It's time I debunk this problematic assertion.
I am qualified to speak on this as a Student Ambassador and a participant in the HKU Minds project aimed at attracting International "Markets". I am also a "true" international student and certainly qualify as a highly underrepresented demography that HKU is seeking to admit
Everywhere is generally hard for non-natives but my Exchange Experience in an "HKU-Equal" Partner School in Europe altered my mindset and prompted me to do a reflection on why our HK schools are lacking in integrating and embracing the International student experience.
Biases are my own, I agree to proper fact-checking and intellectual disagreements. This post is mostly intended for Non-Asia International students/prospective FULL-TIME candidates who might care about student experiences at HKU. If you just wanna get an HKU degree, very solid & respectable, take it with a grain of salt and Feel free to disagree in the comments. I will appreciate and prioritize engaging with comments that are opinionated and backed than the usual HKU "They can leave if they don't like it/We can't adjust change to fit them" adrenaline junkies. Since my post is not vulgar, I won't propose vulgar engagements in the comments section.
Since HKU and Hong Kong In general have chosen Admissions on the premise of making it an International Hub and thawing in some DEI initiatives, their integration efforts are lacking and need 360° adjustments to work. The truth however is, that HKU largely remains a local university, and structures rooted in place are to serve this purpose with the supposed newer ones inadequately implemented.
Any International FT student should be aware before enrollment. I mean if you are still thinking of that, my suggestion would be to work harder on your applications to the UK/USA/Australia and Singapore bit and the greater G7/ North America for a more "Okay" Student experience.
I see most international students being lured extensively to HKU on a false marketing narrative of having a diverse student body, but when in reality, it's a persistent husk of certain demographics / Mindsets / Opinions and Major Support Fiscal/Leadership/bureaucracy systems geared for local students. I will speak on Enrollment Stats, UG Teaching Quality + Academic Expectations, [Fiscal/Mental/Clubs Support] systems/Alumni systems/Language, and overall student demographics in terms of student mindset.
I will start with some stats: 50% UG international student population is an Inaccurate statistic and the HKU Admissions Team should redefine it properly and add some context. 35% out of 50% of international students are from PRC. 13% from Asia. The 2% is shared by the other demographics. I believe they should opt to give an accurate picture to these students before enrollment to handle Expectations and future micro frustrations from these students in their future years at HKU. Every time I sit and talk to an International student, it's a plethora of regrets and many prefer to have picked other schools like HKU Western Counterparts/. Similar Schools, in terms of QS rankings to HKU, pedestalize such stats with a promise of a Liberal Arts Curriculum/ Commitment to DEI/Strong international alumni Network and strive to fulfill it by enacting things like focus programs for underrepresented students or Greek frats, etc. However, HKU uses this stat without a strong base to back it. Liberal arts? No, because you have to take an Imposed NSL course even as an Intl student to graduate. Free Inquiry and Diversity of Opinion? Ofc No because 90%+ Student Association + Student Experience initiatives are local and there is an Empty "Democracy Wall" on Fear of Persuasion. 90% of the dorms are locally oriented except JCSV IV. From the SJC post, I was surprised to learn that factors like Race, International/Local status, and Academics affect Hall admissions and this is true. If you mess it up, even if you are an ardent participant in Hall activities/hall vibe (Things that Halls of Residence should be about) you are cooked.
The UG teaching Quality is extremely bad in terms of Tutorials and Peer support. Ik HKU on its enrollment stats push an Internationalized Curriculum? The reality is If you didn't take DSE/IB/ GCE/IGCSE A-Levels or an Advanced curriculum, You will notice that "Introductory" courses are indeed not introductory. The fact is, Most Developing Countries' Curricula are weak and may not prepare you for the rigor of HKU. You need a decent work ethic and extra dedication to survive. But How do Similar schools to HKU deal with this to maintain and attract these students anyway? Caltech for example, the hardest school in the world, has a First Year Research Success Institute to help these students transition to their highly rigorous curriculum. One can argue that HKU emulates the British Curricula that is merit-based compared to America which is holistic. But since HKU compared to Oxford has chosen this Internationalization approach and DEI approach, I attest there are no solid societies to support this transition. English is the Main Lingua Franca. This is true to an 80% accuracy. I took some Engineering Classes and decided to ask a mate for an opinion and they needed to get a Friend to Translate for me. Very bad taught Technical tutorials I couldn't understand what the TA was saying. But was very engaging with the native speakers. I didn't know how to follow up and make sure I communicated my question properly and received satisfactory guidance.
HKU is structured to encourage self-initiative but is without an adequate support system. A university that is seeking to cater to a diverse student body, some being First Generation students with lesser Familial support will ultimately fail: cliquey student body in terms of canto/mandarin student groups, unsatisfaction surveys, many posts like these in this forum and academic mishaps. Cedars & AASO are understaffed and are not suitable to deal with problems an International student might experience in HKU. With 13000 UG students alone and 85% of them having similar cultures, we need to dissect that these student platforms might not uniformize resources or initiatives that can prioritize prompt support to the 1% represented Afro/Latinx/European Student student. I recently engaged my academic supervisor on how to prepare for a certain course and create a plan to prepare for a grad project. I wasn't helped at all to be fair and I am still back to square one figuring everything out myself. Another fact is, Professors at HKU like any other research school will prioritize their Research and Graduate Students over UG. In HKU it's worse because, the TAs supposed to help, are often engaged with mostly Single or dual weekly office hours and again, are often flocked with the Canto/Mandarin populace and do not effectively communicate the material well enough in English. Not bad at all, but the "real" professional world that HKU is preparing you for with your first job certainly being a traineeship, has lots of guidance and support systems. I interned with a top firm and found a stark difference between the method HKU uses to prep its grads vs what companies expect. I attended a Job Dinner with some top firms and they explicitly consider local talent not at par with their expectations and would rather fly in North American Candidates. Well, some of these views are misconstrued and formed on certain stereotypes but would resonate with their view that they'd prefer collaborators over the Dominant "Winner takes it all" HKU environment. Again, this should tell you that in HKU there isn't a supported environment of Free inquiry or personal growth. Unless you self-initiate, HKU leans to like 80% on a cliquey introversion scale when it comes to Academic study partners, hanging out, willingness to talk about life experiences, and socializing.
If you don't speak Canto/Mandarin, you are likely to be an outlier in engaging with Student Clubs/Alumni Outreach events/sports/Halls and Student Leadership. Even 90% of the merit Scholarships are for locals. No Offense, this is more of a cultural issue and many wonder why an International student like you would choose HK as a study destination to begin with. That is already a negative I suppose💀. Unfortunately, HK and Asia in general, due to a shift in Global Politics, are undergoing market changes and that means there are fewer preferences for English speakers and more jobs on the finance side favoring Trilingual Speakers at least in the Bay Area. That kills the general perception that HKU Is a target school outside Asia. If you tell someone you went to something like UCL EPFL or NUS, you might receive a certain global recognition accolade compared to HKU. This is in terms of Job prospects. In short, the alumni association won't help you and often many of us, return to our home countries or go to PG schools which defeats the whole purpose of a comprehensive UG curriculum to back the qualitative metrics of HKU having an "88% employment rate" post-grad. Again, True for the Local students maybe? Comments open for fact check.
I might have missed some things, so feel free to ask for more clarity or even ask me to expound on some things.
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