GUIDELINES FOR WRITING THE EXPERIENCE REPORT
Please write this report in English
The student report will be published on the:
 Study Abroad website (under “Experiences” from partner universities)
 TSH study abroad blackboard page
I am fine with my report being published online: YES
ANR: 724352
Name: Rémon Engelen
E-mail: remon.engelen@gmail.com
Exchange semester: Fall , 2015
Academic year: 3th year
Host University: Chinese University of Hong Kong
Country: Hong Kong
I GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
When you think of Hong Kong you probably think of high, packed buildings, and this is true for
a big part of Hong Kong. The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) however is very big,
wide and green. CUHK is located on a hill 10 kilometers north of the city. This seems
inconvenient, but CUHK has its own mtr station. Also, just two stops from CUHK in Shatin,
there is an huge mall.
The campus from CUHK is much bigger than Tilburg University and it goes up- and downhill a
lot. Because of this there is a bus-system with eight routes, which is very convenient. At
certain times it can be very busy though.
CUHK is divided in a college system. Each college has its own student unions, canteens and
facilities. Exchange students are randomly assigned to a college and it does not depend on
study area. In total there are 9 colleges. I was assigned to Shaw College, which is one of the
biggest and oldest colleges from CUHK. The disadvantage from Shaw is that it is on the edge
of the campus, far away from the metro.
Since CUHK is so big and many students live in one of the college hostels CUHK has a lot of
facilities. In total there are approximately 30 canteens, there is a supermarket, post office,
book store and multiple libraries. For the canteens I would say try them all. The price is quite
equal, bit the quality really differs. I liked Lee Woo Sing canteen most, it looked most hygienic
and it offers a lot of variety in the food.
Also for sports CUHK has a lot of facilities. Shaw College for example has its own gym, a
room for pingpong or dance and a basketball hall; I often played basketball there in the
evenings. This is also a great way to get in touch with local students. Most of my time I spent
with other exchange students though.
As I mentioned before, CUHK is big. Therefore it has a lot of studies to offer. Apart from the
college system there also are eight faculties, with all a lot of studies. Furthermore all colleges
offer some courses as well. Local students are obligated to follow some other courses which
are not related to their main study.
Hong Kong itself is a great city in my opinion. It is always busy on the streets and in the
shopping malls. Walking around in Mongkok in the evening never gets bored with all the
shops, souvenir markets and street food. Furthermore Hong Kong has some nice touristic
attractions to offer, like the Peak, Avenue of Stars and Lantau Island with the Big Buddha
statue and the fishing town of Tai O. What I really liked about Hong Kong is that it has to offer
so much. There is the busy city, there are nice beaches and there are great hiking trails like
Lion Rock and Dragons Back. For hikinh October and November are perfect months, since
the weather is than between 20 and 30 degrees usually. September was very hot and
because of the high humidity it feels even hotter.
II PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Information before you left
CUHK provided the pre-arrival information in multiple e-mails during the summer before the
fall semester. This was all clear information, although the system to add courses is quite
complicated.
Visa procedure and arrival
CUHK takes care of the visa procedure. The visa costs 530HKD, which is around 65 euro.
Furthermore there is 1000HKD administration costs. I received all the forms for the visa the
18th of June, but they had to be back at CUHK at the 1 st of July latest. This is a tight schedule,
since you also need to provide a lot of passport photos (I thought it was 5) and also a bank
declaration stating you have enough money. I did not know I would need these documents
and because it took me a couple of days to get them, my documents arrived to late at CUHK.
Luckily this was not a problem, but I would like to advise you to have these documents ready
when the forms arrive. After the forms have arrived back it takes around 6 weeks before you
receive the visa, so this is quite tight if you want to go traveling in August.
Arrival day: I arrived the 31st of August in Hong Kong, this was the first day we could get in the
on-campus hostel. Thanks to a facebook page I got in touch with some other students who
arrived at the same time at the airport. From there we took a taxi to CUHK (take a green taxi,
not a red taxi. Green is cheaper). At CUHK we needed to search the allocated hostel by
ourself, but with the help of some local students this was not a problem. After receiving the
keys there was a campus tour.
