Details

• China
• BaWiSo-23
• Undergraduate
• WS 2025
• Time spent at the partner university: 4 months

1. Preparation

I found the application process overall pretty straightforward. If you’re reading this, you’re probably already familiar with the general process. What I would really recommend, though, is to prepare properly for the interview. Each interviewer can be quite different, but in my case I was asked a lot about my personal motivation and what I expected from my exchange semester. I had read beforehand that the interviewer would ask very detailed questions about your ranking choices and mainly base the interview on your CV, but that wasn’t the case for me. Because of that, I was a bit surprised by some of the questions and didn’t have fully prepared answers. Still, I felt very comfortable during the interview and there is really no need to be scared. After you get nominated for CityU, you have to apply again through the CityU website, and you also do the visa application through them. It took a while for the CityU representative to get in touch with me, and I was a bit worried at some point that the visa wouldn’t be ready in time. In the end, everything worked out perfectly fine and they were very helpful throughout the process. I also chose the insurance offered by the university. Since I didn’t end up needing it, I can’t really say much about what it covers. There is, however, a doctor directly on campus, and some of my friends used it and were very happy with the service. I travelled to Hong Kong by plane. At the arrival hall, we were picked up and brought to the accommodation with a free shuttle that you have to book beforehand. If you arrive at a time when the shuttle is not running, don’t worry, there is a bus that goes directly from the airport to Wu Kai Sha Station and it only costs around HK$30. During the first week, there is an orientation period. Especially the College of Business organises a lot of events, such as an evening at a rooftop bar, trips to Lantau Island and Lamma Island, and many more activities. You meet a lot of people during this time, so I would really recommend attending as many of these events as possible.

2. Accommodation

I chose to stay in the student accommodation provided by the university. Before arriving in Hong Kong, I also considered private accommodation, but all the options I found were far too expensive for my budget (over €1,000 per month). In comparison, the CityU accommodation was very affordable, at around €300 per month. In the residence, you share a room with one other student, and the bathrooms, kitchen and common room are shared with the entire floor. Before coming to Hong Kong, I had never lived in a shared dorm, and the idea honestly scared me. In the end, however, I got along extremely well with my roommate, and she is now a close friend. Sharing the bathroom and kitchen could be annoying at times, but you get used to it very quickly. The kitchen is quite small for the 20 to 40 people who use it, so I didn’t cook very often. Luckily, there is a nearby mall with plenty of restaurants, which made it easy to eat out. There is also a free gym at the compound, for which you have to sign up for while you sign up for classes. All exchange students who choose this accommodation are placed in the Ma On Shan compound, located at the end of the Tuen Mun metro line. It takes around 40 minutes to get to campus and about 55 minutes to reach Hong Kong Island, which could be inconvenient at times. That said, because so many exchange students live in the compound, you rarely commute alone. Most of the time we travelled in groups, and the journey actually went by quite fast, especially on the way to university or when going out. The area around the compound is very pleasant and residential. There is a beach only five minutes away, which we used a lot, as well as some beautiful running and hiking spots. Since the neighbourhood is fairly quiet, there isn’t much going on, so for dinners, parties and most social activities we usually went to Kowloon or Hong Kong Island. I won’t pretend that sharing all the facilities and living far from the city centre never bothered me. Still, if I had to choose again, I would absolutely stay there. The community in the compound was amazing, and I met so many people simply by living there. I genuinely believe that if I had lived in private accommodation, my social life would have been much quieter. I would definitely recommend staying there if you want to make the most out of your semester!

3. Academic life at host university

I really liked the CityU campus. They have great facilities, a big library, nice classrooms, a swimming pool, a gym, and several canteens and cafés with pretty good and cheap food. There’s Asian food, European food, and even a kebab place. I’d say the academic system is quite different compared to WU. Compared to Vienna, the focus is much more on continuous work during the semester. You usually have presentations, weekly quizzes and homework, so there is less focus on the final exam. That being said, it also really depends on which classes you choose. Some courses don’t have a final exam at all, while others are almost entirely based on it (sometimes up to 100% of the grade). The teaching style is mostly frontal, and because local students tend to be quite shy, there usually isn’t a lot of discussion during class. In group work, local students are also often quite timid, which sometimes turned into a bit of a problem. I also had some problems with lazy group members (both local and exchange), so I would recommend finding other exchange students whose grades get transferred, as they ended up being the most proactive. Personally, I found the classes to be easier than at WU, but I had already completed (or planned to complete) most of my more demanding courses at WU, so I mainly chose less challenging courses in order to have more time to enjoy Hong Kong. I especially enjoyed courses such as „Business and Hong Kong Society“, which taught me a lot about Hong Kong Business Environment. I also chose to take all my classes on Mondays and Tuesdays, so I had the rest of the week off to travel. What really confused me at the beginning was the system for signing up for classes. Before you even arrive in Hong Kong, you have to submit a list of ten courses. You get assigned to 5 courses, which you can change during 2/3 „add-and-drop periods“ at the beginning of the semester. You basically drop a course and then try to add a new one. It can be quite easy, but you really have to be careful with prerequisites, because those need to be approved before you can register for the course during the add and drop period. Almost all exchange students were pretty confused by this system, and I also had some problems at first. In the end, I talked to the exchange advisor and she helped me fix my schedule (feel free to send me an email if you have more questions!).

5. Every day life in the host country

Hong Kong is honestly a great place to live. It’s a very international city with many expats and many exchange students (just at CityU we were more then 500) and there is always something going on. I really liked how it feels like a bridge between Western and Chinese culture. The mix of city life with good restaurants, skyscrapers and busy streets while still having easy access to beaches and hiking spots makes it a fantastic place to live. Public transport is very convenient and reliable, but it can also be quite expensive compared to Vienna. I always felt very safe in Hong Kong, even at night. In the first week, it is kind of a tradition to go to Mr. Wong, a small Restaurant in Mong Kok, where lots of exchange students from different universities meet up and drink bottomless beer for around HKD 50. Hong Kong is also a great city for going out. There are lots of rooftop bars, but also many good clubs, so there is something for everyone. Every Wednesday there are Horse Races at the Happy Valley Racecourse, which are free for foreigners. I also definitely recommend organizing a boat party, and having a barbecue on the beach next to the student housing. Sports are mainly organised through the university because they can be very expensive otherwise. You can sign up for different sports courses, and there is also a free gym at the Ma On Shan Compound. On top of that, there are many beautiful hikes in and around Hong Kong and you can even rent tents and go camping (for example in Sai Kung). Hong Kong is also a really good home base for travelling around Asia. Flights are usually quite cheap, and we ended up going on trips almost every other weekend (Mainland China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand etc.) which definitely made my exchange semester more expensive than it could have been. We also did day trips to mainland China (Shenzhen and Guangzhou), as you can go there directly by Metro. In general, Hong Kong is a rather expensive city, and prices are comparable to those in other expensive European cities.

6. Testimonial

I absolutely loved my time in Hong Kong. I did not know a lot about Hong Kong before going there and it wasn't even my first choice in the ranking but I honestly can't imagine having a better exchange semester then the one I had. The "work-life balance" at CityU was perfect and allowed me to see so many new places in Hong Kong and beyond. I met the most incredible people from all over the world and truly can't recommend Hong Kong enough! (If you have any more questions, feel free to reach out!)