The Review 2009

10 The Review 2009 • Teaching Cross-Cultural Friendships International students are attracted by our global reputation and distinguished programmes. They bring new dimensions to the campus by virtue of having come from different cultures and education systems. As local and international students spend time together inside and outside of class, a deeper learning occurs that promotes mutual understanding and respect. Opposites Attract Fred Lee Chun-yin and Furuzonfar Zehni are like chalk and cheese – Fred the quieter, more watchful one who has spent all of his life in Hong Kong and lives with his family, Furuzonfar the gregarious extrovert who has travelled widely and lived in several countries before coming to Hong Kong. Yet when they were placed in the same room on an internship in Shanghai, they emerged as fast friends, full of praise for each other. Fred, who is studying for a BSc in Surveying, had never heard of Furuzonfar’s homeland of Tajikistan before the internship and thought he might be Japanese. But they soon found common ground with sports and music. “Fred impressed me with his basketball knowledge. We bonded pretty easily and he was like a bridge to all the other Cantonese speakers there. He was good at mixing with different groups,” said Furuzonfar, who is studying for a Bachelor’s in Economics and Finance. “Furuzonfar is the bridge, not me,” insisted Fred. “He’s very different, very talkative and wants to share his knowledge with us.” Both came to HKU hoping to achieve more than an academic qualification. Fred, following in the footsteps of his sister who studied here, hoped to gain wider experience of the world before he starts working. Furuzonfar wanted to learn more about Asia, make contacts that could be useful to his country in future and move out of the shadow of his family, most of whom studied in Europe. The Shanghai internship, offered under the Live, Learn and Intern in China programme with students from overseas universities such as Harvard, Princeton and Stanford, helped them to fulfil some of those aims. “HKU is the most international university in Asia and it’s a good springboard for my career. It combines a Western teaching system with Asian competitiveness, which can bring out the best in you. So I think I made a good choice,” Furuzonfar said. “And it’s good that there are students like Fred who can see outside the box and know the value of sharing experiences and cultural differences.” Fred added: “I would like to see more international students at HKU. They have a totally different lifestyle and they are more open. We can learn something from that.” Enriching the Cultural Experience Finland and Hong Kong may not seem to have much in common, but Bachelor of Social Sciences students Timo Heinonen and Stef Lau Chi- ling both entered HKU from culturally homogeneous backgrounds, Timo from a university in Finland and Stef from a local secondary school. The chance to mix it up with people from different nationalities and backgrounds has been one of the benefits of studying at the University. “Academically, we are studying the same curriculum. It’s outside the lecture room that knowing international students is good for us. It’s like a cultural exchange where you get to understand people better,” Stef said. “Fred impressed me with his basketball knowledge. We bonded pretty easily and he was like a bridge to all the other Cantonese speakers there” 11 The Review 2009 • Teaching From left: Students Stef Lau Chi-ling, Timo Heinonen, Simbi Mandizvidza, Fred Lee Chun-yin and Furuzonfar Zehni