SLS-3c1 The First 4YUG Cohort - Learning Trip to the USA - University of San Francisco

In late April 2012, the team went to University of San Francisco on the west coast of the USA.  This was the home institution of Prof. Dayle Smith, who gave us a lot of help when we got started building out program.  USF is a Jesuit Catholic university, which puts “socially responsible learning” in its mission statement, with “a culture of service” as one of its core values.  It also said that “Central to a Jesuit education is the cultivation of community service, a passion for justice, and a life of faith.” Many Catholic universities in different countries across the world - North America, South America, Asia, Europe, … - have strong social engagement programs.

At USF, a Service-Learning course has been a graduation requirement at USF since 2002. Service-learning is compulsory and credit-bearing at USF, similar to PolyU, but they started 10 years before we did.  There is, therefore, a lot that we can learn from them. A course designated as service-learning has the following 5 key components: 

1. service is mandatory
2. connection between service and academics
3. services benefit the community
4. articulated reflection
5. assessment by faculty

These components make service-learning courses at USF look quite similar to those at PolyU!

We met with several people from the leadership.  We also visited the Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good, which opened its doors in 2002. It is the centre for programs and scholarship supporting community engagement and public service at USF.  It is located in the Provost’s Office and Division of Academic Affairs, reflecting its integral roles in academics.  It supports undergraduate and graduate programs, provides service learning, and government experiences for students and generates publishable research.  The centre has strong networks with community partners in San Francisco and the Bay area.  It runs a wide range of activities for students, faculty and staff.   In 2003, the USF in DC program was established, which enables students to spend one semester in the USA capital in full-time internships in government or nonprofits.  They also run international service-learning projects in foreign countries such as Nicaragua, Uganda, India, Bolivia and Argentina.  While the McCarthy Center has a broader mandate than OSL at PolyU, there is also a lot of parallels between our respective modes of operations and types of programs organised.   

We learned that the rector himself, a Jesuit priest, as well as other members of the leadership, would go with the students on international service-learning projects in Latin America.  It demonstrates the strong commitment of the university to service-learning and encourages the students and the faculty tremendously.  It also helps the university leadership to understand the challenges and the joy involved.  We took this lesson to heart.  In 2014, the then president of PolyU, Prof. Timothy Tong, went to Cambodia to work with the students and the staff on a number of projects.  In fact, many members of our university leadership participated in service-learning projects in a variety of ways.  Not only does that demonstrate university commitment to the program.  More importantly, it strengthens university-wide understanding, commitment and support.  More about that later.  

At the USCF library, we were pleasantly surprised to find a painting of Matteo Ricci.  Ricci was, of course, one of the earliest and most famous Catholic Jesuit missionary to came to China in the late Ming Dynasty in the late 1500s.  It reflects the strong link between San Francisco and China, as well as the large number of ethnic Chinese students as foreign students and Chinese Americans.