Course evaluations

Tag: exchange

So what is class like at CUHK?

I think around 80% of exchange students took 4 courses (12 units), with the rest taking 5 courses (15 units). The impression I got was that local students took around 16-18 units. Most courses are 3 units, with 3 contact hours, though some courses like P.E. are worth 2 units.

There are lecture theatres with Echo recording technology, but most courses seem to take place in classrooms of less than 50 students, and the lecture recording system appears to be opt-in, given the limited adoption. Because getting around campus is so inconvenient, classes are usually scheduled in blocks of 3 consecutive hours.

The medium of instruction in all my courses, and most CUHK courses is English. I had no issues understanding my lecturers or tutors.

Without further ado, here are my course evaluations. Note: 5/10 is average. 10/10 is must-take. 0/10 is a course that will have you reconsidering your major.

Marketing management (MKTG2010/MARK1012)

Do not take this course. It is a complete time sink, and you will spend an inordinate amount of time on the group project, especially since I wasn’t going to let my team down. I was sickened by the emphasis on us creating product trailers, choreographing dances and thinking of jokes for entertainment value, because in my opinion, that is not what an introductory marketing course should be about.

Course content: 5/10

Assessment: 0/10

Lecturer: 2/10 (Dr. Lee)

Skippability: 3/10 (lectures not recorded, attendance not recorded, some extra content not in the textbook, lecturer remembers faces well and will probably deduct participation marks)

Recommendation: 0/10

Chinese culture and society (ANTH2410)

ANTH2410 is co-coded as general education course UGA2180. Exchange students made up over 80% of the class. Dr. Wang is very chill, and encouraged us to skip up to two classes to travel, because ‘that’s the best way to learn Chinese culture’.

Course content was okay. The lecture readings were sometimes dry when they were academic articles meant for anthropology students, but important, because they were the basis of exam questions. The lectures were entertaining, because the lecturer rambled and diverged from the content.

Assessment:

Course content: 5/10

Assessment: 9/10

Lecturer: 8/10 (Dr. Wang)

Skippability: 7/10

Recommendation: 7/10

Social issues and problems in contemporary China (CCSS3420)

I LOVED THIS COURSE. Don’t be intimidated by the senior-level course code like I was, because exchange students make up over 80% of the class.

We covered interesting issues including June 4, the two-child-policy, social inequality and the urban-rural gap. Dr. Fincher’s husband, New York Times reporter Mike Forsythe even delivered a guest lecture on how Bloomberg (his former employer) and the New York Times reported on Xi Jinping and Wen Jiabao’s families’ wealth. Thrilling stuff.

The class format was very different to what I’m accustomed to. For the first hour, we’d usually start off with a short video, discuss it in small groups, then have a group representative share it with the class, with Dr. Fincher’s insightful additions interspersed throughout. The second hour was similar, but jumped straight to discussion about one of the assigned readings. Finally, the teaching assistant, Mr. Zhang would give a short lecture about one of the assigned readings before more class discussion.

25% of the course is simply emailing 300-word commentaries on the assigned readings weekly, graded pass-fail. 20% is for a group presentation on any course-related topic of our choosing. 5% is an introductory email to the professor. 50% is for the 7-page (double-spaced) final paper on any social issue in China of our choosing. I chose educational inequality, since it intrigues me.

Course content: 10/10

Assessment: 10/10

Lecturer: 10/10 (Dr. Fincher)

Tutor: 5/10 (Mr. Zhang)

Skippability: you won’t want to skip

Recommendation: 10/10

Database systems (CSCI3170/COMP3311)

Firstly, this course is a little different. There’s a 2 hour lecture, another 1 hour lecture and a 1 hour tutorial. 4 hours in total.

Considering the course is titled ‘database systems’, I thought Dr. Wong kept the course more interesting than you would expect. Because his examples are straight from the textbook, I imagine it’s very easy to skip the lectures.

The tutorials are the low point for the course. Fortunately, attendance isn’t recorded. 2 of the 3 tutors seem to be mainland Chinese post-grad students with monotone English who for the most part just read off the PowerPoint slides.

The course was structured in a weird way where the tutorials were a week ahead of the lectures, so I did not learn a lot from them. Most were a repeat of the lecture, though a few provided background knowledge for the project (Java, JDBC, Unix, Oracle). One tutorial was over after just 15 minutes. In another, only 4 students were present.

Before the mid-term exam started, two students in the row in front of me were looking through the paper. The professor actually caught them, and they were given a warning. But after he and the tutors returned to standing at the front of the lecture theatre, the students continued looking through, and even discussing course content. That’s blatant cheating. Had I noticed there was a surveillance camera in the theatre then, I would have reported them.

There are three homework assignments worth 5% each, which force you to keep up with the course. The team project is 15% and thankfully not too much work. The mid-term is 20%, and the final is 50%.

Course content: 5/10

Assessment: 7/10

Lecturer: 7/10 (Dr. Wong)

Tutors: 1/10 (5/10 for Kester)

Skippability: 10/10

Recommendation: 6/10