Click on this link to hear the experience of a student studying at full scholarship in Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) pursuing mechanical Engineering. Watch this chat show as Part 1 of 2 videos.

Ansh Nasta of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology talks on Chet Chat. Ansh is studying on a full scholarship and is pursuing mechanical engineering. He shares the experience of studying at HKUST.

HKUST has modern buildings, it has a very modern large campus, compared to the other Asian universities like NTU, HKU. It has a beautiful campus, right next to the sea so they enjoy both the hilly aspect as well as the seas side aspect. They have a small beach on campus too. They play soccer on the field which is right next to the sea, they sometimes have to jump in and fetch the ball. The residence halls are facing the sea as well, half of them. There are about 2000 students in each year, including 800 students in the Engineering School.

One of the big advantages of studying at HKUST is the low cost. HKUST offers many scholarships to students. It doesn’t matter whether you have done IB, ICSE or CBSE, everyone can get a scholarship, only the amounts vary depending upon your grade 11 and Grade 12 marks. There is a page on the website devoted to scholarships for IB students. If you get over 35 out of 45 points in IB you are eligible for a scholarship. If you apply early, a 42 gives you a full scholarship and if you apply regular a 45 gets you a scholarship.

The cost is around HKD 120,000 for international students and HKD 40,000 for local students. The government funds each child, whether they are local or international. Even the living costs are very low in Hong Kong – approx. HKD 15,000 – 20,000 per year which is very low.

Mechanical Engineering is a tough program. It has an intense workload and courses are offered only once a year so you have to plan your courses in a way that you do not have to take an extra semester at the end of the four years. Mechanical Engineering has the most number of required credits as compared to other degrees. You need to do 15 credits a semester to complete your requirements. And extra courses if you want to do a minor. Ansh intends to do a minor in business. The mechanical department offers options, you can do three courses in one area to call that your option, he is doing an option in in sustainable energy. There is a lot of flexibility allowed. HKUST has a core requirement of 36 courses out of the required 120. These include math, comp science, history, science and technology – any field or any major. The course allows you to take any course as long as you fulfil the requirements of that course.
Ansh enjoyed a course in history in his first year and last summer he took a course in bitcoins that he thoroughly enjoyed. That was his favourite class. Discussion based class with external speakers was interesting.
The activities that he is engaged in outside the classroom are diverse – he is the financial secretary of the art club, the internal secretary of the cuisine society. He works with the sustainability unit, as part of the sustainability leadership program at his school he is working on a solar panel project and is now a mentor for students pursuing projects in sustainable energy. He also trains with the school track and field team and runs long distance running like 5 kms and cross country. He also plays football for the mech engineering team. He tries lots of new sports like kickboxing.
HKUST has an Undergraduate research orientation program which is considered one of the best in Asia. They have a lot of funding from the government and infrastructure available to do research. Ansh has been pursuing research for the past one year under a professor on Energy harvesting.
HKUST (UST) has really good sport infrastructure too, they have a football field, running track near the sea, an indoor football court too, 8 tennis courts, squash courts, badminton courts, indoor gym, table tennis tables, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, multi purpose hall for martial arts.
Student body is international compared to the Asian universities. 80% of the students are local Hong Kong students since it is government funded, 10% are mainland china students. 10% of the student body is international. This largely includes Philipines, Indonesia, Taiwan, Korea, India students but in recent years they have had lots of Europeans and Americans coming in for the experience. There are students from all around the world. Also the 80% Hong Kong students are diverse. They could be from all over the world but grew up in Hong Kong and are classified as Hong Kong Locals.

Please Watch Part 2 of 2 coming soon
Video Chat with Ansh Nasta
Host - Chetna Vasishth

We are on -
   / chetchat  
Facebook.com/chetchat101
Twitter - @chetchat101
Instagram - chetchat101
Google.com/+/ChetChat
[email protected]
chetchat101.tumblr.com
vimeo.com/chetchat
affimity.com/u/chetchat