May 2021
With the aim of helping generations of young Hong Kong students realise their true potential, the AIA Group launched its landmark Scholarship Programme in 2020 providing 100 scholarship awards to university students every year over several decades.
Yeung Ho Long (BEd & BSc Year 2) and Yasmine Colette Casupanan (BASc Year 1) were among the twenty outstanding HKU students who received inaugural AIA Scholarships.
Ho Long aspires to become a teacher supporting Special Educational Needs (SEN) students. In secondary school, he saw his SEN friends faced many obstacles and realised the training provided for teachers was insufficient. After entering university, with the aim of understanding the needs and difficulties of these students, he participated in various volunteer internship programmes. He wishes to use the scholarship to receive SEN education training overseas and equip himself to become a proficient pre-service teacher.
Yasmine is interested in analysing human behaviours and desires to improve the quality of people’s lives. She plans to explore further in this field and is going to work at the new BAScLab of HKU. The scholarship lightens the financial burden of her family. “I no longer have to worry too much about paying my tuition fees, and the scholarship motivates me even more in my studies and my goals in creating positive impact and contributing back to society.”