Exchange report
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Spring 2015
HKUST Campus
Emilia Malmi | Jonathan Weintraub | Topi Kämäräinen
1 Hong Kong in brief
Hong Kong is a busy city located in the heart of Asia and hosts one of the biggest financial centers in the world. It is categorized as a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, and locals identify themselves strongly as Hongkongers, not Chinese. The official languages are English and Cantonese (also known as traditional Chinese). Therefore all official signs and announcements are in both languages, as well as most menus and unofficial documents. However, especially people with lower education levels speak English very poorly, if any, so learning a few words in Cantonese, asking for help and having a little patience are beneficial. Part of Hong Kong’s uniqueness is the versatile landscape – within the small geographic area one can find not only the high skyscrapers and colorful street signs, but also mountains, amazing hiking trails, beaches and peaceful villages. Hong Kong has four distinct seasons. The winter is cold and dry, with temperatures ranging from 10-20 degrees. In March the weather starts warming up, simultaneously as the humidity starts to rise, and in April and May temperatures often reach 30 degrees. The summertime is known for thunder and heavy rainstorms, and all around the year Hong Kong is often characterized by its fog. Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated regions in the world. The around 7 million population is strongly dominated by Chinese, but Expats are also a very frequent sight. Hong Kong is not a cheap city, and especially housing costs are among the highest worldwide. Luckily living and eating on campus is very affordable, so it is possible to come to Hong Kong on a budget. All in all the city offers and interesting mix of Chinese, Asian and Western cultures, whether it be concerning food, shopping or architecture.
Hong Kong Island skyline
2 Preparing for the exchange Exchange preparations begins almost immediately you get accepted to HKUST and depending whether you chose, Fall or Spring term, you have different deadlines for applications. There are lots of documents to be send to the school, and some of them had to be faxed or sent by courier. All documents are really straightforward and you get help in any part of the preparation process from the great study coordinator Wendy Cheung who has a solid experience of handling the process. The Fall term 2015 is from 1.9.2015 to 19.12.2015 and the Spring term 2016 from 1.2.2016 to 28.5.2016. The academic calendar and exact dates for 2015-2016 can be found from here: http://tl.ust.hk/calendar_dates/dates1516confirmed.pdf The preparations can be divided harshly into three parts (visa, insurance & accommodation application, and vaccinations) and in every part you get an e-mail from HKUST.
2.1 Student Visa First you get a confirmation from Aalto around March and couple weeks later from HKUST that you have been accepted to exchange. To confirm your exchange spot you need to fill an exchange application and send it to HKUST. In the first e-mail from HKUST you also receive a Student Application ID (SAID) that is needed later on so make sure you save all the e-mails. If you applied for the Spring term you receive next e-mail in September stating that you completed your registration as a HKUST exchange student. Also you receive first information package delivered to Aalto International Affairs office in Mid-October, which includes all the information about visa application. The visa application process itself is really clear. You need to fill couple forms and then deliver them to HKUST via fax or courier. One requirement for the visa is that you have sufficient amount of money on your or your parents bank account (~3500e). The student allowance from Kela and the exchange scholarships from Aalto and KY are more than enough to cover that.
2.2 Insurance and Accommodation Application HKUST requires you to buy their insurance and even though we had better travel insurances from Finnish companies, they insisted us to buy the insurance they offer (~100e), as well. For your notice, the insurance from HKUST is only during your stay at Hong Kong and do not cover any of your luggage so it is highly recommended to have your own travel insurance. The application for accommodation is also in the first package, and you can read from the campus accommodation later on this report.
2.3 Vaccinations You can get all the recommended vaccinations from YTHS and there is a good information package in their website, which can help you depending which countries you are planning to visit before, during or after your exchange: http://www.yths.fi/en/services/general_health/appointments_with_a_public_health_nurse The vaccinations needed in Hong Kong are the basic vaccinations that you get from Finnish health care system plus vaccination for hepatitis A and B. Also you might want to take the pills for typhoid fever if you are staying at the campus. The vaccinations are injected in two separate doctor’s appointment and there should be a month between the injections so make sure you allocate enough time for that.
