Faculty Affairs Committee, SSSC, SSS, HKUSU
Social Innovation Internship Survey Report
Members: Tang Oi Ching, Phyllis (SSS, HKUSU) King Kai Wing, Christina (PPAA, SSS, HKUSU) Chan Yui Lam, Fiona (PSYC, SSS, HKUSU) Zhang Jialun, Gordon (SOCI, SSS, HKUSU) Choi Stephanie (SWSAS, SSS, HKUSU) Leung Nga Wing, Cecilia (BSS Y2)
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Faculty Affairs Committee, SSSC, SSS, HKUSU Social Innovation Internship (2011-12 Term-time & 2012 Summer-time) Survey Report 2011-2012 I.
Introduction
The Social Innovation (SI) Internship is a compulsory course for BSocSci students and a choice for BSocSci (Govt&Law) students other than Global Citizenship. It aims at nurturing a good understanding of social issues through first-hand experiences, providing a training platform for students to apply knowledge and skills acquired at the University to real work situations and enabling students to become more social aware while developing critical thinking and analytical skills. Students put a lot of emphasis on the SI Internship as the course comprises of 12 credits and that students put a lot of time and effort in it. The Faculty Affairs Committee, SSSC, SSS, HKUSU (FAC) has conducted a survey regarding the expectation before the SI Internship and the actual work content. We focus more on the above two aspects as students previously often reflected that the work content often differ from their expectations. The Committee also provided some suggestions on improving the internship. We hope through collecting students’ opinion, the faculty can have better understandings towards students’ attitude on the scheme and willing to make changes to meet the expectation of both. II. Methodology The FAC distributed the questionnaires during the presentation seminars of 2011-12 term-time Internship held on 16-20th April, 2012 and the presentation seminars of 2012 summer-time Internship held on 15-16th August, 2012. 75 students from 2011-12 term-time and 65 students from 2012 summer-time have completed the survey. All of them had experience in doing the internship. The questionnaire of 2011-12 term-time was slightly different from that of 2012 summer-time. The differences would be elaborated in the results and data analysis part. Both questionnaires are attached at the end of this survey report.
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III. Results and Data analysis
2011-12 Term-time Part A The purpose of Part A is to explore whether students were clear about the intended purposes of the internships which were stated on the Faculty webpage and in the internship handbook. Q1. Do you know nurturing a good understanding of social issues through firsthand practical experience in local organization is one of the purposes in the SI Internship?
Q2. Do you know providing a training platform for students to apply knowledge and skills acquired at the University to real work situations is purpose in the SI Intership?
11% 27%
Yes
Yes
No
No
73% 89%
Q3. Do you know assisting students to become more socially aware, develop critical thinking and analytical ability is the purpose in the SI Internship?
29%
Yes No 71%
According to the above diagrams, the majority of the students know the aims of SI Internship. However, compare to the 90% awareness of the first purpose, only around 70% of students were aware of the second and third one, which shows that there is still room for improving students’ 3
awareness regarding the aims of the program. Since students’ understanding on the intention of the program may affect how they make use of the internship opportunity, it is important to clarify the aims of internship with them in order for them to gain the greatest benefit out of the internship.
Part B This part aimed at exploring students’ former expectations on what they could achieve from the internship. Seven statements, covering a range of different expectations commonly observed among students, were designed to explore to what extent students agree with each of them. Expectations 1-2 stress on academic expectations and were designed to echo with the intended purposes of the internships stated on the Faculty webpage. Expectations 3-7 were expectations on SI program that was commonly observed among students but was not the stated purposes of SI. 1. I expected the internship can motivate me to learn more about relevant academic knowledge.
2. I expected the internship can let me apply the knowledge I have acquired in class.
4% 7%
7% 8%
Totally disagree 15%
34%
16%
Disagree Neutral
Totally disagree
36%
Neutral
Agree 40%
Agree 33%
Totally agree
On average = 3.15
3. I expected the internship can enhance my social awareness. 4% 13%
8% 21%
4. I expected the internship can improve my ability in handling administrative work and analytical skills. 4% 3%
Neutral
27%
Disagree Neutral Agree
Totally agree 49%
On average = 3.64
Totally disagree
17%
Agree 54%
Totally agree
On average = 3.17
Totally disagree Disagree
Disagree
Totally agree
On average = 3.73
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6. I expected the internship can let me explore my career interest.
