Service-Learning in Asia

Abstract

Although SL is primarily a western learning concept, it is widely used as a pedagogy among education and community sectors in Asia, especially after the academic conference on ‘Service-Learning in Asia: Creating networks and curriculum in higher education’ held in 2002 at the International Christian University (ICU) in Japan as this became an interconnection with other Asian HEIs (Xing & Ma, 2010). In 2004, ICU set up the Service-Learning Asia Network (SLAN) with support from the Japanese Government and the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia (Ma, Chan, Chen and Fong, 2018). In 2004, LU received one million dollars (HKD) funding support from Kwan Fong Charitable Organization to start a Service-Learning and Research Scheme (SLRS) and then in 2006, received another ten million dollars (HKD) to set up the first Office of Service-Learning (OSL) in Hong Kong. With the aim of constructing a model for academy-student-community partnership, LU has made an attempt to truly put the inspirational slogan “Serving to Learn and Learning to Serve” into practice. With commitment from a dedicated SL team and support from local and regional partners, LU started taking the lead of SL development in both Hong Kong and Asia. LU even organized the first Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Service-Learning (APRCSL) in 2007 and served as the secretariat for SLAN after the revitalization.