3 Studying at HKUST & Accommodation 3.1 The campus The HKUST campus is located in Clear Water bay area, about 45 minutes from the central station by public transports. Even though that may sound far away, we were actually pleased to stay there once we got to know the city more. The MTR (metro) system is probably the most efficient we have ever seen and the taxis are inexpensive, so moving around the city was made easy and cost efficient. The campus is stunningly beautiful, constructed on the hill that sets all the way to the blue ocean. It is surrounded by jungle forest and lovely fishermen’s village called Sai Kung and apparently is one of the most expensive places to live in Hong Kong. As the city itself is infamously known for its lack of space and hectic lifestyle, the campus offered us a place to relax and see a different side of Hong Kong. The campus provides all the basic needs for over 5000 students living there. It got its own grocery shop, multiple student caterings that serve food for two to four euro, couple of actual restaurants with a medium price range, a bar and even a ridiculously cheap barbershop. The student food is nothing special, very much on par with what Aalto has to offer. However, the local food can take some time to get used to (that’s nothing like the Chinese food we have in Finland). You need to try out Ebeneezer’s, a local fast food brand that serves delicious kebabs on campus. The sport facilities beat Unisports’ facilities in all the ways possible. We had probably six or seven tennis courts and a football field outside facing the ocean, a fine gym, outdoor and indoor swimming pool, squash courts etc. Studying-wise the campus outstands the facilities we have here in Finland. HKUST has a huge library/studying building that is located on the top of the hill, near the entrance. The scenery through the glass wall to the sea is absolutely breathtaking. They have five floors of different studying areas for various purposes, computer classes and little rooms to prepare your team presentations with the latest technology available. Yet, the whole place is packed weeks before exams, as the competition between the local students can be very harsh.
Sunset at HKUST campus
3.2 Accommodation The apartments are fairly new as the construction of the university began in 1989. There are total of nine buildings (called “halls”) in the campus area. The quality between the oldest (Hall I and II) and the newest (Hall VIII and IX) buildings is considerable, since the newest were just built a couple of years ago. For example, while in the newest halls you share a bathroom with your roommate and another room (total of 4 people), in the older halls it is possible to share the bathroom with the whole floor. Hence, it is recommended to apply for the Halls VII-IX. We did so too, however only one of us got to the newer Hall. Nevertheless, the rooms are very similar in all of the apartments, and if you are taller than average-sized Finn it can be a struggle to try and sleep in the short beds they have to offer. However, even though the room is very tiny and primitive you won’t probably spend too much time there to get bothered by it. First things you should get once you have your apartment are a Student ID card, Octopus card and a prepaid SIM card. Instructions to get the Student ID and Octopus card are given to you with your welcoming info packages. Student ID card is used to washing machines and AC, while with Octopus card you can pay all the small transactions in HK, including MTR with the student discount, shopping, groceries et cetera. It is highly convenient. There are many different companies offering prepaid SIM-cards in HK. We used China Mobile and CSL, and both worked as they should. Basically, every shopping mall has all the mobile companies’ stands and every MTR station has a mall inside, so finding a prepaid card shouldn’t be too hard. The living and sleeping habits of the local people can be very different for what we are used to. Most of them are on their own for the first time and they do take all out of it. Even though the locals don’t drink, they can be very loud at nights playing games on the hallways etc. Likewise, they have different societies and they spend first months endorsing loudly their society in the public places in campus. For the first couple of times it’s amusing, but later rather annoying. Anyhow, it is interesting to see these different characteristics even though half a year is quite short time to really get into that student culture. While spending nights on the campus, you need to check out the views from the rooftops. The easiest place is the LSK building, however if you’re an adventurer you can find a fine variety of accessible rooftops on the campus.
