Chua Hui Ying
Year 4 student
BA(Hons) in Chinese and Bilingual Studies

I am honored to be given this opportunity to join the exchange programme in the United Kingdom. I sincerely thank the Department and the University’s support to ensure the smooth process of the exchange, especially under Covid-19.

During my exchange, I studied in the Applied Linguistics Department and Warwick Business School in University of Warwick to fulfill the credits for my Chinese and Bilingual Studies major as well as Business Administration minor studies in PolyU. I was lucky enough to join the face-to-face lectures and seminars in campus as the UK has opened up the border and lifted the Covid-19 restrictions while the universities have loosened their Covid restrictions and resumed physical classes. The crucial reason I have chosen University of Warwick as my destination for exchange is its outstanding academic reputation. The university offers a broad range of courses and subjects which would substantially benefit me in terms of academic development and career prospects. It has allowed me to access good educational experiences in one of the most prestigious institutions in the United Kingdom with a notable reputation of humanities courses and business school in various world rankings. As a result, it is highly advantageous for my major and minor studies with a different teaching approach compared to Asian education practices.
 
It was a whole new learning experience as the students are encouraged to participate and engage in the class, both in lectures and seminars. During the classes, the students were very keen on raising their hands to ask or respond to the lecturer’s question and suggest their opinion on the topic which is extremely different from the learning environment in Asia. This has motivated me to also actively participate in class discussion and answer questions as well which in turn boost my confidence and enhance my learning attitude. This form of learning has also integrated and improved my knowledge of different cultures, for example, in a lecture, the lecturer was discussing about the ethicality of mask mandate which then aroused a lot of discussion among the students. As an Asian who has a strong tendency towards collectivism, I always find people in the Western culture ridiculous to refuse wearing mask, however, in that lecture, it has opened my eyes to different perspectives from different people and allowed me to be more open to accepting different viewpoints. Apart from attending classes and studying, I also joined the Warwick Malaysian Student Association (Warwick MSA)’s sports event and Malaysian Night (Mnight) as extra-curriculum activities. I volunteered as a helper in the extremely large-scale MSA sports event which consisted of more than ten sport games and was joined by Malaysians from universities of all over the UK. For Mnight, I joined the props team which was responsible for creating the props and coordinating the position of props on the stage. It was an amazing experience to be a part of these events since I have never got to join any physical event organised by PolyU MSA in Hong Kong due to the social distance restrictions, hence, this is considered as a way to make up for the regrets of not being able to join Malaysians’ events in PolyU. It was also great to meet people from my home countries and exchange about the study experiences in the UK and in Hong Kong.

With this exchange opportunity, I get to expose myself to the Western culture as well as their teaching approach which is significantly distinctive from the Asian cultures. Since I was young, I have always loved to travel overseas and learn how people from different backgrounds think which in turn allow me to reflect on my own cultures with different insights. This has opened my eyes to new perspectives and possibilities in life or eventually provide a different way of perceiving the world, for example, the lecture that I mentioned in the former part of the essay. I also liked the culture of Westerners that is polite and warm to strangers, for example, they tend to greet customers and answer enquiries patiently. The relaxing vibe of the country has also allowed me to slow down and appreciate small tiny things in life. However, the lack of efficiency in UK has allowed me to appreciate the extremely high efficiency in Hong Kong. Besides, the experience has equipped me with numerous invaluable lessons and soft skills by collaborating, learning and working with people from different backgrounds. Also, in the Intercultural Business Communication class that I attended during the exchange, the subject has raised my awareness regarding the styles and of workplace in different cultures, for example, German tend to have a straightforward communication style while Italian may prone to involve plenty of social events in the professional environment. It has developed my cultural intelligence and further benefit me in my future career as I ultimately would like to pursue my career path in established multinational corporations. Overall, this exchange has helped me to gain more insights into UK cultures and improve my international competencies.

Sin Wai Kin Chinese Humanities Exchange Scholarship has really helped me to solve one of my major problems—financial problem. The pandemic has heavily affected my father’s business while my father is the only breadwinner in the family. Having to support a family of six and three children who are still studying in high school and university, it was challenging for my father to provide financial support for me to exchange in UK, which is known for its high living cost, not to mention the prior expenses before the outreaching activity including the expensive flight ticket during the pandemic, winter apparels and etc. Hence, I need to support myself by reducing my expenses and living on a budget or searching for an organization to borrow student loan. However, with the offer of Sin Wai Kin Chinese Humanities Exchange Scholarship, I was able to utilize the scholarship to cover part of the exchange expenses and it has significantly improved the quality of my life. Combining with my own savings and other fundings from university, I was able to go to the exchange without having to worry too much about the financial issue. It has also allowed me to explore a few other cities and learn and experience different cultural and historical components in the country. For example, I travelled to Scotland, and I get to learn a bit of the Scottish histories as well as explore the local food. It was interesting to get myself exposed to new things that were unfamiliar to me. It was also magical to visit the second largest city in UK—Glasgow and explore the beauty of the city. Overall, I am very grateful for the donor of Sin Wai Kin Chinese Humanities Exchange Scholarship which helped me to resolve my biggest concern and improve the quality of my outreaching activity.