Since 2001, Sun Yat-sen University was among the first few universities in southern China that had started the Social Work Education Program and eventually founded the Social Work Department in January of 2004.

Ever since 2002, the university had invited HKCS to take an active role in facilitating their process of developing the Social Work program. Hence, we conducted workshops and seminars on direct social work practice for the university undergraduate and their lecturers.

Last year, we were invited to help coordinating and teaching a semester course on Youth Social Work for their third-year social work undergraduate. These students were also considered to be their very first batch of graduates from the Social Work Department. In the new academic year, it was our honor to be invited to take part in the coordination of the same semester course for their second batch of third year students.

Considering that it was the first fieldwork study for them, prior to the actual placement, we arranged a field trip for some of those third year apprentice to visit various social service centres in Hong Kong. The experience indeed had given them a sense of reality in real world settings in this profession.

In fact, starting from January this year, HKCS agreed and committed to provide regular on-site clinical supervision for two servicing units in China, a Drug Addiction Treatment Centre and the Federation of Women in Guangzhou. Two key staffs from HKCS were assigned to the units to supervise the students in their field assignments.

We are pleased that in the coming years, we will continue to contribute in cultivating a new generation of professional social workers in the Mainland China.