The view from main building
4 Courses
In HKUST you can choose courses from Business school and from all the other schools e.g. we chose courses from humanities, computer science and the division of environment. HKUST is similar to Aalto in way that they offer programs that combine courses from different schools like ENVR program. The required amount of credits to fulfill the exchange is 15, and most of the courses gives you 3 credits. There are also some advanced level 4 credit courses, so with a careful planning you can make the requirement with only 4 courses. Some courses in HKUST have prerequisites but it is actually pretty easy for an exchanger to get into any course if you go talk to the professors. The courses are chosen before you Mong Kok at night go to Hong Kong and the first two weeks of semester are add/drop period during which you can change your courses. There are also waiting lists for every course for your help to get a better picture whether you have a chance to get in or not. Local students tend to sign on on many courses so sometimes you can get in even from the bottom of the waiting list. If you really want/need to get into a course you should go visit the study coordinator Wendy, who is very helpful and wants everything running smoothly for exchangers. Most of the courses in HKUST have two lectures per week and some might have a tutorial or laboratory session on top of that. The lectures are arranged from 9am to 18pm and if you want to have school only on couple of days per week you probably need to run from class to class the whole day. There are no lunch break in HKUST and breaks between lectures are only 10 minutes and you probably need to change buildings. The courses in HKUST are fairly easy to pass and compared to Aalto the teaching methods are much more practical. Finance courses are though another story, very competitive and demanding even compared to Aalto. On the other hand, the department of finance in HKUST is the best in Asia in any criteria and top 10 in the world. All the courses offered in HKUST in 2015-2016 can be found here: https://w5.ab.ust.hk/wcq/cgi-bin/1510/
MGMT Judgement and Decision Making in Organizations, 4cr Difficulty: Very Easy
Workload: Very Low
This was by far the easiest course in our experience. The course outlined systematic frameworks for decision-making (like decision trees) and described different biases that influence the decision making process. Practically the whole course was made around some logical problems and how to solve them by using some very easy and straightforward tools. Carmen Ng is a young and energetic professor, however her English isn’t that good. The course had two lectures per week, two easy exams where you could bring all your notes with you, a short presentation with a team of seven people and one individual assignment. Usefulness can be questioned, but this course is a fine choice if you want to have some slack in your studies.
GBUS 3050 Deal Making in Asia and Emerging Markets, 3cr Difficulty: Easy Workload: Medium Surely the best course during the exchange. An interactive, case based course held by two award-winning American professors, Professor Larry Franklin and Professor Steven Nason. The first part was going through actual investment deals in Asia made by the professor himself, and in the second part we practiced negotiation skills in different culture and deal settings. A very useful course for learning about the cultural differences between countries, as well as their implications for doing business in Asia. The course had two lectures a week, for which a little preparation was needed. The participants were mostly exchange students, and the course had one bigger group case study and presentation, and a quite straight-forward mid-term and final exam.
ECON3014 Managerial Microeconomics, 4cr Difficulty: Medium
Workload: Medium
An economics course, held by a Chinese Professor, Yan Yu. The course first covered microeconomic theories such as the demand-supply model, different market structures and game theory, and then their managerial implications. The prerequisite is a Microeconomics course which I hadn’t done, but the professor let me in after talking to her, as I had done the Principles of Economics and Econometrics courses back at home. Overall the course was useful for recalling basic economic concepts and learning new implications for them, especially in a global setting. During the whole length of the course we completed group assignments about a company of our group’s choice with regard to the covered economic topics. Deadlines for these were about every two to three weeks. On the last week we had group presentations summarizing all these assignments. The course had two lectures a week as well as a tutorial every other week, which earned you extra points but was not mandatory. Participation to lectures was monitored but didn’t have much effect on the grade. There was an easy mid-term exam and a quite difficult final exam.
MARK 3420 Consumer Behavior, 4cr Difficulty: Easy Workload: Low A basic, common knowledge course with lots of new terminology for a non-marketing student, but anyhow quite easy overall. The evaluation consisted of two group projects, and three in-class exams, no actual final exam. Participation was monitored but did not have much of an effect on the grade. Two or three lecture groups were offered but I highly recommend taking Professor Salvacruz’s group, as he made an effort to make the topics more interactive and interesting. Due to the course’s popularity, I had some trouble getting in, but persistence paid off in the end. Overall the course was useful especially someone not so aware of marketing, to learn basic marketing thinking and concepts on a general knowledge level.
HUMA 2570 East Asia and the West: Cultures in contact, 3cr Difficulty: Hard
Workload: Massive
A history course from the school of humanities that gave a very detailed picture of the collisions between eastern and western cultures from the missionary trips of Matteo Ricci in 14th century to the founding of the People’s Republic of China and the Korean War. The course’s main focus is in the cultural, political and economic contacts of China and
Japan with the West. It was very interesting course and gave great insight into the not as known Chinese and Japanese history and cultural development, at least for a Westerner. There were four tutorials with compulsory participation during the semester but missing one did not have big influence on the grade. In every tutorial one group handed their essay and gave a presentation of their work that accounted for one fourth of the grade. The rest of the grade came from the mid-term (25%) and the final exam (50%), which were both very intensive rushes against the time limit testing your memorization. For every lecture there were assigned readings that totaled for more than 1,000 pages and it was tested combined with the lecture materials in the exams. If you are not threatened of the massive mountain of readings and are keen to learn from the Eastern history I would definitely recommend this course.
