The Department of Applied Social Studies (SS) celebrated the 5th anniversary of the Project for Learning Excellence (Project X) at the X-Gala on 20 May at City University of Hong Kong (CityU).

Launched in 2008, Project X is a student-oriented, non-credit bearing project that promotes personal, interpersonal, academic and professional competences of SS students, helping them to achieve whole-person development.

Guests attending the ceremony included Professor Arthur Ellis, Provost of CityU, Professor Lo Tit-wing, Head of SS, Dr Alice Chong Ming-lin, Convenor of Project X and Associate Professor of SS, representatives from local universities and non-governmental organisations, and alumni of SS who have participated in previous projects.

Project X focuses strongly on helping Year 1 students adjust to university life by organising interactive activities that will assist them in setting educational goals and supporting a smooth transition from secondary school to university.

Students who have participated in Project X, including SS alumni, have published a manual that talks about their experiences organising student development activities within the CityU community and with other local higher education institutions.