PotentialProblemsofAcademicLearningforMainlandStudentstoStudyinHongKong

Introduction

Speaking of the challenges or problems that I came across during my previous studies as a student are many.However，I would like to highlight the challenges I have been facing in my current school-HKIED （Hong Kong Institute of Education）.I would probably be in lost in thought for a long time，because there are a lots of miserable and unforgettable experience that I have been through.While I have been experienced，thankfully I have acted in it maturely and have ability to probably overcome and face everything positively.These memory of taken positively will help me to overcome all the obstacles and challenges that I might face in my future study in the field of Higher Education.

1.Difficulties for Mainland Students to adapt to the College Life in Hong Kong SAR

The first rewarding problem that had disturbed me for half a semester was the brand new studying and living environment I was subjected to when I stepped foot in HKIED，to my surprise is that all the classmates were mainly from different provinces of mainland，Hong Kong locals ranked the second and international students were just a small part.Therefore，different students with different educational backgrounds had brought about a lot of problems and difficulties for us to study and live together in terms of cultures，languages，the way we think and the appetite for foods and，etc.

The first challenge for me was the way we thought and the way we solve the problems，which is tightly connected to the Chinese tradition culture.For example，most of the education in mainland is the Force-Feeding Education； we called it Cramming Method of Teaching （Yolanda Sharma，2011）.Even in University of Mainland，most of teachers still keeping using this methodology because they believe this would be good for students，and after living and studying under the this kind of education system for more than 10 years，I had already gotten used to it.Thus，there was a very embarrassing situation that I came across on the first day of my Master study in Hong Kong.I had been wondering until the commencement day，like ‘why don’t we have course books of this semester’，and if they did not prescribe a booklist，what am I going to learn？ This got me very worried and anxious at that time，after that，I tried to subdue my fury back and rushed to the office of faculty and asked for justices finally.To my surprise，every administrator in the office laughed at me，and told me there are no specific course books，and suggested me to go library to find out the relevant resource instead of being angry，I could still remember I almost lost my temper at that moment because I thought they are not taking any responsibility for their students，because I paid the tuition fee and finally，I had no choice but to do something practically for myself，so，I headed to school library for a visit and realized what they meant.

Everything had changed since the instructions and introductions of how to use the I-Search and E-Resource tool had given to me from a nice and friendly librarian.Thank God Almighty，it is the most powerful and amazing ways to get accessed to the resource that I have never met in any library in Mainland.Like for example，when I am looking for a book and it is hardly to be found out，and all I have to do is to use I-Search function，type the title of the book and tap the button of Enter.More awesomely is if there are no relevant books or articles available right now，I can use the E-Resource function to find it out，read them online instead of looking for it from another library.Because E-Resource can get accessed to pretty much every academic article from all over the world，which are the things that I have never ever seem and experienced in Mainland China.Because all the resource from oversea has been blocked by People’s Communist Party，even Google Search is included.What a shame.No wonder most of the Hong Kong local students and oversea students can have a gut to doubt and criticize teachers’ even professors’ viewpoint towards the hard cracking issues.

In addition，the enlightening and encouraging ways of teaching methodology in Hong Kong has made me good at debating and always keep being creative after studying in there for nearly a year，thus，I could find out there would not be 100% correct on someone’s view，and there also would not be 100% wrong with other’s views，all the commenter need to do is to see things on different way，to see things critically，and also to see things not only for a short term value but also for a long term value in a sustainable way （Hong Kong Higher Education，2007）.Only by doing these can we meet the norm of the field of high education and make it more globalized and diversified.

2.Power of Cooperation in the Years of Studying in Hong Kong

As I may recall，like a year ago，it was the first time for me to receive the Master level course study in HKIED，and the main challenge I need to face to was the Group Conflict problem，because as an Mainland student who has been studying for more than 15 years under than Chinese traditional culture and I bet，most of the mainland students have already gotten accustomed to the habit of self-studying instead of the group study or group work （Michael & Bob，1998）.Thus，when any Case study is handed out to us，I would like to try to learn it，do the relevant Presentation，and end up with finishing individual paper on my own，because in the very beginning，I didn’t want anybody else get involved in my hard work，I strongly believed that I am the one who can handle everything just like I always did in my University in Mainland even though the homework assignment was tough，and difficult for me，sometimes it even cost me double or triple times than those students who work as a group.For instance，the first time I had to cram for the PPT preparation of the course of Human Resource Management for the whole night and unfortunately，the outcome failed to meet my expectation.Previously，I fundamentally believe that，all the successful of stories of Chinese dream is nothing about people who quit when the going get tough，is about people who work harder and keep going until the difficulties and frustrations get done.However，things did not happen as what it used to be，even not this time in year of my study in HKIED.Because no matter how hard I prepared，how much relevant articles or the experts’ papers I had read，how brilliant the layout of my PPT was，there were still a lot of ironically comments，doubts，and questions from teachers and students because I failed to give them perfect answers with enough evidences.Finally，perfect answers need hard work of cooperation in the field of Higher Education was the second truth that I had learn during study in Hong Kong SAR.

