In the past 2016/17 academic year, Dual Degree Program in Technology & Management (T&M-DDP) students joined various competitions and demonstrated their outstanding abilities and potentials of future consultants and engineers.

Here are some highlights:

1. Asia Investment Banking Conference 2017 - HSBC Mergers & Acquisitions Case Study Competition

Students act as an Analyst in the Investment Banking Division to present a pitch book to the Board of Directors of the client, Kraft Heinz, regarding a potential acquisition target in the food industry following the unsuccessful US$143 billion takeover bid for Unilever. Brendan THAM Guang Yao (Year 3) together with other 4 students from School of Business & Management of HKUST, won the Championship by proposing the acquisition of Danone, a global healthy food company in France which sells its products across 130 countries.

2. UBS Group Technology and Operations Case Challenge

Students are required to provide solutions to real problems that UBS’s Technology and Operations teams face, and present their proposals to experts in the field. Violet LU Wenxin (Year 4), Abby YAO Xinjie (Year 3), and Lencia LIN Shuya (Year 3) won the 2nd Runner-up beating over 40 other teams in Hong Kong.  The team developed a web-based IT solution to validate data and generate reports to solve the problem of data discrepancy, and suggested setting up an offshore support desk at lower cost region in response to low profit & loss reporting efficiency.   

3. HERDSA (Hong Kong Branch) Redesigning Student Learning Experience in Higher Education

The HERDSA (Hong Kong Branch) was established in 1997 as a local chapter of HERDSA (Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia) which is a scholarly society based in Australia for people committed to the advancement of higher and tertiary education. To celebrate Hong Kong Branch’s 20th Anniversary, they invited students to conduct projects on redesigning student learning experience to enhance tertiary education.

Cameron SUEN Heung Ping (Year 4), Steven TO Cheuk Lam (Year 4) and Samuel KONG Whole Dux (Year 3) won the 2nd Runner-up with a project on collecting and validating voice samples that enable researchers in HKUST to develop an AI system for helping hearing impaired children to pronounce more accurately. Through the project, they studied how to enhance the learning experience to overcome traditional barriers to joining student projects, such as high power distance between students and professors, and the lack of dissemination of project information. They proposed to build an open platform for everyone to join and initiate different projects. 

Angelica KOSASIH (Year 3) joined the competition with her teammate TANUBRATA Hans Ryan from HKUST Robotics Team. They won the Best Presentation Award and Merit Award by showing how they tried a different learning method in the robotics team. Instead of having students listen in lectures and learn about the theories, they actually implement them through the robotics team.

4. Chem-E-Car Competition Award

Chem-E-Car Competition is an annual multiple regional event held by AIChE (The American Institute of Chemical Engineers) with the aim of increasing awareness of the chemical engineering discipline among the public. The Competition engaged college students in designing and constructing a car powered by a chemical energy source, that will safely carry a specified load over a given distance and stop.

Arthur WANG Ta-wei (Year 3) and Grace PARK Ye Eun (Year 3) with 3 other students from School of Engineering of HKUST won the 2nd Runner-up and the Best Poster Award in the Asia Pacific Region of the competition.