HKUST: Transportation To and From the Hong Kong Airport

To help with your transportation from the airport to HKUST,  please find a break down of the route  options linked below:

http://incob.apbionet.org/incob07/gettingtohkust.pdf

If you've just gotten off a long flight and have several suitcases, I recommend taking the taxi. It's not worth the hassle of going through the language barrier, fumbling with your luggage on public transportation, and dealing with multiple transfers, especially since HKUST is far away.

I found that my taxi driver didn't understand "Hong Kong University of Science and Technology". If your tax driver can't understand English, HKUST is written "香港科技大學." You can print this phrase on a slip of paper before you leave for Hong Kong. The closest way of saying this in English is "Fo gae dai hok"

Finding your way around HKUST Campus: The Elevator Map

The Path Advisor is a digital map of the elevators and building numbers on HKUST's campus. The elevator or "lift" number acts as an address to help narrow down where your classroom will be. Classrooms were difficult to find without the app because the campus is intricate, with multiple elevators and hallways that take you that can take you to the same area.

For those of you with a smartphone, you can download HKUST's free Path Advisor App here:
https://itunes.apple.com/hk/app/m.hkust/id332536360?mt=8

If not, you can also use the online Path Advisor here:
http://pathadvisor.ust.hk/

If you are coming from the airport, you will likely be arriving at HKUST's North Bus Stop.

From the the North Bus Stop, you'll take a short walk up to UST's Atrium.  Then, there are usually a series of elevators you'll need to take to reach the dorms or classrooms. I've included a screenshot of this path below using the online Path Advisor tool, but the app works much better than the website.


North Bus Stop > Hall IX Example

HKUST was supposedly designed so that all of the classrooms and buildings connect with one another. While this can be convenient if you know where you're going, it can also be a nightmare trying to find your classroom. Try to do a little exploring on your own to find shortcuts between classes.

HKUST Course Reviews and Recommendations

In general, you'll find that the "easiest" courses at HKUST tend to be the Marketing or Management courses. Here are my thoughts on the courses I've personally taken:

MGMT 2120 Business, Society, and the Individual

• 1 unit course that met for 1 hour and 50 minutes once every week for 6 weeks
• Instructor: Jinyu He
• Assessment breakdown: 
• Participation 46%
• Personal Reflection logs (3) 54%
• Very easy discussion based course with no homework or reading aside from the personal reflection logs.
• The professor was mediocre. The material of the course focused on business ethics and was interesting, but he wasn't the best at stimulating discussions. He attempts to ask open ended questions, but more often than not, he already has a set answer he looks for. 
• Easy A? Probably. Just don't skip class and you'll be fine. Skipping as much as one class period could drop your grade by a whole letter and a half because the average is usually really high for this class. 

MGMT 2110 Organizational behavior

• Instructor: Jing Zhu
• Assessment breakdown:
• Exam I: 20% (80 points)
• Exam II: 25% (100 points)
• Group Project: 30% (120 points)
• Class Participation: 19% (76 points)
• Research Participation: 6% (24 points)
• Pop Quiz: 10 bonus points if all pop quiz scores are 100%
• The instructor is a fair and her exams are fair as well. I didn't find her class to be particularly hard or easy. It was just exactly what you would expect from an entry level course. The material itself isn't challenging and the professor likes to use a lot of real world examples, video clips, and stories to engage her class. 

MGMT 3240 Negotiations

• Instructor: Stephen Nason
• Assessment breakdown:
• Exam 1: 35%
• Exam 2: 35%
• Negotiation results: 5%
• Negotiation quizzes: 5%
• Participation: 10%
• Attendance: 10%
• This my favorite course I've taken at HKUST by far. The professor makes the class super interactive with real negotiations every week and you learn a lot without having to do a lot. You don't need to buy the textbook, but I think having the textbook does help you negotiate better deals if you do the reading. The course content is practical and easily applicable to every day life. 

MARK 3220 Marketing Research

• Instructor: Ralph Van Der Lans
• Assessment breakdown:
• Quiz 1 (best of 3): 100 points
• Quiz 2 (2nd best of 3): 100 points
• Participation: 40 points
• Group Project
• Presentation: 60 points
• Reports: 190
• Marketing Experiment: 10 points
• This class is quite work intensive, especially if you don't end up with a good group to work with. You'll essentially be writing a 25 page marketing research report, designing/implementing a research method strategy, and drawing conclusions through statistical analysis. You do all this in addition to studying for the 3 quizzes and preparing for your project presentation. It's a great class, but not for travelers. 

MARK 3430 Global Marketing

• Instructor: Kristiaan Helsen
• Assessment breakdown:
• Class participation: 10%
• Pop quizzes: 3%
• Research credit: 2%
• Quiz 1: 10%
• Quiz 2: 35%
• Group assignments: 10%
• Project: 30%
• Interim (5%)
• Presentation (10%)
• Final report (15)%
• The class lectures can be slow and his textbook is dense and difficult to read. The material itself is interesting and the professor often draws on case studies around the world. He's actually a pretty difficult grader when it comes to the final project. Tip for the final presentation: He really really likes teams to have interactive presentations to engage the audience.