ISOM 3180 Telecommunications and Computer Network Management, 3cr Difficulty: Easy
Workload: Very Low
Before taking the course I had no clue what happens when I connect my laptop to internet or how I am able to send messages to a computer on the other side of the world. I just took that all as given. Now that I know how everything works in practice I would recommend this short but detailed introduction into the world of telecommunication and computer networks. The first course handles IP- and MAC-addresses, common network types with internetworking devices, and the functions of OSI Model Layers, in other words “How information flows inside a computer when you give commands to it?” There is once a week laboratory session where hands on experiments of network management are conducted. There is no participation requirements for lectures or labs but Professor Percy Diaz is awarded for his teaching and he has surely earned those awards with his thorough and clear visualization of rather complicated stuff and the ability to make all the lectures exciting. The grade of the course contains exercises, very easy and light workload, mid-term and final exam, both easy as well. Even for someone with no idea of networks or telecommunications the course is very easy to handle and useful for anyone living in today’s information society. After the course every participant gets a CISCO CCNA industrial certification, nice mark for resume.
ISOM 3230 Business Applications Programming, 3cr Difficulty: Quiet Hard
Workload: Demanding
A really useful course that introduces the world of programming business applications with Visual Basics and VBA programming languages. The course begins from the basics of programming and program designing, introduces first the more developed programming language Visual Basics and then continues to VBA programming with Microsoft Excel. Especially the VBA programming is very useful tool for every business professional who need to do anything with Microsoft Excel. For a student who has no previous experience from programming this course is more demanding and requires lots of training since the only way to learn to program is actually doing it. I had taken the Introduction to Programming course from Aalto, which made the course a lot easier for me. The teaching method used in this course was “Blended Learning” and it consisted of one face-to-face lecture, laboratory session and video lecture per week. There was no participation requirements but the in-class exercises handed in the lectures were really useful for practicing and in the labs we programmed every week different business application program. The course had its own website where all the video lecture clips were posted and accessible during the whole course. The grade was a sum of weekly quizzes, individual assignment, two lab assessments, group assignment, midterm and final exam. Also some extra points could be earned for active participation in lectures and on the course internet forum.
ENVR 4320 Corporate Environmental Accounting and Reporting, 3cr Difficulty: Easy
Workload: Medium
Very hands on course from the Division of Environment, taking a look into the reporting and accounting of corporate Environmental, Social and Governance matters. Professor Robert Gibson has very solid knowledge of these matters after working couple decades in the largest corporations in Hong Kong handling their ESG management. The company environmental and social responsibilities have been drawing more and more public attention forcing them to begin ESG reporting and management. During the course different ESG reporting methods and management tools become familiar and every group gets to present two tools or reporting methods in front of the class. There is also a group project where every team is handed a large Hong Kong company and instructed to make a poster of their company’s ESG management and reporting that are presented on the last lecture. During the project every team schedules a meeting with their company’s ESG executive, which gives a great opportunity to get a first-hand information. There is only a couple lectures per week and no compulsory participation. The mid-term of this course is only 10% of the grade and actually just a preparation for the final exam.
ISOM 1380 Technology and Innovation: Social and Business Perspectives Difficulty: Medium
Workload: Medium
Developing new technology and innovation is increasingly important in today’s competitive and global field. Professor Jeevan Jaisingh made sure that every person who attended his course knew the value of good innovation and how that impacts to every aspect of the company (and society) before we were done. The course provided an overview on how businesses develop and adopt new technology, and how to manage and create strategies for enforcing innovation. Professor Jaisingh used a great amount of examples, cases, to demonstrate how well known companies had succeeded or failed in their innovation processes and strategies. A potential course for everyone, because it adds value to your knowledge no matter what you are interested or what your major is. The course has two exams and a semi large group project, which require some studying to pass the course.
ISOM 2030 Business Protections for Innovation Difficulty: Easy
Workload: Very Low
Intellectual property rights (IPR) has a great impact on innovation development and society. This course explores approaches that companies can use to effectively protect and capitalize on their innovative ideas for creating value for society. Also it examines ways that firms can get around barriers to innovation protection in order to quickly copy or reverse engineer new product or process innovations. The lectures are based on business case discussion, mostly from U.S., that reflects assigned readings on the basic aspects of business innovation protection, and the attendance is not compulsory. The grade consists of one individual assignment, midterm and final exam, so the workload is minimum compared to any other course. Professor Clark is very experienced guy having degrees in Engineering (BS), Law (JD), Business (Harvard MBA) and IS Management (Harvard DBA). I would recommend this course for any business student since it gives you a good understanding what it takes to protect innovations and business ideas, which is probably the most important thing if you want to start and expand your own business worldwide.
