The counselling and psychology education of Hong Kong Shue Yan University (HKSYU) has developed into a complete subject education system with Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctorate programmes since the first batch of students graduated in 1978. The Department of Counselling and Psychology attaches great importance to teaching and education, but, beyond this, is also committed to academic research as well. Since the Research Grants Council (RGC) expanded its research funding to self-financing institutions in 2014, the Department of Counselling and Psychology has received funding for 19 research projects.
Dr. LI Wang On, head of the Department of Counselling and Psychology, in an interview with Shue Yan Newsletter indicated that currently all other local institutions only carry out counselling and guidance education at the master’s or doctorate levels. Only HKSYU has set up a mixed bachelor’s degree program of counselling and psychology, the Bachelor of Social Sciences (Honours) in Counselling and Psychology Programme. The program not only attaches importance to the theories of counselling and psychology, but also emphasizes training and practice of counselling skills. The department also set up a Bachelor of Social Sciences (Honours) in Psychology Programme, characterized by a practice-oriented and experiment-oriented focus, including mainstream fields such as social psychology, personality research, and neuroscience.
Dr. LI also indicated that colleagues of the Department of Counselling and Psychology attach importance to academic research. Since the 2014/2015 academic year, with the RGC and other research funding, more than 26 projects have been initiated and over 19 million dollars has been allocated. Past and ongoing research areas include addiction issues, support for grassroots families in improving children’s “executive functions”, supporting parents in developing empathy towards their children, understanding the psychological needs of centenarians, middle school students’ learning attitudes, etc. These projects are committed to the creation of benefit for different sectors and strata of the society, industries and professions. They aim to combine new methods with novel ideas to research and problem solve for the advancement of the discipline.
Regarding future developments, Dr. LI said that Covid-19 has not only impacted normal teaching methods, but has, at the same time, changed the modes and skills necessary for effective counselling. Therefore, online remote counselling training will be added to the course offerings, so that the department and students can stay closely abreast of the needs of society and of the clients being served. In addition, the department plans to launch the Master of Social Sciences in Play Therapy in the 2022/2023 academic year. The first batch of students is expected to have lessons in 2022. This will be a professional-level course training students in the provision of emotional and learning support and other counselling services—for toddlers, children and beyond—through play-based interventions.
Talking about the future development of the department during the celebration of the 50th anniversary of HKSYU, Dr. LI said: “The Department of Counselling and Psychology is the same, in microcosm, as HKSYU overall; both of us will reconsider our own positioning in response to ongoing trends and technological developments, as well as the impact of both on society and people. Our school motto is ‘Cultivating virtues of benevolence; broadening horizons and knowledge.’ In the era of digital and artificial intelligence, our department will establish social value-based digital applications, allowing students to develop on both technical and human interactive levels.”
Source：50th Anniversary Special Issue