8
DISCOVERY@CUHK
UMP
大學廣場
DEC 2012
Before transferring his university study to CUHK, Gijong studied
social sciences at the Polytechnic University of Hong Kong for
a year. During that year, he travelled around the city a lot, which
developed his interest in tourism and its related fields. “Instead
of changing the major to hotel and tourism management, I
opted for something more academic,” says the Korean student.
He wanted to learn about cities first, so Urban Studies (URSP),
a programme co-offered by the School of Architecture and the
Department of Geography and Resource Management, was
what he was looking for.
For this is an interdisciplinary programme, while taking major
courses related to Urban Studies, it is also possible to take
those courses provided by the two offering departments. This is
the most exciting feature of URBS to Gijong.
“
I am expecting to study urban areas, cities, and their current
issues so that I can relate them to the study of tourism,”
Gijong says. “Tourism and cities are closely related, so I will
learn how to manage tourism by looking at the structures and
characteristics of individual cities. I hope to apply my major
knowledge to my future career in tourism.”
Did you know?
Apart from Global Economics and Finance, Cultural Management and Urban
Studies, Energy Engineering and Earth System Science are all newcomers to the
undergraduate degree programmes at the Chinese University.
The former three programmes admit their first batch of students in 2012, while the
last two are broad-based programmes, which means the major students’ lists will
not be confirmed until the faculty students declare their major at the end of their
first year of study.
Have the best of both worlds at URSP
Bae Gijong, From South Korea/ Urban Studies
The programme is like a family to Georgia as only 25 major
students are enrolled this year. Everybody knows each other
and they have a strong attachment to one another and the
programme. They always have dinner together after class. “We
have similar thought and we all have aspirations for cultural
management,” she says. Being in a new programme, Georgia
admits that they face challenges. “Many things are new to us,
so we encountered some problems at the beginning but we all
faced and solved them together. It is a good opportunity for us
to experience and learn.”