Orientation/Introduction activities
CUHK had organized some activities in the introduction week, but it can’t be compared with
the TOP-week. The activities included a welcoming ceremony, a dinner in the city and a photo
with the vice-chancellor and all the exchange students. After the first week of classes there
was a touristic tour to the Peak, Stanley Market and the Avenue of Stars.
The hostel we stayed in in the first week is only a temporarily accommodation. At the end of
the introduction week all international students need to move to their permanent hostel in the
assigned college, for me this was Shaw College. Shaw College also has a buddies
programme (differs per college!) which I had joined. At the day we moved to the permanent
hostel Shaw had also organized a welcoming dinner for exchange students and localstudents who joined the buddies programme. After the dinner there where some games and it
was quite fun.
Housing
As I mentioned before there are 9 colleges. Each college has its own hostels. The hostels
differ quite a lot. The hostels in Lee Woo Sing for example are new and have a fridge in the
room. I lived in Shaw College, in the Yat-Sen Hall, with no fridge in the room but a big one in
the kitchen. Although it is old, I liked living there. The staff was nice and the facilities are good
in Shaw. When applying for accommodation you get the choice between the International
House, college without obligatory meals and college with obligatory meal. I chose the
International House, but did not get a room there. Now I am glad I did not stay in the
International House, since it has very few facilities and is kinda old and dirty.
Living Costs
The living costs are not that high as long as you live on campus, since the rent is very low
there. The hostel costs around 700 euro for the whole semester. Also books and
transportation are cheap. I only needed books for three courses, and all books where
between 30 and 40 euro, in Netherlands the same books cost 70 euro. The busses and mtr
(metro) are also very cheap, students even get 50% discount for the mtr. Western food
however is expensive, especially bread and everything that contains milk. Furthermore I
never cooked, but went to one of the canteens almost every day, where most meals cost
around 30HKD (3.50 euro). That is cheap for a complete meal, but it adds up since I went so
often. Furthermore expenses depend on how much you travel around, I would say try not to
care too much about those costs, since it really is a once in a lifetime experience!
Academic Calendar
I arrived the 31st of August in Hong Kong, which was the first arrival day. The classes started
one week later. There where classes until the first week of December. There is no autumn
break, but there are some free days, for Mooncake festival for example. This gives
opportunity to go away for a long weekend without missing classes.
From 9 till 23th of December there was examination period, but just two from my five courses
planned an exam in that period. Because of this, the first week of December was very busy
for me, since three courses ended that week with an exam or a presentation. During the
semester I had midterms for all courses, but I was lucky they where nice spread over the
period.
The International Office
There is an International Office at CUHK, but I only went there because international students
have a postbox there. However they do provide a lot of information about activities and for
example about check-in and check-out procedures.
Exchange promotion
During the exchange period I had three times the opportunity to promote Tilburg University. I
participated in a roadshow, which meant handing out pamphlets to students and answering
there questions if any. Also I participated in an information market for highschool students on
an open day, this included telling them about the opportunities that CUHK gives to study
abroad. Furthermore I went to an event where I was able to meet students who study in
Tilburg in the spring semester, which was a nice way to give them information about studying
in Tilburg and the differences between Tilburg University and CUHK.
Social Activities
In the introduction week almost all students on campus where international students and you
could just join anyone to have some fun or plan a trip. That week I have been to the city a
couple of times and been to a waterfall.
The International Asian Study Programme (IASP) also organized some activities. IASP
coordinates the whole exchange programme. In the second week we went to the Peak,
Stanley Market and the Avenue of Stars. An other activity, which IASP organized was a trip to
the Big Buddha and the fishing village of Tai O. For this activity there where just limited
places, but because of this it was a nice way to meet new people.
