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Services for Non-local Students|
Services for Non-local Undergraduate
Students
Introduction
If you enter Hong Kong with a
student visa , you will be considered as a
non-local student. To make your stay and your study
at PolyU a pleasant one, we will provide the
following additional services to facilitate your
adjustment in learning and living, to enlarge your
personal network and to help you plan your career
upon graduation.
Official Guide Book
The Guidebook for Non-local Students 2011/12 in
both
English and
Chinese provides non-local freshmen with
immediate and important information on study and
life at PolyU and in Hong Kong. Important points to
note before departure and upon arrival, as well as
Immigration regulations concerning your stay in Hong
Kong as non-local students are listed out clearly in
the booklet for your reference.
Buddy Programme for Non-local
Undergraduate Freshmen
Buddy Programme , organized by SAO, is designed to offer
preliminary support and advice to incoming freshmen
to facilitate them to get prepared for their
departure for Hong Kong and university life at PolyU.
A buddy (current PolyU student) will be assigned to
the non-local freshmen with their consent, to
provide peer support and share their personal
experience with the freshmen. The buddies will
be the freshmen's first friends at PolyU.
Orientation Programme
A special
Orientation Programme (around 10 days) is planned by the SAO
with the support of Academic Secretariat and the
Chinese Mainland Students’ Association (CMSA)
and the International Students' Association (ISA)
to enable freshmen to have a smooth and quick
adjustment to HK and to PolyU. This programme is
composed of workshops, talks and activities.
Hall Accommodation
Full-time non-local students in
publicly funded undergraduate programmes
admitted in the academic year of 2009/10 onwards
are eligible to apply for accommodation at the
University's Student Halls of Residence and normally
be provided with hall places for the first three
years of their studies, subject to availability of
hall places. While students progressing to
their fourth year of study are advised to search for
and secure their own accommodation in the market,
they may re-apply for further residence in
University-managed Accommodation but are reminded
that re-admission is not guaranteed. The
application for re-admission, if any, will be
processed according to Allocation Principles
publicized and will be subject to availability.
For further details, including the allocation
principles, please check out the hall web-site at
http://www.polyu.edu.hk/hall/nonlocal/nls_foundation.html.
Non-local Students' Mentorship Programme
Graduate Mentors and Peer Tutors
will be assigned to the non-local undergraduate
students to
facilitate their personal adjustment and
integration into the university, as well as
learning during the first year of their studies.
The graduate mentors and peer tutors are
specially chosen from our current post-graduate
and undergraduate students respectively.
Most of these seniors are non-local students
themselves and have received special training to
support, befriend and share their experience
with the freshmen.
Host Family Scheme
Successful applicants of this scheme
will be introduced to a PolyU staff/alumni and
be invited to join their family activities
occasionally to experience how family life is in
Hong Kong. However, the students will not
be accommodating with the host families.
For details, please refer to the
Host Family Scheme webpage.
Psychological Adjustment
All new students joining the University
will require a period of adjustment, sometimes
physical and
mostly psychological. Non-local students
will have the extra cultural adjustment to cope
with. Furthermore, being away from home, the
feeling of loneliness in the first few months
may mean extra help is required.
Apart from the Graduate Mentors,
our Counsellors are readily available to
provide timely support to help students manage
all the changes.
Active Participation
Our experience is that most non-local students will be able to
integrate successfully into the PolyU community
after the first year. This is the result of
their active participation in academic and
non-academic activities alike. Some of
the outstanding students recognised by the
University are in fact non-local students.
Career Planning
We encourage all PolyU students to plan their career early so as to
make full use of their time, both during the
semester and at the semester break. On top of
conceptual learning, experiential learning (e.g.
WIE) is also treasured in this University.
There are plenty of local and overseas
opportunities. For non-local students, we
recommend planning early as there may be extra
administration work required.
The Government of the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region has implemented a set of new
immigration measures relaxing certain restrictions
in respect of
internship, part-time on campus employment and
summer job for non-local students with effective
from May 19, 2008. Eligible
students will be notified of the relaxation
individually by a "No
Objection Letter" (NOL) upon approval of
entry/extension of stay applications. You may
also wish to refer to the Immigration Department
Official Website for
policy details. For those who are planning
for full-time employment after graduation, it will
be useful to check out the requirements listed in
the
Guidebook issued by the
Immigration Department.
Student Organizations
The Chinese Mainland Students'
Association (CMSA)
Non-local students, especially those from
the Chinese Mainland, have been very active and have
their own organization. Senior students will
be most willing to provide support and to share
their experience. The Chinese Mainland
Students' Association (CMSA)
would like to reach out to every non-local student.
Other organizations related to Mainland students
are as follows:
The Chinese Scholars & Students Association
The Hong Kong
Association of Mainland Graduates
For Enquiry
Sue Wong or Anne Lee
SAO
(852) 2766 6800
saswong@inet.polyu.edu.hk
sanlee@inet.polyu.edu.hk
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