From them on，I totally changed my mind after learning form this pathetic lesson.Finally，I began to try to communicate to some Hong Kong local classmates or some foreign students and asked them for help，because whenever they study as a team，and everyone is just in charge of his/her small part of the whole case study，therefore，they can get focus，they can go deep into think of the specific issue that they are taking change of in hands.Like for example，students need to learn a case study of ‘How Effective Leadership Work in Public and Private Sector’ in the course of Organizational Behavior and Development.It looks simple but when you go deep into think，a lot of question will be come up with by teachers and classmate once the relevant presentation is finished.It is tough，and it takes time to do a large amount of researches on pretty much everything like stakeholders and analysis related to this topic.Therefore，finishing this topic from the data collecting，paper reading，presentation preparing to the final paper finished with at least 5000 words as the minimum requirement would total be impossible for only one student to get it done within a couple days，even though he/she is smart and has the ability to do this research.Since that terrible story happened to me，I began to realize the importance of the power of Team Cooperation.

Just like the knuckles，only one knuckle is weak and fragile even the thumb is not that strong，when we use thumb to hit someone，or scratch on someone，no matter how hard you try，people does not get hurt because it is just too weak，however，things could be different if we clench fist，all the knuckles will become more powerful than ever before，because they are no long knuckles any more，they are a fist，a fist is more powerful than any of a finger and when we use fist to attack someone，I am sure the you would successful make he go to hospital in the end （Carlson DS and Perrewe PL，1999）.Thus，Team Cooperation was the second lesson I learned from the Master study in Hong Kong.And nowadays，of all the difficulties and frustrations I would meet，I never fear，because I finally understand that nothing is out of reach unless you do not fight for it as a powerful cooperation，because the team spirit defines me and makes me work harder and move forward in the coming study in the coming study in HKU.

3.Conclusion and Recommendation

According to the two personal experience that I have mention above，which have given me a feeling like is there something wrong with the higher education in Mainland？ With the growing power of China in the past consecutive 30 years and its significant achievement has broken the record in the history of mankind，but it did not make a stunning speed of progress in the development of Higher Education synchronously.Student like me still relies on books and teachers because cramming teaching is still prevailing in most of the Universities in Mainland.We could easily find out Mainland students are good at exam but never good at doing research and being innovative and creative，they still believe what the teacher said is always right.And that is why we are looking for changes in order to get to the trend of Globalization in Higher Education （Jeffrey，2007）.As the people from all over the world can witness the globalization and Diversification of Chinese breathtaking rapid development in terms of economy，military construction.But those are not what make us rich and powerful，because only the transformation and innovation can let the higher education to catch up with the trend of globalization to cultivate and recruit more international elites and make Higher Education in China a better place in return.

Therefore，giving more chances of letting mainland students to study abroad no matter as exchange students or as a master student for further education has become a necessity and also attracting oversea student to come is also becoming inevitably.The other recommendation is，do not giving too much restriction on the library online resource in Mainland，only in this way can our mainland students see things in a critical and broader way and also the teacher who work in the college or University are supposed to give more encouragements and supports of letting students learn as a group instead of individual，what’s more，force-feeding teaching method should be replaced by more inspiriting and enlightening approaches （Minhong Yu，2008）.

At last，during this year of studying in HKIED，I find my English get improved too much，which is much more than the previous fours-years undergraduate English learning.Because the environment makes every students use English as the officially language，and due to the language policy，like English is our official language in Hong Kong （Postgraduate Studies in Hong Kong，2012）.I would say，English is used everyday in the study in Hong Kong however，learning English is just a subject for Mainland student，because we always regard it as a foreign language，which means it does not matter if we do not learn it well （Language Education in China，2008）.Therefore，in order to make up this huge gap，I think Universities in Mainland could subsidize their students for taking IELTS or TOEFLE for free for each and every year.If they could not make it real，at least，student can enjoy a discount like 20% off for taking these sorts of Language Test.I believe it would a very good way of stimulating more and more passion of students for English learning and it also would be super useful for the future communication of Higher Education in Mainland to have a better conversation to the Higher Education oversea and it will also fulfill the needs of the Internationalized and Globalized requirement in a maximum way in the years to come.

Reference：

Websites：

[1]（University in Hong Kong，2007） Hong Kong Higher Education.Website：http：//studyinhongkong.edu.hk/eng/01uinhk.jsp.

[2]（Language Education in China，2008） China Education Center Ltd.Beijing Foreign Studies University Website：http：///en/cedu.php.

[3]（Postgraduate Studies in Hong Kong，2012） Postgraduate Studies in Hong Kong.Website：http：///article.php.

Books：

[1]（Jeffrey，2007）.College Unbound：The Future of Higher Education and What It Means for Studentsby Jeffrey J.Selingo Hardcover.（6）2：82-100.

[2]（Minhong Yu，2008）.Current Problems of Higher Education in China by the founder father of New Oriental School Minhong Yu.Journal of Innovative teaching methodology implementation and challenges.11（4）：155-72.

[3]（Carlson DS and Perrewe PL，1999）.The role of social support in the stressor-strain relationship：an examination of work-family conflict.Journal of Management 25（4）：513-40.

[4]（Michael & Bob，1998）.Michael Agelasto，Bob Adamson，Hong Kong University Press.1998.Journal of Higher Education in Post-Mao China 66（3）498.

作者简介：方子贤（1988—），男，汉族，广东广州人，广州番禺职业技术学院外语外贸学院助教，教育管理学硕士，研究方向为英语教育。