07 Sep 2024
Keyi Xu, NBCK 2022 graduate, has excellent academic performance, with A* in many courses. She applied for interview invitations from Oxford University, Imperial College London, and many offers from QS top 20 universities in the world, such as University College London (UCL). In the end, she chose Hong Kong Polytechnic University as a fulcrum based on her own strengths in subjects and career development. With the help of the university's cutting-edge academic achievements in practical applications and engineering, she explored the path of self-development in her favorite engineering field. This article specially invites Xu Keyi, a current alumnus of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, to share her study life in Hong Kong schools based on the PRODUCT & INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING major, to help younger students clarify the direction of future school selection.
"The selection process was not too entangled for me at the time, but it was only after careful consideration and consideration of my own development that I decided to choose the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. In summary, there are three main comprehensive factors for making this decision.
The first factor is my own preference for the field of product design and my learning advantages in engineering-related courses such as physics. Since the AS stage, I found that learning physics is relatively easy for me, and the confidence brought by mastering knowledge has made me have a strong interest in engineering. During this process, the NBCK tutor also analyzed my professional aspirations for me. Combining my own abilities and actual professional admissions, the tutor and I jointly determined engineering as the future development direction. As one of the internationally recognized excellent universities in this field, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University has been among my target options from the beginning.
Secondly, a big reason for choosing Hong Kong Polytechnic University is that my logic of school selection always puts career fit first, because I am very clear about my personality and choice of future career planning, and product engineering itself is very consistent with my career planning. Among many universities, I noticed that the names of many majors are relatively general. Sometimes it is just a simple Engineering, which makes it difficult for people to see its specific learning and development direction at a glance. Many professional courses will not be launched until the postgraduate stage. The name of the major PRODUCT & INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING of Hong Kong Polytechnic University makes me feel particularly friendly. The name of the major clearly points out the future learning path and also points out the direction for my future career development. In addition, Hong Kong Polytechnic University is known as the "Hong Kong Technical School". This nickname not only reflects the school's high attention to practice, but also coincides with my understanding of engineering education.
The third reason is the charm of Hong Kong Polytechnic University itself. The first is the geographical advantage. I have always been optimistic about the future industrial development prospects of our country. I also believe that there is still a lot of room for development in the field of product industry. The international integration of Hong Kong, China, coupled with the close connection with the Greater Bay Area, the learning advantage of smooth information flow is obvious at a glance. Another thing is the resources that Hong Kong Polytechnic University provides to its students. Before I enrolled, I saw a lot of works by engineering students on the official website, ranging from simple glass product design to the framework setting of a cycling luggage system, which is exactly the project direction I want to do. As soon as I stepped into the campus after the start of the school, I was more certain that my choice was right. The first floor of our college is filled with various student works, some of which are finished products and some are in progress. New parts or new adjustments can be seen every week. I have never experienced such an intuitive academic atmosphere of observing the product incubation process. I am also very sure that Hong Kong Polytechnic University has a considerable degree of influence in this field worldwide. "
"The curriculum of Hong Kong Polytechnic is very interesting. It depends more on the professors to offer courses. However, if the number of students enrolled in a course is too small or the professor moves to other places, the course may be cancelled. However, the courses of our major are relatively stable.
As for the difficulty, from my personal experience, the courses of Hong Kong Polytechnic are not very difficult. I did not feel uncomfortable in the first week here. Because I may have been used to the class system when I was in NBCK. After the training of NBCK, I adapted quickly here. The only thing I need to adapt to may be the professors' Cantonese version of English. The professors here are very good. Although there are some Cantonese explanations in class, they are very patient. After class, they will try to speak Mandarin to you. I feel that the lecturers I have met so far are very humble.
The first year of Hong Kong Polytechnic is mainly based on general courses, A (humanities, politics), B (economics, management), C (history, literature, philosophy), D (science and technology). Everyone needs to take at least one course in each major category. At the same time, all your elective courses must meet the requirements of English reading and writing and Chinese reading and writing respectively to meet the graduation requirements.
I started taking a lot of professional courses in my sophomore year. My major is mainly divided into two directions, product engineering and marketing, or industrial and system engineering. I have to choose a specific direction in my sophomore year. Sophomore year is more like a "transition period". In addition to some professional courses such as quality engineering and engineering economics, I also need to take some general courses in other fields. In fact, my juniors can also see this part when they apply.
Many general courses are quite interesting. For example, in the first semester of the freshman year, freshmen need to take a compulsory course on innovation and entrepreneurship, and have a taste of some interesting fields in the engineering field. They will study 3D printing or electromagnetic guns. The information technology course has some simple Android APP development (similar to graphic programming) related content, as well as basic SQL database management, and it is relatively practical and needs skills in actual employment.
Starting this year, my courses will be more professional, such as integrated manufacturing design and instrumentation and automation systems. I will gradually participate in many joint projects set up by universities and companies. I am very much looking forward to it. "
"There are many. This is what makes HKU different. The school also provides various equipment and financial support for undergraduates who want to do scientific research. In general universities, this kind of treatment is often only enjoyed by non-teaching graduate students and doctoral students. At HKU, you can use the school's equipment as long as you ask for it. If you have difficulties in actual operation, there are masters on site to explain and guide undergraduates. Many projects will provide research funds, and you can also apply for scholarships. A senior sister I know in our college received a comprehensive fund of nearly 40,000 Hong Kong dollars last year, and there are also subsidies every month. HKU gives teachers a considerable amount of funds to recruit undergraduate RAs, so it is not difficult for undergraduates to enter the laboratory at HKU. It can be said that it is very friendly to undergraduates.
Hong Kong Polytechnic has an independent processing center and processing team, which makes it very convenient to complete a prototype. As long as you are a student of PolyU, even if you are not from the School of Engineering, if you have processing needs, the processing team will come to help provide services. Even the engineering majors of the University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology need the resources of the Hong Kong Polytechnic Processing Center to assist in scientific research and teaching tasks. In addition, Hong Kong Polytechnic has very close cooperation with many high-tech companies, especially high-tech companies in Shenzhen. For example, ByteDance Company is opposite the Shenzhen Research Institute of Hong Kong Polytechnic, and they often carry out various cooperations. Last year, they also jointly published a review. For younger students who have a very clear career plan and like engineering, if you are lucky enough to become your senior sister at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, remember to come to me. "
