Name of the University:
Exchange semester:
University of Hong Kong
Fall 2012
I GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is located on the North-Western part of Hong
Kong Island, called Pokfulam. HKU consistently ranks among the world’s best
universities, currently ranking 34th and 2nd in Asia (the Time’s World Ranking 2012).
In the academic year of 2009-2010, there were 22,139 students (11,589
undergraduates, 10,550 postgraduates), of which around 6,388 were Mainland
Chinese and international students.
II PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Information before departure
The information packages and e-mails from HKU were sent between March and May
to BI’s international office, who distributed them to us. The information includes how
to apply for student visa, housing, courses, and much more.
Remember to read the course descriptions carefully to make sure that you meet the
pre-requisites before you start to make your course selection. Please note that there
are two different course descriptions; one is quite brief and the other one is detailed.
Please see the links under for course descriptions:
http://www.sef.hku.hk/currentstud/courses/
http://www.fbe.hku.hk/Programme/Undergraduate/courses_offered.cfm?school=SoB
Visa Procedure and travel experiences
The procedure for applying for student visa was well-explained in the packages from
HKU. We filled in a form and attached a copy of our passport and sent it to BI’s
international office. The international office forwarded it to the Centre of
Development and Resources for Students (CEDARS), who took care of the rest, this
includes sending it to the immigration office in Hong Kong.
Remember to read your e-mail often during you vacation. The visa procedure costs
approximately 400 HKD (300 NOK), which is paid to CEDARS to register the
application.
CEDARS recommend that the arrival to Hong Kong should be at least one week prior
to the semester start. Depending on your subjects there might not be much time for
traveling during the semester, hence I recommend that you keep the opportunity open
to stay for at least two weeks after the exam, you will have this granted on your
student visa.
Academic Calendar
Regularly the semester start at HKU the first week of September. The orientation
week started a few days before semester start, which included a lot of information
about what to expect and how to cope with living in Hong Kong.
There is a week in the middle of the semester (you will get the dates during the first
week) where there is no lectures held. In this period, most student either prepare for
their midterm examinations or travel. The last day of lecture was on 30th of
November, and the revision week is from 1st to 7th of December. The exam period is
from 8th to 21st of December.
During the semester, there were some public holidays, including Mid-Autumn
Festival and the Chinese National Day
Reception
An orientation day was held a few days before the semester start for all the exchange
and international students, where there was given a brief introduction of Hong Kong,
the university and other relevant information.
Housing
As I stayed here together with my boyfriend we rented an apartment off campus that
was ridiculously expensive. It was definitely worth it as it was located in ‘Poho’, in
walking distance from HKU and the up and coming area of central HK. But if I were
here alone I would recommend to get a spot in one of the dorms.
Costs
The monthly cost, excluded housing rent, was approximately 2,500 – 3,000 NOK
Meaning, in HK, you can spend enormous amounts or live relatively cheap – it has
everything.
The International Office
The Office of International Student Exchange (OISE) is responsible for the incoming
exchange students. The Centre of Development and Resources for Students
(CEDARS) is responsible for the campus life, the students’ wellbeing and present
career opportunities. These two offices are often mixed together. Most information
from OISE and CEDARS is communicated through e-mails.
Exchange promotion
The main event which I attended to promote Norway and BI as a place of study was at
the HKU exchange fair in early November. We shared stand with the other four
Nordic Countries. The Global Lounge was also a place to exchange information about
different countries and universities. The Norwegian consulate may provide you with
some free give-aways and promotion material for Norway.
Social Activities
There are a lot of parties going on through out the semester. The best places to go to
are Lan Kwai Fong (LKF) or Wan Chai, where usually all western exchange students
would be, during the weekends.
Students have access to two different campus’ sport centers with football, tennis and
basket pitches, athletic track, weight rooms, swimming pool etc. In addition, there
was also hiking tracks behind the main campus.
Culture and Language
In general, most exchange students were with other exchange students from same
geographical areas. This is mostly due to closeness in culture and language. The
locals are friendly when you approach them, but you should not expect them to make
the first move.
The official language in Hong Kong is Cantonese and English. Most locals were fairly
fluent in English, so there was seldom language problems involved. However, some
locals did have a quite strong Cantonese accent.
Cultural and Social Effects from the Exchange Experience
A semester on exchange has, no doubt, been valuable. I have gained insight into and
understanding and knowledge about, the Chinese metropolitan culture. This is, of
course, extremely beneficial and an competitive advantage for us in opening up future
career possibilities as China’s importance and role in the world is growing rapidly
with its increasing economic power. Further, my English skills have definitely
improved.
III ACADEMIC INFORMATION
The Teaching situation
All courses are all taught in English. In the beginning, it was sometimes hard to
understand what the lecturers where saying because of the Cantonese accent.