5. I expected the internship can let me experience working environment. 4% 4%
19%
Totally disagree 31%
13%
8%
Totally disagree
7%
Disagree
Disagree 24%
Neutral
Agree
Agree 48%
Neutral
42%
Totally agree
Totally agree
On average = 3.97
On average = 3.57
7. I expected the internship can train my critical thinking.
17%
7% 8% Totally disagree Disagree Neutral 30%
38%
Agree Totally agree
On average = 3.49
From the above table, the scores for all seven expectations were clustered around ‘neutral’ to ‘agree’. The scores for expectation 3-7 were generally higher than that of expectations 1-2. Students expected more highly on experiencing work environment (expectation 5), improving their ability in handling administrative work and analytical skills (expectation 4) and enhancing social awareness (expectation 3), instead of acquiring academic knowledge (expectation 1) or applying knowledge learnt in class (expectation 2). Expectation 1 and 2 were rated the lowest among all 7 items and they are both related to the academic aspect highlighted in the internship. The low agreeableness towards expectation 1 and 2 hinted a mismatch between the objective of the internship and students’ expectation, on the academic applicability of the internship.
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Part C Part C was designed to be a follow-up of part B by asking the respondents whether their internship experience matched their expectation in various aspects, including their general expectation and special expectation on— (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
academic inspirations, application of academic knowledge, improving analytical skills and handling administrative work, enhancing social awareness experiencing work culture career interest exploration.
The internship matched my expectation
Percentage (to nearest 1%)
Average
1
2
3
4
5
1. on academic inspirations
7
20
23
43
8
3.25
2. on applying academic knowledge
7
20
23
45
5
3.23
3. on improving analytical skill and handling administrative work
5
9
25
52
8
3.48
4. on enhancing social awareness
4
4
27
49
16
3.70
5. on experiencing work culture
5
7
20
49
19
3.70
6. on career interest exploration
7
12
28
39
15
3.43
7. in general
5
9
29
36
20
3.56
1. The internship matched my expectation on academic inspirations.
8% 7%
2. The internship matched my expectation on applying academic knowledge.
5% 7%
Totally disagree 20%
Disagree
Totally disagree 20%
Neutral 42%
Agree 23%
Totally agree
On average = 3.25
Disagree Neutral
45%
Agree 23%
Totally agree
On average = 3.23
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3. The internship matched my expectation on improving analytical skill and handling administrative work.
4. The internship matched my expectation on enhancing social awareness. 4% 4%
5% 8%
16%
Totally disagree
9%
Totally disagree Disagree
Disagree 25%
27%
Neutral
Agree
Agree
53%
Neutral
49%
Totally agree
Totally agree
On average = 3.70
On average = 3.48
5. The internship matched my expectation on experiencing work culture.
6. The internship matched my expectation on career interest exploration.
5% 19%
15%
Totally disagree
7%
Neutral
Disagree Neutral
Agree 49%
Totally disagree 12%
Disagree 20%
7%
38%
28%
Agree
Totally agree
Totally agree
On average = 3.70
On average = 3.43
7. The internship matched my expectations in general.
5% 20%
9% Totally disagree Disagree Neutral 29%
37%
Agree Totally agree
On average = 3.56
In general, the score of each expectation varies from 3.23 to 3.70. This can be interpreted that in 7
general, students’ expectation are fairly met. Their expectation on enhancing social awareness and experiencing work culture is comparatively higher (scoring 3.70 on average). Yet, in echo with the feedback in part B, their expectation on academic inspiration and knowledge application is less likely to be met, scoring 3.25 and 3.23 respectively. In particular, half of the respondents do not agree that the internship is as academically value-adding as expected. According to previous personal comments of social sciences students, tasks assigned to them are often purely administrative and not as academically inspirational as expected. From the questionnaire results, it is further confirmed that particular positions are not very relevant to academic knowledge of students. Considering the academic nature of SI programme (from both its credit-bearing arrangement and the requirement of academic reflections), a careful review on the working content of internees can be conducted to enhance the academic relevance of offers.
