SLS-5e USR Network and Global SL Scheme

Soon after the Second University Social Responsibility Summit, the USR Network was launched.  Quickly it has built up to 16 core member universities covering all 6 continents, excluding Antartica.  The organization aims to have core members from a wide geographical coverage, and yet small enough to be nimble in decision and action.  Eventually it may develop another type of membership which can accommodate a much wider range of universities.  Major activities include summits where issues are discussed, collaborative service-learning projects, publication of books, MOOCs (massive open online courseware), … 

In summer 2015 PolyU started offering a Global Service-Learning Scheme to students from USRN member universities.  Through the scheme, several PolyU SL projects are open for participation from USRN students.  For summer 2015, two students from Beijing Normal University of China joined PolyU students running information technology workshops for youths in poverty in Cambodia.  Two students from Sichuan University of China joined PolyU students running a health promotion project in a slum in Cambodia.  Two students from Peking University of China joined PolyU students in the installation of solar panels and running STEM workshops in remote villages in the mountains of Rwanda.  Two students from Yonsei University of Korea enrolled in a PolyU project running youth development workshops for migrant children in Shanghai, but the trip could not be taken due to logistical problems.  In the first year of operations, the students participating are mainly those coming from Mainland China.  A lot of challenges had to be overcome.  But it was promising enough for the program to continue. 

In the following year, it was much better organized.  In summer 2016,  8 students from USRN member universities joined the projects in Cambodia - 2 from University of Haifa i Israel, 4 from Washington University in St. Louis and 2 from Sichuan University of China.  One student from Yonsie joined a project in Sichuan.  It was an exciting year for international collaboration. The foreign students did not have the opportunity to go through the intensive training that our students did prior to going to Cambodia, particularly in the technical aspects such as the assembly of solar panels.  But they bring different qualities that enrich the experience for all. The American students tend to be more inquisitive and dynamic, posing welcome challenges to our students.  The two Israeli student were master’s students and army veterans, bringing a whole new dimension of maturity and leadership.  The bulk of the students remain those from Hong Kong and Cambodia, who brought their own idiosyncrasies. All the all, all students benefit from the diverse personalities and cultures on offer.  The projects were widely successful in all aspects - the installation of solar panels, the interactions with the local villagers, the social interactions among the students themselves, the build up of cross-institutional collaborations.  

The GSLS program ran for a couple more years. The experience confirmed to us the value of international collaboration.  We have since then created and experimented with other forms of international collaboration.  In the GSLS, foreign students join our projects as individuals.  We have since invited small teams, led by teachers, to join us as equal partner teams.  These foreign teams can also be part of credit-bearing subjects  at their own institutions themselves.  We have also created global virtual classrooms through which a class PolyU and a foreign student class would jointly teach each other.  More will be said on these new developments in subsequent chapters.  The teams can have different academic themes: service-learning, global leadership, … We are organised international hack-a-thons, in person and online.  We are continuing to experiment with different forms.