Course reviews pending....

MGMT 4220 - Entrepreneurship and Small Business Studies

ISOM 3100 - Business Simulation

MARK 3420 - Consumer Behavior

MARK 2120 - Marketing Management

Some light-load courses recommended to me by other exchange students:

CIVL 3700 - Engineering Geology for Civil Engineers

• Website: http://ihome.ust.hk/~gwang/CIVL3700.html

MGMT 1120 - Developing the Leader in You
MARK 1230 - Consumerism and Happiness


Other courses to consider:

• Operations management
• Introduction to Computing with Excel VBA
• GBUS 3050 - Deal Making in Asia and Emerging Markets
• This course is like the upper division version of MGMT 3240 Negotiations. Generally, GBUS (or Global Business) courses are known to be very competitive and rigorous but it seemed like a lot of exchange students took this course my Spring semester and enjoyed it.
  

Connecting to the Internet/Wifi in HKUST's Dorms

When you arrive at your HKUST dorm, you should have a sheet of instructions taped or pinned to a desk bulletin board guiding you through the internet connecting process.

 If you're anything like me, you'll probably struggle to connect to the Wifi and perhaps you'll slowly start to realize one of the following:

• You've moved into your dorm early and won't be able to ask advisor about the Internet until orientation, a few days before school starts. 
• You've gone on to asking random staff members around your hall for help, but for some reason you can't get a straight answer out of them.
• Your plan to mingle with locals suddenly seems far too intimidating and better left for another day when you're much less vulnerable.
• You might be technologically challenged.
• You've read the instructions ten times and each time you've asked yourself, "What the heck is an ITSC account?!"

Fear no more! Here's what you have to do to: 

1. Activate your HKUST ITSC account.
• Either go online to the ITSC Activation Website
• OR go to an "Express Station" and click the button for "Enquiry for Student A/C'
• Enter your HKUST student ID number and your HK ID or your birth date
• Click submit
• You'll be asked to create a new password for your ITSC account, but you can also just stick with the default. 
2. Follow the instructions posted on the bulletin board in your room, or, read them online here.
3. Sign into sMobileNet with your new ITSC info
• Your ITSC user should be the first part of your assigned HKUST email address
• For example: johndoe@stu.ust.edu
• Here, johndoe would be your ITSC username and your ITSC password would be whatever you created it to be. 
4. Congratulations! You should now be connected to the Internet!

Connecting via Ethernet:

http://itsc.ust.hk/services/general-it-services/connecting-to-network/resnet/how-to-connect-to-wired-resnet/

For more help, you can contact:

 Student Consultation
 Barn B (Rm 1101),
 Academic Concourse
 cchelp@ust.hk

 Staff Consultation
 Service Desk,
 Rm 2012, Lift 2 
 2358 6200
 cchelp@ust.hk

Giving Gifts and Receiving Gifts in Hong Kong

If you're lucky, some buddies will invite you over to their homes during special holidays like Chinese New Year's or the Mid-Autumn Festival. Know that an invitation to a home or a family gathering is an extremely rare and special privilege. Hong Kong homes are very small, so having an extra person over (and a stranger at that!) is a big deal. Show your respect to the family by bringing a gift to the hosts!

In general, the more expensive the event is for the host, the more substantial your gift should be. Bringing something is always better than bringing nothing at all.

Gift Ideas:

• Boxed cookies or a cake from any Hong Kong pastry shop

• The Ko Kei Bakery makes really great phoenix egg rolls, cookies, and crackers from Macau that make for nicely boxed for gifts. 
• Fresh fruit cakes and pastries can be bought at any bakery in Hong Kong

A small cake or dessert type item would be positively received.

• 
  Fruit
• Usually appropriate for more informal dinners or if you are closer to the host family.
• Something unique from your home country/state
• Trail mix, nuts, or vitamins for older people
• These are really expensive in Hong Kong. Especially macadamia nuts! If you can purchase them from your home country, sharing them with the host family or even local students will be really special. 
• Chocolate covered nuts or fruit would also be something special you can bring.
• In general, good gifts when visiting a home are the ones that the entire family can use.

For Weddings only:

• Give a red envelope with money, instead of a gift.
• Make sure the chinese characters on the red envelope does not have Chinese New Year phrases written on them
• Chinese New Year Envelopes typically say: 新年快樂 or 恭喜發財
• A long vertical red envelope with the double happiness characters "喜喜" is the most traditional for weddings.
• The dollar amount ranges from $500 HKD minimum to around $1000 HKD minimum
• Generally:
• $500 HKD min. - Regular Chinese restaurant
• $1000 HKD min. - Hotel banquet hall and/or if they are your good friend
• Use crisp, new, and unfolded bills.