Part D Part D was designed to investigate why students chose a particular community partner (CP) and what they expected to be assigned from the CP. Reasons of choosing a community partner The first question in Part D asked students to tick the three most relevant factors that influenced their choice of internship. Results are concluded as follows. Factors
No. of respondents
Personal interest
51
Work content
36
Community partner itself (e.g. reputation) 24 (1 students specifies social awareness of CP as his considering factor) Academic knowledge applicability
22
Career prospect
15
Relevance to major
14
Friends’ recommendation
7
Limitation of batch as paramount factor
3
From the response of the survey, the main factors influencing students’ choice of internship include personal interest, work content, community partner and academic knowledge applicability. Discrepancy between job description and actual work Further to that, we have asked respondents to write down their expected tasks and assigned tasks during their internship. A comparison between them has been done. The majority of cases show 8
compliance of actual work content with the description available to students. Some of the discrepancies also demonstrate reasonable divergence between expected work and actual work. Yet, there are some special cases that need to be shed lights on. One of the cases involved YMCA. A particular respondent pointed out that what he expected from the actual work is to sharpening his public relation skills. For example, he may interact with different parties and observe maintenance of external relations. However, he was given articles to write in publications. In comparison, the actual work is less interactive and diverges from what the student has expected. A similar case was also observed in ‘Videotage’. Differences exist in such a case where students expect more about direct interaction with artists while in real life they were assigned duties such as translation, transcription, etc. To improve, we recommend that job description of each position should have the down-to-earth tasks stated clearly to lower the ambiguity (and the potential divergence of expectations of the students). On the other hand, good communication between the Faculty and the Community Partner ought to be maintained to make sure that expectation of working content will be reasonably met.
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Part E Students’ feedback on assessment format is collected in Part E of the survey. Questions were set regarding the grading of assessment and supervisors. Ten statements were written to see how students agree with them. a) Grading
1. I understand the respective weights of working performance and integrated essay and project presentation.
2. I think the weights assigned to my performance, essays and presentation are reasonable.
4%
4%
9%
4%
16%
17% 23% 48% 22% 53%
3. I am familiar with the grading criteria of my performance.
4. I am familiar with the grading criteria of my essay.
3%
3% 4%
5%
13%
16%
45% 52%
24% 35%
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5. I am familiar with the grading criteria of my presentation.
4%
6. I think the grading system (i.e. different interns are graded by different supervisors) is fair and consistent.
8%
1% 13%
9% 36%
19%
51% 24% 35%
Q1. From the 75 respondents, a large majority (70%) of the students understand the weights of working performance, essay and project presentation. Only a small percent of students have confusion on the respective weights, this shows SI internship has provided quite clear guidelines for the students. Q2. About half (52%) of the students felt the assigned weight was reasonable. While 22% of them stated the neutral stance, 26% of the students disagreed with the assigned weight. Q3. In regards to the familiarity of grading criteria, more than half of the students (57%) agree that they are familiar with it. Still, around 20% of students are not familiar with the grading criteria. Q4. Regarding to the grading criteria of essay, half of the students (49%) agreed that they were familiar with it. 35% showed a neutral stance and around 16% of students were not familiar with the grading criteria. Q5. Regarding to the grading criteria of essay, 55% agree that they were familiar with it. 24% showed a neutral stance and around 12% of students were not familiar with the grading criteria. The results of Q4 and Q5 suggested that students were more familiar with the grading criteria of presentation as compared to the integrated essay. Q6. Less than 40% of students thought the grading system is fair and consistent, while about 30% hold the opposite view. The number of students who considered the grading system as fair tended to be small. Improving the system’ consistency by providing clear guidelines to supervisors is 11
suggested. b) Supervisors
7. I think my academic supervisor is accessible and willing to help.
4%
8. I think my academic supervisor is equipped with academic knowledge of the field I worked in.
4%
32%
7% 16%
8%
24%
17%
44%
44%
9. I think my company supervisor is accessible and willing to help.
4%
10. I think my company supervisor can provide me with clear and helpful instructions and guidance.
7%
9%
29% 13%
25%
9%
15%
47%
42%
Q7. A large proportion of (75 %) students agreed that their academic tutors were willing to help. Only 8% hold the opposite view. Students were, in a large extent, agreed that they were supported by their academic tutors Q8. Almost 70% of students agreed that their academic tutors were equipped with academic 12
knowledge of the field they worked in. However, 15% of them thought that academic tutors were not well equipped with the academic knowledge, which suggested a room for improvement. Q9. More than 75 % of students agreed that their company supervisors were willing to help. Only 11% hold the opposite view. Students were, in a large extent, agreed that they were supported by their company supervisors. Q10. 67 % of students agreed that their company supervisors could provide them with helpful feedback, whereas 18% did not.
