Dear Sir/Madam,

A Proposal on the Pros and Cons of Admitting Exchange Students

1.  Background

Exchange students figure

Current number of students who are currently at HKU from outside Hong Kong: 3072 (15%)
Research Postgraduates: 877
Taught Postgraduates: 1445
Undergraduates: 750 (around 9%)

Excluding those from the Mainland: 711
Research Postgraduates: 129
Taught Postgraduates: 319
Undergraduates: 263 (around 3%)

According to the figures, the University of Hong Kong is keen on recruiting the exchange student while providing a huge amount of scholarship. At present, more and more local student are worrying about their own opportunities being admitted by universities. They have argued that exchange students may share their education resources and facilities supported by the government. However, the university has not stopped their action of admitting the exchange students by holding the reason that more exchange students involved can provide more international studying atmosphere. In order to understand the issue better, we have interviewed some local and exchange students about their own opinion and tried to propose some available suggestions to ease the problem.

2.  Advantages

The policy recruiting more exchange students will not necessarily harm the interest of local students. Still, this policy can bring advantages to local students. Firstly, through meeting exchange students from all around the world, local students can be exposed to foreign culture and learn how to get along with people of different nationalities. Besides, local students can broaden their horizons by talking with exchange students, who may have totally different life styles and experience. In classes, exchange students and local students can discuss on different global issues and understand about each other’s points of view. When local students spend more time with the exchange students, they can improve their oral English and Putonghua.

As for exchange students, they can experience local culture. Living and studying in Hong Kong will be an unforgettable memory in their lives. They can travel around Hong Kong, visit the famous tourist spots and at the same time, experience the Hong Kong culture. Most importantly, the exchange students can learn how to live on their own and take care of themselves. They can develop their ability to live independently and become more mature. On the other hand, the exchange students can study with local students and learn some good points from them. 

3.  Disadvantages

To local students, the admission of exchange students has drawbacks. Firstly, opportunities of the local students are reduced. For example, the hall spaces in HKU are not quite sufficient already, and the competition for them is really keen. However, with more and more exchange students, who are apparently more in need, the university tends to provide them limited percentage of hall spaces reserved. It greatly reduces local students’ opportunities of enjoying hall life in HKU. 

Moreover, resources provided for exchange students are come from the expenses of local students, and exchange students can get quite a large sum of scholarship when entering the university. The interests of local students are harmed. For many local students, paying $42100 a year is a huge burden. Scholarships are very important for them. These resources should serve the local students in need first rather than give exchange students priory.

To exchange students, this policy may not be wholly beneficial too. Credits get in Hong Kong may not be transferred to their own university for short term exchange students. Even though they can get valuable experience from studying in Hong Kong, it may not be worth spending such a large sum of money and time for just some experience. Culture and language difference may bring difficulties in living and studying too. Not every exchange student can get use to the highly competitive and pressing environment in Hong Kong and thus in HKU. 

4.  Suggestion

After considering the aforementioned pros and cons of recruiting exchange students, we have come up with several suggestions. It is hoped that through the following suggestions the interests of both local and exchange students can be catered for.

We should make it clear that there is no difference between local and exchange students. Therefore, both groups should be considered as a whole in campus life, so as to create a sense of belonging. Local students should actively approach exchange students, learn more from their different cultures and struggle for more opportunities of exchanging overseas. This reduces cultural differences and avoids conflicts between the two groups.

On the other hand, exchange students should be charged a higher academic fee. This theoretically reduces the number of recruits exchange students, and in turn maintains the competitiveness of local graduates in the local job market.

5.  Conclusion

Yours faithfully,