Introduction

The HKU Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy (referred as The Department below) is launching the Pharmacy Enrichment Programme in 2026-2027, in which fourth-year students of Bachelor of Pharmacy will participate in and contribute to different services and initiatives at different partnering organisations.

The programme aims to nourish social-minded students to put what they have learned into practice, contribute to society, and broaden their horizons beyond pharmacy while establishing networks across different sectors and professions.

We would like to sincerely invite non-governmental organisations, social enterprises, professional bodies and academic units of The University of Hong Kong to participate in this programme by offering placement opportunities to students.

Objectives

• To enhance pharmacy students’ understanding towards the local community and raise their awareness of social issues, thus inspiring them to actively contribute to the society in their future careers;
• To enable students to put what they have learnt into practice, collaborate with community partners to achieve missions and to address social needs;
• To empower students with perspectives beyond pharmacy and networks across sectors to promote social innovations and build positive social capital.

Programme Details

Placement

• Fourth-year students of HKU Bachelor of Pharmacy (Class to be graduating in 2027) will complete a 10-week internship placement (two days per week, totally 160 hours) on voluntary basis from 18 January to 23 April 2027
• Suggested working days: Mondays and Thursdays (Work schedule can be negotiated with the intern)
• Mode of working: On-site (remote working can be arranged as appropriate)
• There is no limit to the submission of applications by each organisation. However, each service unit shall accommodate 2 students at maximum.

Eligibility of Placement Organisation

• Organisations (and their service units) are welcome to participate as placement sites in this programme if they are:
  • Academic units of The University of Hong Kong;
  • Non-governmental organisations listed as charitable institutions and trusts of a public character, which are exempt from tax under section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance;
  • Social enterprises, or;
  • Professional bodies.

Scopes of Tasks and Activities in Placement

Placement sites (organisations or service units) are recommended to propose the roles and responsibilities of interns according to their respective needs and objectives. However, in order not to duplicate with other pharmacy placements, the enrichment experience shall not involve any pharmacy operations or medication distribution (e.g., medication dispensing) process, as these are already well covered in students’ core practice placements. That said, we certainly encourage students to interact with patients about their individual medications under appropriate pharmacist supervision, for example, through discussions about medication use or general health education. These interactions help strengthen students’ communication skills, empathy, and patient‑centred attitudes — but not for the purpose of training pharmacy knowledge and skills. The performance of the enrichment placement should not be assessed on pharmacy knowledge and skills, as these are already trained and assessed in other experiential learning. Such activities should remain a smaller component of the overall placement, rather than the main focus.

Tasks and activities carried out by the interns shall:

• Not be of profit-making nature
• Not advocate religion and political matters
• Correspond to the goals and development of the organisation and are beneficial to the community
• Involve no reasonably foreseeable risk in either the service itself or the surrounding environment
• Comply with the “Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance”, the anti-discrimination ordinances and other relevant legislation
• Not subject the interns to unfair or exploitative conditions, such as requiring interns to bear the expenditure associated with the tasks

Scopes of tasks include but not limited to:

For placement at NGO or social enterprise

• Support service and/or corporate operations, data collection, analysis and information management etc.
• Assist in planning and execution of on-site or online activities, which can be related to health promotion, health and medication management (non-dispensing), health enquiry, and public education initiatives
• Contribute to social engagement and advocacy initiatives, such as outreach, production of promotional materials, multimedia production, and social media management
• Support community network building with volunteers, community partners and stakeholders to promote collaboration
• Contribute to research projects for the organisation or service project

For placement at academic units of higher institutes

• Support teaching and learning such as preparation of course materials and student engagement
• Contribute to research projects
• Assist in knowledge exchange initiatives

Programme Overview

Application & Selection Timeline

Application & Selection Period (September – December 2026)

Placement Phase Period (January – April 2027)

Pathway 1 – Placement initiated by Participating Organisations Application Deadline for placement organisations: 30 August 2026 Selection and Interview: October to November 2026 (No interview during 5-16/Oct & 2-13/Nov, 2026) Confirmation of placement: On or before 30 November 2026 OR Pathway 2 – Placement initiated by Students Application deadline for student-initiated placement: 30 September 2026 Review and confirmation by the Department: October 2026

Placement Period 18 January 2027 to 23 April 2027 Submission of Interim Performance Evaluation by On-site Supervisor By 7 March 2027 Submission of Final Performance Evaluation by On-site Supervisor By 30 April 2027 Student Presentation End of April 2027

Interested organisations can submit online application (pathway 1) and arrange selection and interviews with student applicants. Students may also engage organisations to provide placement opportunities (pathway 2).

The Department will consolidate the results of the placement in December 2026 and issue a confirmation letter to the participating organisations.

Details of the application and selection procedures are listed as follows.

Pathway 1: Placement initiated by Participating Organisations

1. Organisations submits the online application on or before 30 August 2026.
2. The Department reviews and screen all applications based on eligibility of organisations and proposed placement activities.
3. The Department may contact the organisations to further clarification if needed.
4. The Department notifies the organisation of the application result and distributes enrolled organisations’ information to students. Students then submit applications to organisations before the deadline.
5. Organisations conduct selection (e.g., interviews) and notify students of results.
6. Each participating organisation notifies the Department of the recruitment result via online form on or before 15 November 2026.
7. If applicable, the Department assists with second-round matching, aiming to confirm all allocations by 30 November 2026.
8. The Department issues a confirmation letter to the organisation before the placement period begins.

Pathway 2: Placement initiated by Students

1. Students engage an eligible organisation and plan the placement collaboratively.
2. If the organisation agrees to participate, it submits an online application by 30 September 2026.
3. The Department reviews the application based on eligibility and proposed activities.
4. The Department confirms the result with the organisation and the student in October 2026.
5. The Department issues a confirmation letter before the placement period begins.

Frequently asked Questions of Application Process

Q: Can we adjust placement duties during the selection process?

A: Yes, organisations may discuss changes with selected students and inform the Department once both parties agree.

Q: What if no suitable student is identified even after the second round matching?

A: The Department will not randomly assign students. Organisations may contact the Department for further coordination on or before 30 November 2026, or opt to withdraw.

Q: What if we receive no student applications?

A: Organisations may still contact the Department for coordination, but a suitable student cannot be guaranteed. Since the number of placement positions may exceed the number of students, The Department cannot guarantee that all participating organisations will be matched with a suitable student.

Placement Timeline

(January – April 2027)

First 2 weeks of Placement

• On-site Supervisors can offer induction to interns to help them familiarize with the workplace, the missions and values, operations and services of the organisations and/or service units. Furthermore, the On-site Supervisor should discuss work logistics such as roles and responsibilities, working hours and absence policy.
• Interns will communicate with the On-site Supervisors to construct a learning contract. The learning contract should outline the placement plans and expected deliverables during the placement. The interns will submit their learning contracts to The Department after endorsement by on-site Supervisors.

Throughout the Placement Period

• Interns needs to complete the attendance record. The attendance record must be signed by the On-site Supervisor.
• Interns will need to excuse from duties to attend training at HKU campus on the following dates:

• On-site Supervisors submit an interim evaluation to the Department by 7 March 2027.
• On-site Supervisors submit a final evaluation to the Department by 30 April 2027.
• The Department organises a Student Presentation & Gala Day at the end of April 2027 (date to be confirmed); all organisations are welcome.