Part F Part F targeted at identifying the information sources of internship that students could get access to. Students were given four choices, a. Faculty’s website, b. posters or other publication, c. friends d. others. The following table summarizes the frequency students picked as their information sources. As expected, the Faculty’s website of SI internship was most frequently rated.
1. I got the information about the SI mainly from: 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 a. Faculty's website
b. posters or other publications
c. friends
d. others
Missing
Dominantly 63 students, which account for 75 % of the total number, find official website as the basic source of information for SI program, while still a relatively big proportion, which is around 15 % got the information from friends, which shows that website’s vital status for students to gain the information. 13
Similar to the above question, the second question asked students on their information sources about the community partners. Again, students mainly relied on the Faculty’s website for information about community partner.
2. I got the information about the community partners as a whole mainly from: 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
F2. I got the information about the community partners as a whole mainly from:
62 students, which account for 75 % of the all still regard the official website as the main source of information for community partners. Posters, friends and other sources, however, show a relative minor influence in publication. The result once again emphasizes the importance of website construction for students’ better understanding of SI program. Students’ view regarding the description of community partner and the application procedures on the official website was also explored.
3ai. The information on the official website was accurate. Totally disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Totally agree
Missing
3% 4% 12%
8%
28% 45%
Around 45 % of the students found information on the website about community partners of the 14
program was quite accurate which can be rated as 4, followed by 28 % found it medium and 12 % found very accurate. Average score, however, was around 3.55, which reflected there still existed some of the problems in accuracy of CP information, which should be very crucial for students’ acknowledgment.
3aii. The information on the official website was updated timely. Totally disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Totally agree
Missing
3% 4% 10%
14%
30%
39%
Average score for timely update was 3.34; however, most of the students give a grade of 4 and 3 for the item which in sum account for around 70 %. Information about CP should be more timely updated in such a case for better convenience of changing and knowing CPs.
3aiii. The information on the official website was useful. Totally disagree
Disagree
Neutral 3% 4%
Agree
Totally agree
Missing
5%
7%
36% 45%
45 % of the students find the information quite useful, followed by 36 % thought it in a medium level, while only 7% found it very useful. The result can be understood that the information about 15
CP was relatively useful however there still existed room for improvement then. F3b). Application procedures
3bi. The website was my major source of information. Totally disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Totally agree
Missing
4% 3% 6%
7%
28% 52%
Correspondent to the items investigated previously, over half of the interviewees find the website as relatively the most major source of SI application information, which once again raises our concern of the importance of website construction for more convenience of application procedures.
3bii. The information on the official website of SI was useful. Totally disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Totally agree
Missing
4% 3% 6%
7%
28% 52%
Once again, over half of the students found application information was quite useful, followed by 28 % found it in a medium level. Application procedures are very crucial during the whole course, thus the usefulness of the information then is important. 16
3biii. The information on the official website of SI was updated timely. Totally disagree
Disagree
Neutral 4% 3%
Agree
Totally disagree
Missing
5%
5%
33% 50%
Half of the students find the application information was updated relatively timely. Concluded from the above, the importance of website is very crucial. Thus, it is better if the information can be more timely updated.
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2012 Summer-time The questionnaire for 2012 summer-time was the same as the one for 2011-12 term-time except for the following: (1) Part A – a fourth purpose “To develop work ethics, self-initiative, adaptation to the organizational culture, and communication skills for successful workplace performance” has been added as this purpose was added before the start of summer-time internship. (2) Part F question 1 & 2 – a fourth option “Internship Fair” was added to the existing choices regarding the information source about the internship and the community partners as a whole. (3) Part F question 3a – items iv. to vii. asking for opinions on the Internship Fair were added. (4) Part F question 3b – item ii. was changed to “The duration of the application period was adequate” and item iii. was changed to “The online application system was convenient to use” (4) Part F question 3b – items iv. to vii. asking for opinions on the new online application system were added. Part A Q4 was added in addition to Q1-3. 1. Do you know nurturing a good understanding of social issues through firsthand practical experience in local organization is one of the purposes in the SI Internship?
