This is one of the most mind-expanding courses I have ever taken. Initially, I trained my focus on the humanities, i.e., history, literature, society, and music, and I never considered business within this field of vision. However, this course gave me a general idea of this particular field of study, like how to analyze the market, how a business presentation should proceed, how we can impress clients, and so on. I would say that this course is an arts course that looks like a business course. Although this is not my area of focus, this course has certainly broadened my horizons, and provided me with practical knowledge that I could use in the future. Secondly, this has given me valuable experience of what university life is. I had a taste of the relatively liberal learning environment, as well as some routine coursework such as presentations and group projects.
Most importantly, I gained insight into my own shortfalls and how I can learn more efficiently. Honestly, I was overwhelmed by some of the presentations since their content and structure are much more sophisticated than I expected, to the extent that I often questioned whether I was suitable for this course. Nonetheless, I tried to observe and learn from my peers by incorporating my own limited knowledge into the coursework. This learning process opened my eyes, but ultimately proved to be meaningful and rewarding. Once, after my reading presentation, the professor praised my performance in front of the class - this was a tremendous encouragement for me. This gave me the confidence to tackle any problems I might encounter when studying at university.
The Summer Institute gave me the opportunity to see the University of Hong Kong from different and interesting perspectives. The staff at HKU are truly very kind, both the teachers and teaching assistants. Whenever I had any questions, they would respond very quickly and they were always willing to help. The discussions in our class were constantly intellectually stimulating. Simply put, I had a very good two-week summer school. Although I could not go to the University of Hong Kong to experience it in person, the video meetings on Zoom made me feel that it was worthwhile to attend the Summer Institute.
With the spread of COVID-19, the Summer Institute courses were carried out online this year. Although the course was only two weeks long, it was filled with academic tasks, and the excellent students in my group were inspiring each other to break through and become a better version of ourselves.
During the summer programme, we were able to study and discuss topics with students or graduate students from all over the world, an opportunity that’s difficult to come by under normal circumstances.
There were students from Australia, Peru, Taiwan, and Tsinghua University in my courses. Studying with them was a totally new and unprecedented experience for me.
After Dr. Sammy Fung's vivid and interesting explanation, the strange and dizzying figures and tables gradually became three-dimensional in my mind. Case after the case, I realized the difficulty of applying theoretical knowledge to practice. In just one week, Dr. Fung solved the problem I used to worry about -- facing my strange project, now I can confidently discuss the topics with my excellent partners in the group and even make suggestions and refutations. In the second week, Dr. Michael Chao patiently explained various data analysis tools, and constantly challenged us to ask questions.
