Academic experience
I studied Investments & Portfolio Management, International Financial Management, Money and Banking and Principle of Insurance. The reason why I studied聽finance related subjects was聽because Hong Kong being聽one of the most famous and well-developed finance centers around the world. Thereforem聽I could truly understand how finance affects the city image and people's life.聽
I find it pretty useful and intuitive that in CUHK there are聽more practical training in finance courses such as Simulating Market Game.
The students there were working so hard that I needed to have a better management of my time. With the time management skills聽I learnt from my dear roommate, I could enjoy the landscape of Hong Kong during my free time while catching up with my studies.
The enrollment process is similar to UQ's enrollment system but you do need to pay attention to the registration process. In most cases, the courses that聽got聽approved in the study plan by聽my faculty in聽UQ weren't聽open or didn't exist on CUHK 's system. Also, First-Come-First-Serve means that I needed to be 鈥渞obbing classes鈥� otherwise I would have to select others and wait for my faculty's approval of a new study plan.
Personal experience
I聽made a lot of new friends during the exchange. They were聽not only local students, but were also from India, Germany, France, Canada, mainland China, etc. We would go to the聽gym together, play聽Monopoly or PingPong, cook聽and of course, sharing interesting experiences with each other.
I have gone to 90% of the places in Hong Kong, and I聽find that Hong Kong is small but delicate锛� modern but cultured. The city center is surrounded by skyscrapers as you would聽see in movies. What surprises me is that there is a place聽called MacLehose Trail which is far away from the city and it's a hiking path with absolutely impressive scenes. My聽5 friends and I who were all聽exchange students went to hike聽and camp聽for two days. Enjoying the mountain views as well as the beach scenery. And I wouldn't tell you that we came across a wild boar which came to us and rob our food...
Accommodation
I live on campus. The college I chose is the newest one but was quite far away from teaching blocks. But there are many school buses and nearly all of the CUHK students rely on them to commute. And I do suggest you to choose C.W.Chu college if possible. Even though this college is relatively small compared to others, it鈥檚 quite warm and comfortable. We had a聽fitness room, activities room, TV room, laundry room, canteen and other modern facilities. One of the most special points of C.W.Chu college is that we had聽3 communal dinners per week and this is really a good opportunity for us to make fellowship! 聽The staff of the college was also聽nice to everyone. Whenever I needed help, they were always there for me. Overall, the accommodation experience in CUHK was awesome.
Costs
Accommodation :1200AUD per semester
Food: 7 AUD per meal
Transport: 聽1 -3AUD each time
Entertainment: Costs relatively the same as in Brisbane
Flight: 1000AUD round trip
I would recommend to budget 6000AUD for one semester exchange.
Challenge
The biggest challenge during my experience was that I needed to get used聽to the teaching and examination style of CUHK. They did聽not have lecture recordings and most of the classes did聽not have tutorials. Thus, I would have to attend every lecture and take notes. Essentially, after talking with lecturers and getting the assistance from local classmates, I was聽able to catch up with their learning pattern gradually.
Professional Development
In terms of professional development, I would say it鈥檚 operational skills in finance. As I mentioned above, Hong Kong is one of the biggest financial聽centers in the world. The professors in CUHK would put much more emphasis on real-world issues. 聽We have attended a series of workshops which were about how to interpret signals to the stock market performance, conduct simulations of trading derivatives and so on. It is of great usefulness for our professional development because we had聽hands-on experience on the real finance area.
Highlight
Hiking and camping in MacLehose Trail.
Tasting a聽thousand聽kinds of Chinese food.
Get to know about the living styles and culture of Hong Kong people and making聽friends with them.
Taking聽the聽chance to travel to mainland China.
Top tips
Not neccessary to take too many luggage because the living costs in HK is lower than in Australia and it鈥檚 super convenient to buy what you need.
Not to take too many compulsory courses or difficult courses because you should spend more time traveling or experiencing the life in HK.
The season in HK is totally opposite to Australia, so be aware of bringing clothes.
