The Senior Year Admission (SYA) Project Team Members attended and presented at the Lilly-Asia Conference on Evidence-Based Teaching and Learning which was held at the Hong Kong Baptist University from 16 to 18 May 2019. Oral and poster presentations about the situations of local SYA students and Asian college transfer students were delivered.

Academic Staff from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Dennis Foung, Teaching Fellow of English Language Centre, Dr. Kin Cheung, Project Leader of SYA Project, Dr. Julia Chen, Associate Professor of Department of English, and Dr. Linda Lin, Lecturer of English Language Centre, co-presented the results of a research project titled “Exploring the Language Needs of College Transfer Students in Asia”. The presentation revealed the difference in the performance in English courses between SYA students and direct-entry students as well as the academic factors affecting the performance of SYA students in English courses.

The poster presentation titled “Needs of and Support to Senior-Year Admitted (Community-College Transfer) Students” showed the results of needs assessment, indicating that SYA students have heavier study load, less social support, lower self-efficacy, and more mental health concerns than non-SYA students.

The conference has internationally connected innovative educators of all disciplines in higher education and placed the needs of SYA students in Hong Kong and college transfer students in Asia under the spotlight.