Table of Contents

ABSTRACT

With the transformation of global economic structure, service industries have occupied an important share of the economy in developed countries and territories. Unfortunately, education on leadership under the service economy is severely lacking in higher education. In the case of Hong Kong, although service industries account for around 95% of its GDP, there are few credit-bearing leadership subjects with a specific focus on effective leadership under the service economy. In this essay, we share our experience in providing service leadership education for undergraduate students via two 3-credit subjects at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. In “Service Leadership”, we teach service leadership in classroom settings. In “Service Leadership through Serving Children and Families with Special Needs,” we teach service leadership through both classroom and service settings. To date, these two subjects have received one Gold Award and two Bronze Awards in QS Reimagine Education Awards as well as the University Grants Committee Teaching Award. Through our experience in the past decade, there are several learning points regarding service leadership education in higher education. These include: 1) re-think our belief about university students as leaders; 2) re-conceptualize the attributes of effective service leadership in terms of competence, character, and care; 3) design and implement effective credit-bearing service leadership subjects; 4) appreciate the value of experiential learning pedagogies; 5) recognize service learning as a vehicle to foster service leadership; 6) strengthen evaluation in service leadership education; and 7) understand the impact of different modes of teaching service leadership subjects, particularly under COVID-19.

Keywords: Service Learning, Service Leadership, university students, higher education, Hong Kong