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interaction, the BASE entrepreneurship activity center was
planned and developed in the year under review. The
BASE is expected to serve as an active workspace, with
facilities for students to move forward on their start-ups
and entrepreneurial initiatives, and a space for holding
entrepreneurship talks and events. It will also create a
platform for all HKUST members, external start-up
professionals, and entrepreneurs to mingle, work, meet, and
explore partnerships with like-minded people.
Building Early Know-how
Two E-weeks were held in October 2014 and March 2015.
The Friday Dreamers’ series was initiated, featuring
six interactive sharing sessions with invited guests offering
industry-specific insights on investment, resources,
technology, and market strategies; and Build Your Own
Business seminars and CEO seminars were organized
throughout the year.
The annual Innovation & Entrepreneurship Training Camp
provided systematic training on issues, concepts and skills
unique to an innovative or entrepreneurial project and the
opportunity to meet budding entrepreneurs from different
cultural backgrounds.
In further developments, the Venture Entrepreneur
Network, a cross-disciplinary student network, created a
website portal integrating all entrepreneurial activities and
resources at HKUST and in Hong Kong, and hosted various
events to connect students and faculty across Schools, in
particular the School of Engineering and School of Business
and Management. Hackathon@HKUST, a 24-hour coding
competition co-organized by HKUST students and Tencent
Foundation, was opened up to students and alumni of all
universities, attracting 225 participants in 47 teams.
SETTING THE PACE GLOBALLY
IN E-LEARNING
The University increased its endeavors in e-learning,
including blended learning courses on campus and Massive
Open Online Courses (MOOCs) for public around the
world. In 2014-15, 10 courses ranging from English for
Doing Business in Asia to Java Programming to Chinese
History were offered on Coursera and edX, the two leading
international MOOC platforms. Development of other
courses in Chinese Politics and Web Development are now
underway. Such courses raised HKUST’s presence in the
e-learning arena while improving teaching and learning
through the experience and data collected in running the
MOOCs. HKUST has received two awards at the Wharton-QS
Stars Awards 2014: Reimagine Education, also known as the
“Oscars” of innovation in higher education, in recognition
of its innovative e-learning programs. Prof Huamin Qu and
his research team won a HKICT Award for developing the
first visual analytic system for MOOCs that enables in-depth
analysis of e-learning behavior, heralding improved teaching
quality and more demand-focused programs.