A red envelope with the double happiness characters "喜喜" 

General Gift Giving Etiquette

• Give the gift with both hands for politeness
• Remove the price tag
• Boxed sets or nicely packaged items are more appreciated. Gift bags or wrapping paper will take you further if you want to make the best impression.
• Either present the gift to the individual personally in private or, to the whole group/family.
• It may be taken as rude if you try to give a gift to only one person in front of everyone else.
• Eight is a lucky number. Whenever possible, especially for money, quantities of eight are the best.
• If a card will be included, never use a red pen to write your message.

Receiving Gifts

• Receive gifts with both hands for politeness
• Do not open the gift immediately. 
• If a family takes you out to dinner, you will not be expected to pay. However, you can make sure to show a little modesty by offering to pay for the whole dinner or to chip in for your share. 

What Not To Do:

• Never give a gift in quantities of four because it the number four sounds like "death" in Chinese.
• Don't give sharp objects, clocks, handkerchiefs, green hats, straw sandals, bells, or cut flowers.
• Don't wrap gifts with white, black, or blue because it represents mourning.

Arriving at HKUST: What to Buy, What to Do

If you were assigned an exchange buddy to help you out, your buddy will probably take you to IKEA and also suggest the things that they think you'll need. It would be best to buy these as soon as possible after your arrival.

Here are a few things that you should pick up in the city as soon as you get the chance. Your buddy will probably have a list of suggestions ready for you but just in case he/she doesn't, feel free to use what I have below as a general guideline.

1. Octopus card

• You'll be able to use this card for the MTR, public buses, and grocery markets, convenience stores and even our school cafetera. 
• First, go to any MTR station and ask for the Student Octopus form. Fill it out, have the school give you the required stamp from the Academic Records and Registration Office, and return the form the nearest MTR station. For convenience, I recommend checking "Hang Hau" or "Choi Hong" as the preferred pick up location. 
• You'll be paying $90 HKD up front for the student octopus card. $20 HKD for non-refundable admin. fees and a $50 HKD dollar deposit.
• After you return the form, ask for a temporary student octopus so you can use it while the card processes. 

2. Sim Card and/or Cell phone

• If you don't have a cell phone that works with a sim card, you can purchase a cheap cell phone in Hong Kong. I've heard that data plans are also available for those who want it. 

3. Pillows, blankets, bed sheets

• Your buddy will probably take you to the Ikea in Kowloon Bay to buy cheap dorm essentials. If you don't have a buddy to show you how to get there, go to http://www.ikea.com/hk/en/store/kowloon_bay for directions. The easiest way is to take the MTR to Kowloon Bay Station, Exit A, and take the free Megabox shuttle bus just outside of Telford Plaza II.

4. Cups, bowls, cutlery (Or borrow from dining hall)

• Once you start missing food from home, you'll start buying things to eat from the campus grocery store (called the Park N' Shop). Case in point: Cereal and milk, PB&J sandwiches, fruit. 

5. Handsoap, dishwashing sponge

• I never used the soap they provided in the Hall V bathrooms because the soap dispenser was always located right next to the dirty mop that the janitorial staff used to clean the toilets with. Plus, if you're in Hall V and you have a sink in your room, it's just nice to have some soap there because it can double as your soap for washing dirty dishes. 
• The dishwashing sponge comes in handy for cleaning. Get one, it's cheap!

6. Tempo tissues

• The Tempo brand is the local favorite. 4-ply portable tissue and toilet paper. It's strong, soft but not too soft, and you can't go wrong with an economy pack of these. 

7. Clothes hangers

• It's cheap at Ikea! 

8. Student ID

• You can get this during orientation, but I would get it earlier to avoid the crowd. Keep in mind that the day you go into the Academic Records and Registration Office to apply for your ID, you'll have your ID picture taken and printed immediately after.

9.  Towel, body wash, toiletries, toiletry basket/bag, bathroom slippers

• The toiletry basket is useful for carrying your toiletries in and out of the shower. 
• If you didn't bring flip flops, bathroom slippers are a must! The showers get unbelievably dirty, so it's better to protect yourself from foot fungus!

10. Laundry detergent, laundry hamper/bag

• Hall V provides a red tub of free laundry detergent leftover from previous dorm tenants. All of the Hong Kong brand detergents will be unscented so if you're particular, go with the American brands like Tide.
• Also, try and pick a hamper with stand attached to it because it'll make loading/unloading clothes easier from the tall dryers.  I recommend this cheap IKEA one named JÄLL:

11. Download HKUST's Path Advisor app.

• For detailed instructions, see my post here. 

Golden Rice Bowl (Special): Xia Men Fried Rice Noodle

This doesn't taste too great. It was stir-fried rice noodles with scrambled egg, slices of fish cake, ham, cabbage, onions and carrots. The sauce they used tasted a little bit like ketchup for some reason and was similar to the watered-down version of the sauce they use for Golden Rice Bowl's Shredded Chicken Fried Spaghetti. I used Sriracha sauce to make it taste better, but I don't think I would get this again...