Dr Tan Weiqiang from SSC wins Bronze Award in IFEA 2022 Award

A big congratulations to Dr Tan Weiqiang, Associate Professor from the Department of Social Sciences (SSC), who has recently won the Investor and Financial Education Award (IFEA) 2022 – Bronze Award in the Teacher Division from the Investor and Financial Education Council (IFEC) for supervising the “On-campus project for enhancing the university student’s financial literacy.”

The IFEA 2022 awardees were reviewed and selected unanimously by the respective Assessment Committees, comprising of government representatives, IFEC Board members, and industry experts. In their congratulatory email, IFEC said Dr Tan’s contribution towards improving the financial competence of Hong Kong people is highly commendable. Dr Tan’s project was filmed by IFEC for future reference of what should be considered best practice.

By inviting 12 students to act as workshop speakers and organisers of various activities, the project led by Dr Tan intended to enhance EdUHK students’ financial literacy. The project aimed to provide on-campus opportunities for students to act as educators and trainers for a series of financial literacy education workshops and activities. It was also designed to increase awareness among EdUHK students and the greater EdUHK community about the importance of financial literacy.

The project included online and offline activities such as seminars, workshops, exhibition booths, group discussions, the sharing of financial knowledge on Instagram, and surveys. One of the highlights of the project included the workshops organised by the 12 students under Dr Tan’s guidance. The themes of these workshops are: (1) how college students manage money reasonably in the era of big data, (2) workshops on FinTech, (3) the sharing of tips on tax deductions, and (4) a workshop on retirement savings planning. The students also organised a survey to collect information about college students’ credit card usage habits.

Around 600 EdUHK students participated in these workshops and activities. Based on the feedback of the student participants, the project helped our students understand most core competency themes as defined in the Hong Kong Financial Competency Framework. In particular, the project has heightened their awareness of their financial situation. It has helped them to gain a better understanding of their risk tolerance and acquire the concept of lifelong financial planning too.

Thanking students and teachers at the University for their support of the project, Dr Tan said, “It is a great pleasure and an honour to receive the award. In the past year, the project has successfully promoted financial education for Hong Kong university students and raised their awareness about the importance of equipping themselves with financial knowledge. We will continue to recruit and cultivate students as financial educators for future projects. We hope to introduce new trends in the financial field including ESG investment, carbon-neutrality, and green finance in the projects to come.”

A veteran educator in financial education, Dr Tan’s research interests focus on corporate social responsibility, household finance, and fintech. His research papers have been published in the international peer-reviewed journals, such as Journal of Financial Economics, Management Science, Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Business Ethics, and Journal of Banking and Finance. He has extensive experience in providing consultancy services for industrial enterprises. He received the Research Output Award of Dean’s Research Fund of FLASS 2021/22 and third prize in the 10th Annual Conference of China Investment Research Association in 2022.

Watch the video for Dr Tan’s presentation of the project. Timestamp: 6:30 - 8:10.

Video link