2. Do you know providing a training platform for students to apply knowledge and skills acquired at the University to real work situations is purpose in the SI Intership?
2% 15%
Yes
Yes
No
No
98%
85%
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3. Do you know assisting students to become more socially aware, develop critical thinking and analytical ability is the purpose in the SI Internship?
4. Do you know developing work ethics, selfinitiative, adaptation to the organizational culture, and communication skills for successful workplace performance are the purpose in the SI Internship?
6% 11% Yes
Yes
No
No 89%
94%
According to the above diagrams, the majority of the students know the aims of SI Internship and it is quite satisfying regarding the students' understanding about the fourth purpose. However similar to the situation of 2012 term-time internship, comparing to the 98% awareness of the first purpose, only 85% of students were aware of the second one. This shows that there is still a room for improving students’ awareness regarding the aims of the program.
Part B 1. I expected the internship can motivate me to learn more about relevant academic knowledge.
2. I expected the internship can let me apply the knowledge I have acquired in class.
0% 20%
3%
10%
Totally Disagree 22%
14%
Totally Disagree
Disagree
Disagree
Neutral
28%
Agree 48%
9%
Totally Agree
On average = 3.77
Neutral Agree
46%
Totally Agree
On average = 3.58
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3. I expected the internship can enhance my social awareness.
4. I expected the internship can improve my ability in handling administrative work and analytical skills.
0% 0% 0% 0%
11%
Totally Disagree
35%
6%
Disagree Neutral
Totally Disagree Disagree
43%
Neutral
Agree 54%
51%
Totally Agree
Agree Totally Agree
On average = 4.25
5. I expected the internship can let me experience working environment. 0%
On average = 4.37
6. I expected the internship can let me explore my career interest.
2%
0% 3% Totally Disagree 35%
Disagree 48% 50%
Totally Disagree 23%
Disagree
Neutral
Neutral
Agree
Agree
Totally Agree
Totally Agree
39%
On average = 4.46
On average = 4.06
7. I expected the internship can train my critical thinking. 0% 2%
28%
17%
Totally Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree
53%
Totally Agree
On average= 4.08
The scores for expectations 3-7 were significantly higher than that of expectations 1-2. 20
Students who disagree with expectations 3-7 were minimal. Students expected more highly on experiencing work environment, improving their ability in handling administrative work and analytical skills and enhancing social awareness. In contrast, acquiring academic knowledge or applying knowledge learnt in class were rated the lowest among all 7 items and they are both related to the academic aspect highlighted in the internship. The discrepancy of rating between expectations 3-7 and 1-2 reveals a greater expectation on vocational experience than academic relevance out of the internship among students. A mismatch between the objective of the internship and students’ expectation is hinted. It is suggested that it would be more beneficial to students if the faculty would consider providing more vocational based internship opportunities to address students’ expectations.
