The Millenium Study Tour, sponsored by the Li Ka-shing Foundation with a donation of HK$10 million and co-organized by the Education Department, has been a great success. During this past summer holiday, 1,000 outstanding local students traveled in small groups to 14 cities in mainland China, Japan, Singapore, Britain, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Germany, and the US. They experienced local culture and customs and visited a number of environmental protection and high-tech facilities. To cultivate their team spirit, organizers encouraged the students to work on special assignments based on their travel experience and invited a panel of judges put together by the Education Department to select the best work.
Awards were given to the two best projects in each tour group during the Millennium Study Tour Special Assignments Award Presentation Ceremony. In addition, the panel of judges comprising Dr. Ho Kin Chung, Professor and Programme Leader of Environmental Studies at the Open University of Hong Kong; Dr. Matthew Yuen, Director of Technology Transfer Center at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; Mr. Leung Siu Tong, Vice President of the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers; and Mr. Lam Kwok-keung, Senior Curriculum Development Officer of the Education Department; and Mrs. Wendy Tong Barnes, a representative of the Li Ka-shing Foundation, selected three overall winners out of the 25 projects submitted by the tour groups. The Qingdao B Group won first place with their Hong-Qing Daily, a newspaper they “published” which carried stories of their travel experiences.
The judges gave high marks to all works submitted, noting that the students were able to analyze the development of new technologies and environmental protection facilities, and to cite examples that could be developed in Hong Kong. Some of the students created a multimedia web site to showcase their project, highlighting their grasp of the latest information technology.