- Tencent internship program praised by Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan students for enhancing skills and integration into the Greater Bay Area (GBA).
- Over 100 interns from top universities, including PKU, HKU, and MIT, gained experience in AI, big data, and game development.
- Program aligns with Greater Bay Area Youth Employment Scheme, fostering career opportunities and cross-regional technological innovation.
Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan students and officials on Monday commended Chinese mainland internet giant Tencent Holdings' internship scheme as having enabled the interns to learn more about the mainland's technology development, and integrate into the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) better.
They made the comments during an event celebrating the graduation of a summer internship at the Shenzhen-based conglomerate. Co-hosted by the Tencent Youth Development Committee and Tencent Talent, the program was designed to give young people from the two special administrative regions and Taiwan, such as college students and young workers just starting out, the chance to become the backbone of future technological innovation.
Over 100 students took part in the program this year, among them students from Peking University (PKU), The University of Hong Kong (HKU) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Almost half of them did internships for technology-related job roles, the largest percentage being in game development, artificial intelligence (AI) and big data.
"By diversified training, Tencent has enabled students to gain interdisciplinary knowledge and experience. It has also allowed them to gain access to the forefront development of the digital economy of the country, and integrate more into national development", said Chan Iok-wai, director of the students' department at the Macao SAR's Education and Youth Development Bureau.
Fong Shui-yee, the chief executive manager (youth affairs) of Hong Kong's Home and Youth Affairs Bureau, explained that the bureau is dedicated to providing diversified mainland exchanges and internship programs, allowing Hong Kong's youth to have a deep understanding of the overall national development and global development trends, as well as workplace culture in large companies.
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The program invites young people in Hong Kong to explore new opportunities in the Greater Bay Area and assist them in planning their careers", she said. Tencent's initiative is in keeping with Hong Kong's bid to create wider room for development among the youth by providing them with more chances to work on the mainland. Hong Kong initiated the Greater Bay Area Youth Employment Scheme, which invites businesses operating in the SAR and the mainland cities of the Greater Bay Area to hire young Hong Kong individuals and provide them with chances to work on the mainland.
Based on Hong Kong's Labour and Welfare Bureau, 718 and 417 young people had found employment under the scheme during 2023 and 2024, respectively. “The internship has given me the opportunity to engage with people from all walks of life. Through visits and research, I’ve identified and organized the real needs in fields like the digital transformation of public welfare organizations and youth science and technology education”, said Carina Yu from Hong Kong, who was trained at the Tencent Foundation.
"From engaging in project management and fostering inter-business cooperation to provide social values to enjoying the pace of the nation's fast development in scientific and technological innovation, each step along this path has been profoundly inspiring to me", she stated.
May Mei, who heads Tencent Campus Relations, whose job it is to recruit students and arrange university partnerships, explained that Hong Kong's education system with its high global positions in arts and finance fits perfectly into business scenarios of the conglomerate. The bilingual proficiency of its students is also a major boost for the company's international expansion drive.
Tencent has built connections with universities in Hong Kong in the form of internship centers and scholarship collaboration, and provides dual mentorship to cultivate and keep people from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, she furthered.