Part C
1. The internship matched my expectation on academic inspirations
2. The internship matched my expectation on applying academic knowledge
0% 12%
0% 14%
Totally disagree
17%
14%
Totally disagree
Disagree
Disagree
Neutral 39%
35%
Agree Totally Agree
29% 40%
Neutral Agree Totally agree
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3. The internship matched my expectation on improving analytical skills and handling administrative work
4. The internship matched my expectation on enhancing social awareness
19%
32%
2%
0%
0% 3% Totally disagree Disagree
17% 34%
Disagree Neutral
Neutral
Agree
Agree 46%
0%
47%
Totally agree
5. The internship matched my expectation on experiencing work culture
Totally disagree
Totally agree
6. The internship matched my expectation on career interest exploraton
3%
0%
9%
8%
Totally disagree Disagree
45% 43%
Totally disagree
26% 21%
Disagree
Neutral
Neutral
Agree
Agree
Totally agree
45%
Totally agree
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7. The internship matched my expectation in general 0% 5% 15%
29%
Totally disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Totally agree
51%
In general, the score of each expectation varies from 3.49 to 4.29, which is significantly more positive in comparison to the previous term-time survey. No one chose “totally disagree� for any of the questions. This can be interpreted that in general, students’ expectation will more likely be met in summer internship. Their expectation on experiencing work culture is comparatively higher (scoring 4.29 on average). Yet, in echo with the feedback in part B, their expectation on academic inspiration and knowledge application is less likely to be met, scoring 3.49 and 3.6 respectively. In particular, half of the respondents do not agree that the internship is as academically value-adding as expected. This echoes with the survey result in term-time survey, and has an implication that the synergy effect of the internship program with studies is not as high as the program was designed to be. Either a review on the objective of the internship program in regards to academic inspiration or a refinement of the program delivery is suggested. According to previous personal comments of social sciences students, tasks assigned to them are often purely administrative and not as academically inspirational as expected. From the questionnaire results, it is further confirmed that particular positions are not very relevant to academic knowledge of students. Considering the academic nature of SI programme (from both its credit-bearing arrangement and the requirement of academic reflections), a careful review on the working content of internees can be conducted to enhance the academic relevance of offers.
Part D Part D was designed to investigate why students chose a particular community partner (CP) and what they expected to be assigned from the CP.
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Reasons of choosing a community partner The first question in Part D asked students to tick the three most relevant factors that influenced their choice of internship. Results are concluded as follows.
From the response of the survey, the main factors influencing students’ choice of internship include work content, personal interest, community partner and academic career prospect. This shows little divergence with the results in summer internship. Yet, a greater proportion of student was subject to faculty allocation, which potentially undermines the students’ satisfaction and the experience yielded from the internship program. Discrepancy between job description and actual work Huge discrepancy between students’ original expectations and actual job requirement was not found in summer-time internship. Only a student who worked in SPCA had expected to take care of animals but reported that the actual work was ‘so different’ that he was required to do mainly paper work and translation. In another case, a student who worked in the Yang Memorial Methodist Social Service had expected some tasks related to doing research and paperwork, but he mainly helped with monitoring and looking after the clients and hosted small activity classes.
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Part E a)
Grading
1. I understand the respective weights of working performance and integrated essay and project presentation.
2. I think the weights assigned to my performance, essays and presentation are reasonable.
0% 1% 11%
14%
7%
25%
12%
23% 44%
63%
3. I am familiar with the grading criteria of my performance.
4. I am familiar with the grading criteria of my essay. 0%
6% 4%
8%
9%
20% 28% 28%
53% 44%
25
5. I am familiar with the grading criteria of my presentation. 0% 14%
6. I think the grading system (i.e. different interns are graded by different supervisors) is fair and consistent.
8% 15%
6% 8%
35% 32% 43%
39%
Q1. From the 65 respondents, a large majority (88%) of the students understand the weights of working performance, essay and project presentation. Only a small percent of students have confusion on the respective weights, this shows SI internship has provided quite clear guidelines for the students. Q2. About half (58%) of the students felt the assigned weight was reasonable, while 23% of them stated the neutral stance, 19% of the students disagreed with the assigned weight. Q3. In regards to the familiarity of grading criteria, more than half of the students (64%) agree that they are familiar with it. Still, around 13% of students are not familiar with the grading criteria. Regarding to the grading criteria of essay, more than half of the students (64%) agreed that they were familiar with it. 28% showed a neutral stance and only 8% of students were not familiar with the grading criteria. Q4 & 5. Regarding to the grading criteria of essay, 57% agree that they were familiar with it. 35% showed a neutral stance and around 8% of students were not familiar with the grading criteria. The results of Q4 and Q5 suggested that students were more familiar with the grading criteria of presentation as compared to the integrated essay. Q6. 54% of students thought the grading system is fair and consistent, while about 14% hold the opposite view. The system’ consistency seemed to have been improved.
