1915 – The forerunners of HKU PPAA - the first batch of HKU Political Science students was inaugurated, being the earliest group of its kind in the entire region, sowing the seeds of public service.

 

1973 – 58 years after the first batch was inaugurated, HKU Political Science students unprecedentedly decided to set up PPAA (then known as the Political Science Students’ Society and Political Science Association), the pioneering global and public affairs-focused academic society and student-led organization in the territory.

 

1975 – The first renowned Intervarsity Political Science Debate was jointly launched with the CUHK – the only event of its kind in Hong Kong, still organizing and attracting over 1000 spectators from the public every year.

 

1976 – PPAA published the first serious student-edited public affairs academic journal in Hong Kong – the POLITIKA, which is still in continuous publication.

 

1978 – PPAA’s special reports on the newly founded ICAC and Police Relations received sponsorship and support from the Bank of America as well as the Colonial Government.

 

1982 – PPAA organized HKU’s first and largest annual public affairs event – the Political Science Festival on Global Nuclear Proliferation, which included large scale forums and exhibitions participated by students and professors of different nationalities.

 

1983 – Almost two decades before the 911 Incident, PPAA published a POLITIKA titled "Global Terrorism." Only six years after the end of the Cultural Revolution, PPAA organized a groundbreaking study delegation to Beijing, visiting and exchanging with students of the Tsinghua and Peking Universities.

 

1989 – PPAA’s Political Science Festival on the Post-June Fourth China attracted media report from prominent newspapers, including the South China Morning Post, the Wen Wei Bao and the Overseas Chinese Daily.

 

1991 – PPAA organized HKU’s largest response to the fall of Communism in East Europe and the USSR, by hosting forums, panels, and exhibitions both within and outside the HKU campus on the issue.

 

1997 – PPAA sent a delegation to as many as 9 secondary schools in Hong Kong to raise awareness of the protection of human rights.

 

1998 – Since the mid-1980s, PPAA has already been organizing over 20 forums and conferences on the drafting of the Basic Law, the design of the Court of Final Appeal, and the general infrastructure of the future HKSAR’s political system. The 1998 PPA Festival which forecast on the future inauguration of the first permanent Legislative Council marked a glorious conclusion to efforts spreading two decades, receiving recognition by the HKU Faculty of Social Sciences in 2003.

 

2001 – Two years before the July First protests against Legislation of Basic Law Article 23 were sparked off, PPAA organized a PPA Festival forecasting important political issues associated with Article 23 and National Security.

 

2002 – PPAA was the first to issue a Special Report on the implications of the independence of East Timor.

 

2003 – PPAA boldly continued its operations under the life-threatening SARS epic – including organizing a large initiative on exploring the dynamics of political participation as well as public forums on the busy streets.

 

2004 – PPAA organized a public forum on the Legislative Council election, featuring guests as prominent as LegCo President Rita Fan, former and current lawmakers Martin Lee, Audrey Eu, Choy So-yuk and Tsang Kin-shing.

 

2005 – PPAA organized over 12 forums throughout the year, including a university-wide cluster of discussion panels and exhibitions responding to the WTO’s global and political impacts.

 

2006 – PPAA was first in Hong Kong to establish international partnerships with public affairs societies based in Cambridge, LSE, and the NUS, and inaugurated a 30-people strong Advisory Board which includes some of the public’s most prominent leaders.

 

2007 – Cooperating with the HKUSU, PPAA organized a Loke Yew Hall public forum attended by almost 2000 people and attracted nearly all major media entities in the region. The forum focused on the 2007 Hong Kong Legislative Council By-election, featuring all 8 candidates including Regina Ip and Anson Chan.

 

2009 – PPAA became the first student-led organization in Hong Kong to explore into energy and its impacts on global politics, by organizing various forums, discussion panels and exhibitions under the framework of PPA Exposition 2009 "Energy Politics". It was the first time for PPAA to co-organize the Annual PPA Exposition with the Department. PPAA also hosted a public forum in Causeway Bay to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the 1989 June Fourth crackdown and to discuss the political reform in mainland China.

 

2012 – PPAX was successfully held. The theme was "Hong Kong Where Are You Heading?." Martin Lee and Allen Lee were invited to be the honourable guests of Opening Ceremony.

 

2013 – In July 2013, PPAA organized a public forum in Causeway Bay, which focused on the method of selecting the Chief Executive in 2017 and for forming the Legislative Council in 2016 and 2020. Most of the major media were attracted.

 

2014 – PPAA invited Li Wei-ling, Yau Ching-yuen and Albert Cheng Jing-han for the programme "A Day in HKU," focusing on the press freedom issue in Hong Kong and attracted attention from major media such as Apple Daily and live broadcasting by radio station D100.

 

2015 – PPAA organized various current affairs-related functions in the post-Umbrella Movement era, such as the Opening Forum entitled "New Political Generation" and the Street Forum named "Challenges for Political Parties in coping with Young Voters in the post-Occupy Era" in Politics and Public Administration Exposition 2015 "Youth in Politics." PPAA also explored Hong Kong's future by organizing "2047 Hong Kong's Future Forum" in the post-Constitutional Reform era. Most functions were well received by the Members, general public as well as the mass media.