
HKU Pharmacy Enrichment Programme 2024-25
Introduction
The HKU Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy (referred as The Department below) is launching the Pharmacy Enrichment Programme in 2024-2025, 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 of 2025) will complete a 12-week internship placement (two days per week, totally 192 hours) on voluntary basis from January to April 2025
- 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.
- 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 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 process.
Scopes of tasks and activities carried out by interns may 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, 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
- 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 Period (September – December 2024) | Placement Phase Period (January – April 2025) |
Pathway 1 – Placement initiated by Participating Organisations Application Deadline for placement organisations: 30 September 2024 Selection and Interview: October to November 2024 Confirmation of placement: On or before 30 November 2024 OR Pathway 2 – Placement initiated by Students Application deadline for student-initiated placement: 30 September 2024 (by student) Review by the Department: October 2024 Confirmation of placement: on or before 30 November 2024 | Placement Period 23 January 2025 to 30 April 2025 Submission of Performance Evaluation by On-site Supervisor Before 10 May 2025 Student Presentation Early May 2025 (To be announced) |
Application & Selection Timeline
Interested organisations can submit online application by 30 September 2024 and arrange selection and interviews with student applicants. In parallel, students can engage other organisations to provide placement opportunities and collaborate to tailor the placement.
The Department will consolidate the results of the placement before December 2024 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
- Interested organisations submit the online application on or before 30 September 2024.
- The Department reviews and screen all applications based on eligibility of organisations
- and proposed placement activities. The Department may contact the organisations to further understand their needs and expectations if needed.
- The Department will notify the organisation of the application results by email and distribute the information of enrolled organisations to students. Students will submit applications to organisations before the deadlines proposed by organisations.
- Upon receiving students’ applications, the organisations can proceed with the selection process (such as interviews) and notify the students of the result.
- Each participating organisation should notify the Department of the result of student application via an online form on or before 30 November 2024.
- The Department will issue a confirmation letter to the organisations before the placement period begins.
Pathway 2: Placement initiated by Students
- Students can engage any eligible organisations to provide placement opportunities and plan the placement collaboratively.
- If the organisation agrees to participate in the programme and recruit the student as the intern, the student will need to submit an online application.
- The Department will review the applications based on eligibility of organisations and proposed placement activities.
- The Department will confirm with the organisation and the student of their application results via email and online form on or before 30 November 2024.
- The Department will issue a confirmation letter to the organisations before the placement period begins.
Frequently asked Questions of Application Process
Q: Can we adjust the number of placement positions, the staff in-charge, or placement duties during the student selection process?
A: If participating organisations wish to change placement duties, they can discuss with the selected students. The organisations can inform the changes to The Department once both students and the organisations agree with the changes.
During the selection process, the organisations can adjust the number of intake or change the staff in-charge if necessary. The organisation may inform the Department of the changes when notifying the Department of the recruitment result. Each service unit can accept up to 2 students. The On-site Supervisor should have at least 1 year of full-time work experience in the same organisation (except for District Health Centres and DHC Expresses that have been established within a year).
Q: We are not able to identify any suitable student during the selection process. Will the Department assign any other students to our organisation for the placement?
A: The enrichment programme aims to match students with organisations who meet mutual expectations. Therefore, the Department will not assign students randomly to any organisations for the placement. If participating organisations are not able to identify any suitable students during the selection process, they are welcome to contact the Department for further coordination on or before 30 November 2024 or opt to withdraw from the programme.
Q: We do not receive any applications from students during the selection process. Will the Department assign any students to our organisation for the placement?
A: If participating organisations do not receive any applications from students during the selection process and still wish to participate in the programme, they can contact the Department for further coordination on or before 30 November 2024. 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
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:
Date | Time |
20 January, 2025 20 February, 2025 13 March, 2025 7 April, 2025 | Morning (Time to be confirmed) |
- On-site Supervisors are required to conduct evaluation on interns based on their performance from the initial weeks of placement and submit an interim evaluation form to the Department by 14 March 2025.
- On-site Supervisors are required to conduct evaluation and provide feedback to interns based on their performance before the end of the placement, and submit the completed evaluation form to the Department by 10 May 2025, for course assessment purposes.
- The Department will organise Student Presentation & Gala Day in early May 2025. All organisations are welcome to join, and invitations will be sent closer to the time.
Roles of Placement Organisations
- Submit online application and arrange student selection and interviews
- Provide brief information on the organisation, preliminary ideas of the placement activities, roles and responsibilities of interns, and information of the staff in-charge.
- Inform the Department the recruitment outcome and any changes of the placement.
- Assign an On-site Supervisor whom the interns directly report to. The On-site Supervisor will provide on-site guidance, supervision, and assessment of the interns’ performance.
- The On-site Supervisor should have full-time work experience in the same organisation for at least 1 year (except for District Health Centres and DHC Expresses that have been established within a year).
- If the organisation selects two students for the placement, both students can be supervised by the same On-site Supervisor.
- Provide a suitable and safe work environment with necessary resources and facilities to interns for assigned tasks and duties.
- Should there be any remote work arrangement or changes in personnel, the organisation should inform the Department and the interns and make appropriate arrangements as soon as possible to ensure adequate supervision of intern’s work.
Roles of On-site Supervisors
- Support interns during the onboarding phase by allowing them to familiarise 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.
- Facilitate the interns’ integration to the team or organisation.
- Provide guidance to the interns on the construction of the learning contract which outlines the roles and responsibilities of the intern, specific goals and objectives, and proposed timeline of deliverables during the placement.
- Make appropriate prior arrangements for the adequate supervision of the interns if the On-site Supervisor will be on leave or have other duties and inform the interns in timely manner.
- Provide feedback and guidance to support interns to fulfil their learning contracts and pre-set goals.
- Contact the interns’ academic mentor (assigned by the Department) for assistance if there are any problems that cannot be resolved despite the input from the placement site.
Roles of The Department
- Placements arranged under the Enrichment Programme are covered by insurance, in line with other learning activities in courses of HKU Bachelor of Pharmacy programme.
- Coordinate organisations and students during the application and selection process
- Issue confirmation letters to participating organisations which outlines the details of placement before the placements begin.
- Assign to each of the interns an academic mentor who has the roles of:
- Serving as the contact person for both interns and On-site Supervisors
- Communicate with On-site Supervisors to ensure timely feedback is provided to enhance interns’ learning efficiency.
- Ensure the enrichment placement fulfil the course requirement and learning objectives by providing support and advice to interns.
- Provide guidance on professional and personal development to help transition to career after graduation.
- Channel feedback from students to placement organisations to enhance mutual exchange and understanding.
Contact Us
Coordinator of Pharmacy Enrichment Programme: Dr Janice Tam and Mr Shek Ming Leung
Please direct all questions regarding the programme to pharmel@hku.hk. For details of the enrichment programme, please visit our website: https://pharmhub.hku.hk/enrichment-en/