school and could meet everyone face-to-face (with a mask though) on campus.\u00a0 Let us take this opportunity to update you on alumni matters and walk you through the latest situation of College operation.<\/span><\/h6>\n
Support and Services to Alumni<\/strong><\/span><\/h6>\n
Progress has been made in developing the platform for operating service and support work for alumni as mentioned in the last issue.\u00a0 With efforts made to do the groundwork in the past few months, preliminary design of the alumni website is ready.\u00a0 Further work is in progress to co-ordinate and prepare with relevant parties involved before rolling out for use.\u00a0 Keep checking out the update from the College.<\/h6>\n
Graduate Survey and Graduation Ceremony<\/strong><\/h6>\n
With the 3rd<\/sup>\u00a0<\/span>cohort of graduates in place, the College will soon roll out the survey to invite graduates of 2021 to update their status and destination.\u00a0 Graduates of the year are kindly requested to revert the response upon receipt of the invitation.\u00a0 As for the graduation ceremony, we share your frustration that it has been further postponed under the threat of the pandemic in the last two years.\u00a0 Although we have in our schedule tentatively planning it for some time in December 2021, the threat of the COVID-19 variants in the local community has aroused considerable safety concerns.\u00a0 We therefore have to cautiously monitor the situation before we could confirm whether it is feasible to pursue the plan.\u00a0 We shall update you on the matter as soon as a decision is made.<\/h6>\n
Teaching and Learning\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/h6>\n
In the past few months, the key priority of the College management was establishing a safe environment for full resumption of on-campus operation in the new academic year.\u00a0 Health and hygienic measures have been stepped up, an important one of which is implementing the requirement of COVID-19 vaccination or regular testing for the entire College community, including both staff and students.\u00a0 As for day-to-day learning and activities, students are requested to observe social distancing in classrooms and anywhere of the campus.<\/h6>\n
Student Support and Activities<\/strong><\/h6>\n
This year, we have engaged Baptist Oi Kwan Social Service as the service provider of student counselling and personal development programme.\u00a0 Counselling service has been strengthened with on-campus consultation of the counsellor increased to three days a week.\u00a0 With the resumption of on-campus operation, more workshops will be run for skills enhancement and for enrichment of students\u2019 learning experience.\u00a0 The government-funded project, \u201cA Multi-dimensional Approach to Narrow the Learning Gaps among Students\u201d, will continue this year to run a variety of workshops.\u00a0 As of last academic year, the project counsellor will be stationed in Gratia, also 3 days a week, to provide support to students.<\/h6>\n
Programme Development<\/strong><\/h6>\n
To meet the needs of the sector for professional development, application was made to add a 3-year part-time conversion mode (Year 3 entry) to the Bachelor of Social Work Programme.\u00a0 Proposed addition was in principle approved by the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications.\u00a0 Subject to approval of the Social Workers Registration Board, the conversion mode will be offered in September 2022.<\/h6>\n
Enjoying Campus Life Again<\/strong><\/h6>\n
Notwithstanding the need to maintain social distance and the inconvenience brought by the\u00a0<\/span>anti-epidemic measures, both staff and students treasure being here altogether and be able to enjoy campus life again.\u00a0 We also look forward to the opportunity where alumni could meet and catch up with each other at Gratia.\u00a0 We also hope that it won\u2019t be long when it is feasible for organizing alumni activity on campus.<\/h6>\n
Best wishes to you all!<\/h6>\n
College Management<\/h6>\n

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December 2021 Dear Alumni, Updates to Alumni from the College Management Wish you all have joyfully relaxed yourself in a well-earned Christmas and New Year holiday!\u00a0 Enjoy a real break and celebrate the festive season with your family and friends.\u00a0 As 2021 is drawing to a close, it is a pleasure for us to share […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-25926","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.gcc.edu.hk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.gcc.edu.hk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.gcc.edu.hk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.gcc.edu.hk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.gcc.edu.hk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25926"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.gcc.edu.hk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25954,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.gcc.edu.hk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25926\/revisions\/25954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.gcc.edu.hk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}