My Graduate Survey Answers

Please state the reasons for your answer above (i.e. recommending or NOT recommending the UG program you have completed to other students.)

I would recommend the UG program, but also let them know what it's really like so they have no delusions about life at HKUST.
Pressure can occasionally feel overwhelming. While I enjoyed my time here, I am not sure this is an experience I would like to repeat. To be flatly honest, given another choice, I would have chosen the other universities that accepted me. True, most universities are like this, yet at the same time, I think the cultures of other universities may be more positive.

However, I am proud of what I am achieved, accomplished, the skills I have acquired, the attitude I have developed and the ideas I have contacted.

What is good about this university?
 
You will find people you like to work with/have fun with, people you don't like but have to work with.
You will learn to cope with pressure. You may find yourself without guidance, but that develops your character.
You will find yourself doing things you thought you'd like but then didn't. This will make you find the things you really love and hence your direction.

What needs to be improved in this university?


Make it bigger. At least twice as large. Set less exams and more projects. Actually teach people how to manage their time and life well.
Everyone should have to take mental health first aid or psychology. It would have saved a lot of grief when things don't work out we want and have to handle failure.
Help your students succeed. Why should half the class be below average when everyone could be 90% or above? Why are people happy with being "above average"? "Above average" isn't excellent. That means people DON'T even UNDERSTAND all the material.
It's not an issue of pulling grading curves or students being lazy. The issue is why are people not aiming higher or achieving excellence? Where is the culture for excellence? Right now, we have a culture of "above average".
This is probably a major issue for many universities. Not only is it holding potential back, it is this very belief that makes people average. People who wish to live meaningful lives won't get it by setting the goal of beating others, but by feeding their desires to achieve.

Other general comments:

Encourage entrepreneurship. After taking entrepreneurship courses, I think every student should be an entrepreneur. True, few will actually succeed commercially, but so-called failures are infinitely better than no result at creating future success.

The market is too volatile today. Bad economies make being an employee a real pain, besides being fired first. It is however awesome for entrepreneurship, for taking risks, because many experienced/skilled people will be looking for work and willing to work for less. Job training is no longer the main goal of education.

Everyone should go on exchange somewhere sometime. It teaches adaptability and makes one confident that one can thrive anywhere. People are only going to get more mobile in this century. And I knew students who have rather narrow outlooks which were completely broadened after just a month of exchange.