Also Shaw College organized activities. I joined two times an eco-tour, in which we went to
some rural areas of Hong Kong. Especially the first one was very interesting, visiting two old
villages in the east of Hong Kong, close to Shenzhen. What made it impressive was that in
the background of these old, rural villages you could see Shenzhen harbor, so you could see
the contrast between old China and the ‘new China’:
At the right the rural village of Ko Tei Teng and in the background Shenzhen harbour
The Eco-tours was a nice way to hang out with local students, most of the people who joined
where local. Furthermore I met local students at the basketball hall in Shaw College and for
some group assignments. However most of the time I spent with other exchange students.
During my period in Hong Kong I went a day to Macau and to Shenzhen and I have travelled
a weekend to Bangkok and to Taipei.
Macau and Shenzhen are really odd places to visit. Macau because of the casino’s, it looks a
lot like Las Vegas. Shenzhen is one of the fastest growing cities in the world and you can see
that when there. At a lot of places they are still building skyscrapers and when in a shopping
mall it is possible you go up a floor where it is completely empty; shopping space already
made for the future. I did not like Shenzhen though; in Dongmen, a very cheap shopping
area, the salesmen are noisy and aggressive in an attempt to sell there goods to you (of
course they recognized me as a tourist). However, if you need cheap clothes it is a great
place to go to. Bargaining is a must however. In Shenzhen I also visited Window of the World,
an amusement park, but this was quite a disappointment. It was expensive, most attractions
costed extra money or where not open because it was not busy.
I did enjoy going for a couple of days to Bangkok and Taipei, both are great cities for a citytrip
with a lot of tourist attractions. Bangkok however does not have great public transport, so you
lose a lot of time bargaining for a taxi.
Culture and Language
I did not experience culture shock. I have to say Hong Kong felt home very fast. It helps to
read a lot before you go I think, discoverhongkong.com and also the experience reports is a
good way to do so. A big cultural difference is the way students promote activities. At CUHK
they will perform a dance and sing/shout the promotion text during the dancing. Really an
original way to promote things. An other big difference is that sleeping in public is quite
normal in the library and even in class. Teachers don’t care if you sleep in class.
For the rest the cultural differences where less than I expected. For example before I left I had
learned power distance would be much bigger in Asia than in Netherlands and to take this
into account when asking a teacher something. In reality however this was not true, all
teachers where very open and they even where encouraging in-class discussion a lot.
Also local people eat with chopsticks, and when you go to a local restaurant the chance is
quite big there are no forks and knives. I still struggle a bit with chopsticks, my technic is not
good, but I am able to eat with them now. It is really something you will have to learn when
there, or it is even better to learn it before leaving.
A thing I learned is the reason why people wear facemasks. I always thought they do it
because they are afraid to get sick or because of dirty air. However Iearned there they wear it
only if they have a cold themselve and they don’t want to make others sick.
I did not have much language problems. All other students speak English very well. Older
people however don’t always speak English, so sometimes in the canteens or in a shop you
need to point at things. Also people who don’t speak English are still very friendly and trying
to understand you. I was surprised that in Bangkok more people speak English, however
Bangkok is more touristic than Hong Kong, so that is why I think. In Taipei less people speak
English than in Hong Kong, so there you need the pointing-tactic more.
Personal Development
My exchange period was the first time for me outside of Europe and I had never been so far
from home for such a long period. Since I had to take care of everything by myself I now think
easier and less stressed of challenges in life. Also it is great to have contacts from all over the
world now and also to learn about there home universities and countries and comparing them
with Tilburg/Netherlands. I don’t know anything I would have done differently if I would go
again. It is difficult to choose the best experience, since I enjoyed all the sightseeing and
hikes. Worst experience was on the day I left, when I was alone in the bus to the airport
realizing my exchange was over and I won’t see the people I spent time with anymore. Or not
on a regularly basis at least.
The most important thing I learned is to be open during your exchange, also for activities you
normally would not join. One day for example there was Shaw sportsday, and two of the local
buddies from the buddies programme wanted to participate in the 8*100meters relay. At first I
doubted cause I never do running, but it was a great evening and we even became second:
Second place for the 8*100 relay at the Shaw Sportsday
III ACADEMIC INFORMATION
Academic level at a host university
The courses are offered in Cantonese and/or in English. Beware this when choosing courses,
some are offered in both languages. I only followed courses in English and did not take
language courses. These are the courses I followed:
Business Economics: this was the only course without grading for participation or group
assignments. The teacher was funny but the content was not that great, very basic.
