MA(PFE) students win Bronze Prize at Personal Finance Ambassador Programme 2022/23
The CSQY Team is formed by five MA(PFE) students. The team wins the Bronze Prize in the Personal Finance Ambassador Programme 2022/23. From left to right: Mr Au Lik-sang Head of Innovation and Partnerships, Investor and Financial Education Council, IFEC, and members of the CSQY team: Li Yingwei, Zhang Zhenyu, Xu Ying, Zhong Kaiyin and Wu Jingbo.
A team consisting of five students in the Master of Arts in Personal Finance Education (MA(PFE)) programme from the Department of Social Sciences and Policy Studies (SSPS)* took home the Bronze Prize in the Personal Finance Ambassador Programme 2022/23. The ambassador programme, launched in 2019, is held annually by the Investor and Financial Education Council (IFEC) in conjunction with the HKEX Foundation Limited and St James’ Settlement, with the aim of improving the financial management skills of tertiary students.1
“Since the global financial crisis of 2007 to 2008, governments around the world have been aware of the paramount importance of the financial literacy of their people. They now know that strong financial knowledge can enable individuals to make better decisions in an increasingly sophisticated financial market. At the university level, there is a strong need to strengthen the financial literacy of college students. The Personal Finance Ambassador Programme comes at an opportune time to provide additional impetus to the above cause,” said Dr Tan Weiqiang, Associate Professor from SSPS, and Programme Leader of MA(PFE).
A total of 15 teams from eight tertiary institutions joined this year’s competition. The organiser provided a series of training and activities to train up participants as Personal Finance Ambassadors. These ambassadors then designed and implemented financial education projects in their own schools to promote the concept of financial wellness among students. Six out of the 15 teams were invited to present at the final Presentation and Award Ceremony held on 3 June.
The five-member EdUHK team took on the name “CSQY Team” (acronym of Cai Si Qian Yong which means財思錢擁in Chinese). Its members included Li Yingwei, Zhang Zhenyu, Xu Ying, Zhong Kaiyin and Wu Jingbo. After receiving training from the organiser, the team organised a campaign themed “Money in the Tech” to promote financial education among EdUHK students. Campaign activities ran from February to April 2023, including the Metaverse Financial Education Platform, a dedicated Instagram page for disseminating financial knowledge, a number of game-based workshops, exhibition panels, booths that provided consultations about financial wellness, and more. The campaign attracted over 500 EdUHK student participants.
The team manages a booth to promote the importance of financial wellness among students. Back row, from left to right: Zhong Kaiyin, Li Yingwei, Xu Ying, and Zhang Zhenyu. Front row: Wu Jingbo.
The “Money in the Tech” campaign includes exhibition panels and booths on financial wellness, and a dedicated Instagram page for disseminating financial knowledge.
The team designed a Metaverse Financial Education Platform. Around 50 students take part in the on-site showcase of the platform.
One of the highlights of the campaign was the Metaverse Financial Education Platform designed by the CSQY team. By using EdTech incorporated with financial knowledge to design the metaverse platform, the team successfully created a fun and immersive experience to promote financial education. Around 50 students took part in the experiential activity that was held in March.
During the three-month long campaign, EdUHK students also had an opportunity to learn more about “Tech-plus” financial instruments that are highly integrated with advanced financial technologies. Our students were able to learn more about rapid developments in fintech, and become more aware of the implications when making decisions in the fintech world. As a result, they become more capable of making prudent and sensible judgements when using fintech to manage their financial operations and handle their financial lives.
“One of the design features of the MA(PFE) programme is to equip our students with practical and first-hand experience in teaching individuals financial knowledge. We strive to train them up as professional financial educators by teaching them the necessary tools and skills that are required for financial education work in the education and business sectors. We train them on how to use such skills on a societal level as well,” Dr Tan said.
The “Money in the Tech” campaign received an enthusiastic response from the EdUHK community. It successfully enhanced the capability of both CSQY team members and other students joining the campaign in taking charge of their personal financial matters. They are more prepared to act and plan wisely for their future financial needs.
Note: The Master of Arts in Personal Finance Education (MA(PFE)) was originally run by the Department of Social Sciences (SSC). After the merger of SSC with the Department of Asian and Policy Studies (APS) in July to form the Department of Social Sciences and Policy Studies (SSPS), the programme is now managed by SSPS.