5 Leisure time and travelling
5.1 What to experience in Hong Kong Hong Kong has a lot to offer for anyone. The city is already quite an attraction itself with more skyscrapers than anywhere in the world, and a beautiful natural harbor separates Hong Kong Island from the Kowloon side creating two expansive skylines. The most important sights are Victoria Peak, Avenue of Stars and the Big Buddha on Lantau Island. Mong Kok is also worth experiencing for more traditional Chinese culture and its various markets. Ladies market sells anything from shoes and accessories to mobile phone chargers, and Fa Yuen Street or ‘Sneaker Street’ is the right place for those new Nikes. On Hong Kong Island, SoHo is an interesting place to see, with the famous Mid-Levels escalator system and countless art galleries, restaurants and cocktail bars. A definite to do in Hong Kong is also hiking around the various trails, with Lion Rock and Dragon’s back being the most renowned of the extensive offering. Googling often provides you with quite specific instructions about the trails, so you are good to go even without a local. Apart from the standard tourist attractions, Hong Kong is also home to many unique, interesting locations that are worthwhile exploring. Beside the HKUST campus is Sai Kung, a small fishing village with plenty of small cafes and the best seafood in town. From there it is also possible to rent kayaks and boats to explore the surrounding archipelago by sea. There is a direct bus to Sai Kung from HKUST Campus that takes only about 10 minutes. Kowloon City is another intriguing district, being home to many Asian immigrants. In the refreshing atmosphere of new and modern can be found the best Vietnamese and Thai restaurants, and the place is often referred to as Hong Kong's “Little Thailand".
Wednesday races at Happy Valley
Nightlife in Hong Kong is very fun, and exchange students also seem to take part in it quite actively. On Wednesdays it’s a great way to start the night watching the horse races at Happy Valley racecourse, and later continuing out to the bars in Wan Chai district. On other days going out concentrates to an area in central called Lan Kwai Fong or ‘LKF’, with plenty of bars and clubs. Drinking on the street is legal and extremely common and a large share of people end up enjoying the offerings of 7/11 for most of the night. Ladies’ nights are often held on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Hong Kong ‘s shopping possibilities are endless, with malls rising from every MTR station and their surroundings. There is a large variety of Chinese, Asian, Australian, US and European products; however western brands tend to be quite expensive. Best shopping areas are probably Causeway Bay, Tsim Sha Tsui, Central and Mong Kok.
5.2 Travelling from Hong Kong Once you feel like getting out of Hong Kong for a bit, the possibilities for one or two day trips are vast. Lamma Island is a popular place for Hongkongers to escape the buzz of the city, with a tranquil village, seafood restaurants and walking trails just a short ferry ride away from the city. It is also very easy to head to Macau from Hong Kong for a night to try your luck at gambling or experience the world’s highest bungee jump. For something completely different you can take the subway north up to Shenzhen, for cheap shopping and a real feel of China.
Travelling from Hong Kong is quite easy, with Hong Kong International Airport being one of the busiest in Asia. Flights are around 150-300 euros within Asia from Hong Kong. For flight deals I would recommend to keep an eye on Cathay Pacific’s FanFares, which are released every Tuesday morning at 8am. We all travelled for a month before starting the exchange, and did quite a few trips during the semester as well. Best travel times depend on the season of the destination. January to March I would recommend to visit warmer locations in Asia such as Thailand, Southern Vietnam, Laos, and the Philippines. As the spring time commences, Indonesia, Northern Vietnam, Mainland China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan offer interesting travel opportunities. Most memorable experiences and places for us were probably seeing the Great Wall, the Temples of Angkor Wat, El Nido in the Philippines, 4.000 Islands in Laos, Ho Chi Minh City and surfing in Bali.
6 Conclusion All in all, Hong Kong is a unique place to spend the exchange. It offers large variety of contrary things; being the tensest city in the World but also containing wild jungle mountains to hike. Hong Kong has the most ridiculous shopping malls and high-end restaurants but also very well priced, amazing street food -and markets. Local people can be very hard to get close to, but the city also has its own expat culture to enjoy. We all appreciated the chance to take a weekend trip to somewhere totally different from Hong Kong and see that Asia isn’t one after all. Hence, if you’re an adventurer and enjoy feeling and learning other cultures but also would like to spend the half year in a strongly business-oriented atmosphere, Hong Kong is your place to be.
View from the Lion’s Rock