Risk Management & Insurance: the teacher was not that good in English, which made the
lectures hard to follow, but everything the teacher put in the slides was just copied out of the
book. It was quite a boring course but the content can be useful, especially if you are
interested in finance.
Introduction to International Business: this courses almost only consisted out of group
assignments, which was a nice way to meet local students. I did not learn much though in this
course, there was a midterm but the content was quite basic and not much.
Human Resource Management: this was the best course I followed. The teacher really had
put a lot of time in organizing this course. Each lecture only covered a few things from the
chapters in the book and these where than extensively discussed in class. There where two
midterms and two group assignments.
Business Environment of China: the content of the course is very interesting I think,
however the teacher looked a bit uninterested during class and his English was not great.
Compared with Tilburg there where much more midterms and group assignments. Because of
this the workload was more divided over the semester than in Tilburg. Exam period was very
calm compared with Tilburg, since only two of the five courses had a final exam in the exam
period and a big part of the content I already learned for the midterm. Also the lectures are in
much smaller classes than I am used to in Tilburg.
The level of the courses was comparable with Tilburg, however the multiple choice exams are
easier. Because of this my grades where significantly higher than in Tilburg. Also for the
group assignments it was quite easy to achieve an high grade.
It is difficult to find a lot of information when choosing courses, since most courses did not
give the syllabus in public. However I have the syllabus from all courses I followed, so if you
want it you can contact me.
Exams
 What types of exams did you have to sit?
Most courses had a midterm, some also had a final exam. It really differs for each course how
it is designed. However the biggest final exam I had still was only 60% of the final grade. In
Tilburg the final exam often is more important.
Other
 Can students easily access the library and its resources?
 Were there public computers available on campus/in university buildings?
As long as you have the university card with you, you can access the libraries with public
computers and the other resources. There are many libraries at CUHK, there is a big one at
the main campus and some colleges and departments have there own libraries, but they are
accessible for all students.
Description of Courses
Course Name
Exam
Major at TiU
MGNT 2040 Human
Resource Management
ECON
3590
Business
Economics
FINA
3210
Risk
Management & Insurance
Written, two group projects,
peer review and participation
Written midterm (40%) and
final exam (60%)
Written midterm and final
exam, group project, peer
review and attendance
Written midterm, group projects
and participation
Writtem final exam, group
project and participation
Management
Approved
as
(minor/ elective /
extra)
Elective
Economics
Elective
Finance
Elective
Management
Elective
Economics
Elective
MGNT 2510 Introduction to
International Business
ECON
3370
Business
Environment of China
Some courses had prerequisites, however I was allowed in all of them with the courses from
my first two years in Tilburg. Just follow the administrative procedures for this carefully, since
you do need to provide information about relevant courses you want to use to ‘waive the
prerequisites’, as CUHK calls it.
Tips for the future students:
I definitely recommend going on exchange.It was a great period, exploring Hong Kong with
friends from all over the world. I also would recommend CUHK. Because it is so big there are
many facilities, like a swimming pool, supermarket and multiple gyms and basketball courts.
Also many students live on campus, so there are allways people close to hang out with. I also
liked the location of CUHK. It is located on a hill with a beautiful view over a bay, but with mtr
you are in the city center in 20 minutes. However if you plan to stay long in the city (longer
than 0.30 am) you have to take a taxi to get back or wait for the first metro.
Before going to Hong Kong I made an appointment with the GGD, it turned out that I needed
two vaccinations. Also search on facebook for the facebookpages for Hong Kong/CUHK
international students. Thanks to these pages I was able to meet others already at the airport
and share a taxi to CUHK.
Contact details:
Can the International Relations Office share your e-mail address with prospective exchange
students, so that other students could contact you for more information? YES
remon.engelen@gmail.com
A picture is worth a thousand words