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b)
Supervisors
7. I think my academic supervisor is accessible and willing to help.
8. I think my academic supervisor is equipped with academic knowledge of the field I worked in.
2%
2%
3%
5%
12% 28%
35%
14%
48%
9. I think my company supervisor is accessible and willing to help.
4%
51%
10. I think my company supervisor can provide me with clear and helpful instructions and guidance.
5%
4% 10%
12%
34%
32% 13%
45%
41%
Q7. A large proportion of (83 %) students agreed that their academic tutors were willing to help. Only 5% hold the opposite view. Students were, in a large extent, agreed that they were supported by their academic tutors Q8. Almost 79% of students agreed that their academic tutors were equipped with academic knowledge of the field they worked in. However, 7% of them thought that academic tutors were not well equipped with the academic knowledge, which suggested a room for improvement. 27
Q9. More than 75 % of students agreed that their company supervisors were willing to help. Only 9% hold the opposite view. Students were, in a large extent, agreed that they were supported by their company supervisors. Q10. 73 % of students agreed that their company supervisors could provide them with helpful feedback, whereas 14% did not.
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Part F Items iv. to vii. are added to both 3a and 3b. 3bii and 3biii have been amended.
1. I got the information about the SI mainly from: 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 a. Faculty's website
b. posters or other publications
c. friends
d.internship fair
Though the official website was the main source of information for the Internship, when comparing to the result of the term-time, increasingly more students acquired information from posters or other publications, friends and the Internship Fair as well.
2. I got the information about the community partners as a whole mainly from: 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 a. Faculty's website
b. posters or other publications
c. friends
d. internship fair
e. others
missing
52 students, which account for nearly 85 % of the students still regard the official website as the main source of information for community partners. Posters, friends and internship fair, however, show a relative minor influence in publication. The result once again emphasizes the importance of website construction for students’ better understanding of SI program.
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3a) The Faculty webpage and the Internship Fair Students’ view regarding the description of community partner and the application procedures on the official website were also explored.
3ai. The information on the official website was accurate Totally disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Totally agree
0% 17%
5% 26%
52%
Nearly 70% of the students found the information on the website accurate, rated 4 or above. The accuracy of online information has been improved indicated by a rise in average score from 3.55 in 2011 term time SI program to 3.82 this summer.
3aii. The information on the official website was updated timely. Totally disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Totally agree
1% 11%
37%
9%
42%
Approximately 80% of the students give a grade of 4 and 3 for this statement, and average score for timely is 3.46. We strongly recommend that faculty would improve the frequency of update of
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information since any subtle change to the program would cause a lot of inconvenience to the students if they are not timely informed.
3aiii. The information on the official website was useful. Totally disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Totally agree
2% 6%
18%
28%
46%
46 % of the students find the information quite useful, followed by 28 % neutral opinion, while 18% found it very useful. The result reveals that the information about CP was relatively useful however there still existed room for improvement.
3aiv.The information provided at the Fair (including presentations by community partners) was accurate. Totally disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Totally agree
Missing
0% 4% 22% 27% 13%
34%
Nearly half of the students agreed that the information provided at the Fair was accurate, while most of the others gave a neutral opinion. The importance of information accuracy is shown between the lines, and it is definitely better if students’ contentedness would be higher for this statement.
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3av. The information provided at the Fair was useful in choosing a community partner that I wanted. Totally disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Totally agree
Missing
3% 6%
19%
23%
11%
38%
Half of the students agreed that the information provided was useful in choosing a community partner. For the SI program, the choice of community partner has always been students’ priority concerns. More pointed and useful information is suggested to meet students’ expectations on information about the community partners.
3avi. The flow of the Fair was smooth Totally disagree
Disagree
Neutral 2%
Agree
Totally agree
Missing
3%
20% 21% 9%
45%
Over half of the students agreed that the Fair was held smoothly. The different time slots provided students with more flexibility. Generally speaking, the Fair was a success in its flow. 3avii. Suggestions on how to improve the Faculty webpage and the Internship Fair: Suggestions were mainly focusing on the time slot problem. Many students had to give up several CP introductions due to time clash with their courses. It is strong suggested if the faculty could 32
provide more times slots for a community partner or re-arrange the time for the Fair to weekend or evening. Other suggestions include bigger venue size, more rapid information updating, etc. 3b) Application procedures
3bi. The website was my major source of information regarding the application procedures. Totally disagree
Disagree
Neutral
3%
Agree
Totally agree
Missing
0% 1%
11% 37%
48%
Correspondent to the items investigated previously, nearly half of the interviewees find the website as relatively the most major source of SI application information, which once again emphasizes the importance of website construction during application.
