Hong Kong’s “You” Mentorship Programme will take 120 students in its second cohort, a 50% increase on the first, the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau said. Ming Pao reported that the intake received 430 applications, while the bureau is also introducing a “legacy partner” arrangement for graduates of the first cohort.
The programme pairs female university students in Hong Kong with women leaders from different sectors. The bureau says the mentors provide workplace experience and life guidance intended to help participants build skills, confidence and professional networks.
The programme includes career-planning, communication-skills and business-etiquette training, alongside exchanges between students and mentors. Its stated aim is to help young women prepare for the workplace while passing on the experience of local women leaders to future female professionals.
Ming Pao reported that one first-cohort participant, identified as Bibi, joined in her third year of university while uncertain about what work to pursue after graduation. She said guidance from her mentor helped her and that she regarded the mentor as a role model.
Under the new arrangement, graduates of the first cohort will act as senior female peers for students in the second cohort. The change extends the programme’s support beyond the formal pairing with an established woman leader by giving former participants a defined role in guiding those starting the programme.