Distinguished panel speakers of the HKU RIICH Interactive Panel Discussion (from left to right): Ms. Maleah Do Cao, Ms. Donna Titley, Professor Catherine K. K. Chan, Dr. Brian W. King and Ms. Stephanie Ng.
The HKU School of English of the Faculty of Arts, the Research and Impact Initiative on Communication in Healthcare (HKU RIICH), and the International Consortium for Communication in Health Care (IC4CH) jointly hosted an Interactive Panel Discussion titled "Transitioning from the University to the Workplace During and Post COVID-19" on 31 May, 2023. The hybrid event attracted participants from over thirteen countries across five continents. The participants came from diverse backgrounds, and included university students and graduates, university staff members, employers and healthcare professionals.
At the event, Associate Professor Dr. Olga Zayts-Spence (Director of HKU RIICH) and her research team presented qualitative and quantitative findings from a large-scale Research Grants Council Collaborative Research Fund (CRF) project that examines the impact of COVID-19 on graduates' university-to-work transitions. The research team also invited five project stakeholders to take part in the event, to provide their feedback on the project's research findings, and to share their ideas about resources and support services that could facilitate graduates' workplace transitions. The panel discussants included Honorary Professor at the HKU Faculty of Education, Professor Catherine K.K Chan; Assistant Professor at the HKU School of English, Dr. Brian King; Senior Manager at Jardine Matheson, Ms. Donna Titley; Executive Director of Hong Kong-based Charity Body Banter and PhD candidate at HKU School of English, Ms. Stephanie Ng and Teaching Assistant at Diocesan Boys' School, Ms. Maleah Do Cao.
Dr. Zayts-Spence noted that "graduates had been greatly impacted by the pandemic, as they had little to no time to adapt to new modes of distant learning and, swiftly after, had to transition to the workforce amidst an unprecedented time." She said that the CRF team is working to develop evidence-based resources and to disseminate the project findings widely to support their transitions to the workforce post-COVID, as some changes due to the pandemic are likely to stay long-term.
Speaking at the event, panellist Professor Catherine K.K. Chan also agreed that the impacts of COVID-19 permeate into the post-pandemic era. She said, "what happened during the COVID times, the responses, the adaptability, the digital learning and workplaces have become a new normal, and that we do not go back to the old situation." She expressed appreciation for the study, which she thinks bridges the gaps between universities and workplaces.
Dr. Helen Tebble, a recently retired Adjunct Associate Research Professor at Monash University, participated in the event remotely from Australia. She commented that Dr. Zayts-Spence's research project "extend[s] beyond the University and is making a contribution to the transition of university students to the workplace." She further said that the presentations and the discussions at the event allowed her "to reflect on much of [her] academic career which used Linguistics (applied) as the starting point to theoretically analyse language in the workplace."
About HKU RIICH's CRF Project
"The educational, social and health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on university graduates transitioning to the workforce in Hong Kong" is an interdisciplinary research project coordinated by Associate Professor Dr. Olga Zayts-Spence, and funded by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council, Collaborative Research Fund (Project Code: C7086-21G). The project involves local and global collaborations, with co-investigators from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the City University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong NGOs and business organizations, as well as researchers from universities in the United Kingdom.