However, after only two weeks with lectures, everything was understandable.
The teaching differed from BI in many aspects. First of all, most, if not all, lectures
are taught in relatively small class rooms and not big auditoriums like at BI. This
made it easier to communicate directly with the lecturers and build a relationship with
them. In addition, most lecturers where helpful and did not hesitate to answer
questions asked in class.
The economics courses were very theoretical, meaning that the mathematics was
essential in class, to solve assignments, and so forth. In order to go through the course
material and understand it, it was expected that you master the math at an introductory
level (which is slightly higher than BI math). A disadvantage is that the solutions to
the assignments were never provided.
In all economics and finance courses, you will have tutorials where you thoroughly
review your weekly assignments with the professor’s assistance. This means that
besides from the lectures you were expected to work on your assignments, which in
most cases were challenging and needed 3-6 hours to complete (if you are lucky).
And, when you receive in average 3 assignments per week, it will take most of your
time which also means that you will have minimum time to do independent learning
like we are used to at BI. In the periods where there are no assignments given, you
will most likely have group projects.
For most BI students, management courses will be, to some degree, easier than at BI.
One of the reasons is that BI’s staff and courses in management are of a higher quality
than at HKU. Finance, economic and math subjects however, are very demanding.
From the first to the last academic day, you should expect that you will not have time
to travel, visit too many attractions and so on. Learning is intense, and locals will not
feel this way and they are used to their methodology and way of teaching. The biggest
difference between BI and HKU is that at BI you have time to revise your material
during the semester, on the other hand, at HKU it is almost impossible to find any
time for revision, except from the weekends. Make sure to learn and understand right
away. If you put things off you are definitely going to fall behind.
As mentioned earlier, most local students stick to each other, and so do the exchange
students. Make sure you get in groups with some local and/or Mainland students, so
that you can observe their study habits and what methods they use. It will also be
beneficial to join them in economics and finance courses. In management, you should
join exchange students that take their studies seriously.
In conclusion, the materials is not the hardest in the world, but you will have to use a
lot of time to do assignments and group projects. This will help you on your exam, but
not as much as independent learning.
If you choose economics and finance courses, do not expect to get top grades because
the level on the average Chinese students in these subjects are higher than at BI. The
courses are, without any doubt, very good, but the teaching and learning methods are
not like the ones at BI at all. Take them to learn but not as an easy way out. I
recommend that you choose some courses from the faculty of social science too,
which is one of the best in Asia. I chose Global Political Economics and it was my
favorite subject this semester.
Required Literature
All literature is in English. The literatures are mostly supporting resources to the
lecture notes. The books will only help you to have an idea of the required knowledge
on discussion questions on the exam. Most of the questions on the exam are based on
lecture notes. Most of the local students never buy the “required” books.
Exams
Most economics and finance exams were given as a mix of multiple choice and
discussion questions. In management courses, the assessment methods are generally
group projects, presentations and so forth.
In economics and finance you MUST know the formulas by heart and know how to
explain the economic intuition behind the formulas. It is NOT enough to “understand”
what the theories say. In most cases, you will not even get partial credit for this. In
other words, to pass the exam you need to focus on the formulas and know exactly
what they mean. It will not be impossible if you do all your assignment and spend
reading week doing projects and preparing for the midterms.
Other
The library and its resources are of high standard and you can enjoy their huge stock
of economics literatures. The IT system is similar to BI’s, and lecturers use this
system to distribute course material and they use the HKU mail to distribute
information and updates.
Description of Courses
Course name
Prerequisite
Mathematical economics
None
Games and decisions
Global political economy
Business Policy (strategy)
Exam
Home exam, and exam.
Extremely challenging.
I would not recommend
this subject if you are
not a math prodigy.
Basic economics
Mid-term, essay and
final
exam
Recommended!
None
Essay,
Exam
Introduction to Accounting, Case Discussions
Introduction to Finance or Group Assignment
Corporate
Finance, Exam
Marketing, Principle of
Management
or This subject is rather
Organizational Behaviour easy
Industrial Organizations
and
Introduction
to
Economics
Microeconomics
(but Midterm Paper Exam
microeconomic analysis or One of the hardest
theory is essential)
courses at HKU, but
you learn extremely
much and a MSc at BI
will be easier since this
course is very similar to
GRA
6031
only
slightly easier. This
course will give you an
advantage in writing
your Thesis where you
can actually conduct
real economic market
analysis
at
an
intermediate level.
Any other experiences:
Tip: do networking outside campus. Hong Kong is the centre of Asia!
Names and e-mails:
Please do not hesitate to contact us through international office if you have any
questions.