3bii. The duration of the application period was adequate. Totally disagree
Disagree
Neutral 2% 15%
Agree
Totally agree
Missing
3% 11% 11%
58%
Nearly 75% the students found the duration of the application period was adequate, followed by 28 33
% found it in a medium level. Application duration should be adequate for students to consider their choices thoroughly and also have enough time for entering their information and personal statement.
3biii. The online application system was convenient to use. Totally disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Totally agree
Missing
2% 0% 9%
12%
11%
66%
More than half of the students found the online application system convenient to use.
3biv. The online application system was technically stable. Totally disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Totally agree
Missing
3% 3% 9%
6% 17%
62%
Stability of the website does not seem to be a big problem. Most students agree the website was stable during the application procedure indicated by over 70% rated 4 or above.
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3bv. The announcement of results was timely. Totally disagree
Disagree
Neutral 3%
Agree
Totally agree
Missing
2% 9%
12%
26%
48%
Nearly 60% of the students agree that the result was announced timely. However, we can see a very high disagree rate which approaches 10%. It arouses our interest that maybe some of the CP results were not timely announced and might cause inconvenience to the students especially non-local ones who have to arrange their summer plans in advance. Thus, the communication between faculty and students for result announcement should be more improved.
3bvi. Overall, the application process was smooth and satisfactory. Totally disagree
Disagree
Neutral 3% 12%
Agree
Totally agree
Missing
2% 5% 20%
58%
Overall speaking, students were content with the application process with 70% rated 4 or above on this statement. 3bvii. Suggestions on how to improve the application procedures: Suggestions mainly focus on the improvement on whole application system. Some students complained that re-typing the ECA is very troublesome. 35
IV. Overall suggestions Purposes of the Internship Suggestion 1: As some students are unaware of the intended objectives of the Internship, they should be specially highlighted during promotional activities (for example during Internship Fair) and stressed upon in the workshops prior to the Internship. Suggestion 2: As vocational experience rather than academic relevance of the internship was more treasured among students, the Faculty can consider requiring the community partners to put emphasis on vocational training along with academic components. Suggestion 3: Regarding the discrepancy between students’ expectations on the Internship program and intended objectives of it, the program delivery needs to be refined to bring out the importance of academic components. Working content Suggestion 4: Regarding the discrepancy between job description and actual work of some community partners, a careful review on the working content of internees to enhance the academic relevance of offers should be conducted. Suggestion 5: The objectives of the Internship should be clearly communicated to community partners. Suggestion 6: Regarding the discrepancy between job description and actual work of some community partners, the job nature of each position should be described in a down-to-earth manner with lower ambiguity. Suggestion 7: Good communication should be maintained between the Faculty and the community partners to make sure that expectation of working content will be reasonably met. Information source In addition to the suggestions in the “SI and Global Citizenship Internship - Review of the application process for 2012 summer-time” of last June regarding the Internship Fair and online application system, we propose the following suggestions too. Suggestion 8: As the Faculty webpage is the main source of information for students and also some students may browse it even when they have no intention of applying for internship yet, it is of utmost importance to update it as frequently as possible, particularly information about community partners. 36
Suggestion 9: The time schedule and content of the Internship Fair should be scheduled to enable students to get as much useful information as possible. Also, adequate publicity work should be done so that students can make arrangements and as many students can attend as possible.
V.
Overall suggestions
This survey is an extensive review of the SI Internship which touches on aspects regarding the knowledge of purposes, expectation of the Internship before doing it, working content, opinions towards the assessment format and investigation about the information source. Comparing to the results of the 2011-12 Term-time Internship, more students were aware of the purposes and also significantly more students agreed that the Internship matched their expectations on various aspects. However, frequent updates are necessary so to reduce ambiguity and to let students have a clearer picture of the requirements of Internship, job requirements of community partners and the application process prior to their application. The Faculty Affairs Committee, SSSC, SSS, HKUSU believes with constant review and refinement of the Internship, it will continue to be a beneficial and meaningful programme to students in the Faculty of Social Sciences. The Committee is willing to cooperate and discuss more with the faculty. We hope this survey can be useful in assisting the Faculty in improving the programme as well.
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