I recently completed my second semester at City University of Hong Kong. Presently under the Department of Electrical Engineering, the last semester had little to do with STEM for me. Apart from a Introduction to Computer Science course, a Algebra and Calculus course, my courses were quite diverse. Starting with English to Engineering, I had 3 more Gateway Education courses, such as Critical and Creative Thinking, Introduction to Economics and Management. I’d like to talk about the latter two here. These two were entirely new subjects for me, and are quite different from the field I belong to.
Thanks to Dr. Chak Fu Lam, it barely took me any time to feel familiar with the management concepts. The learning outcome of his lectures was very interaction based – even on Zoom – which made me want to look forward to the classes more. The two hours of lectures in a week taught us theory, yes, but focused a lot more in applying it into different scenarios, and learning from examples of the world.
Economics, on the other hand, was fun because of how I could relate the theory I learnt to things I see everyday around me. I wouldn’t say I learnt something “new” in economics, even though it was my first time studying it. The course acted more like giving me specific terms, and a mathematical and graphical method, to think of what I notice in the market. I had a lot of fun studying it for this reason, because every concept had a real world example I could easily think of. Plus, the case studies as assignments and in the final exam made me appreciate it more.
The familiarity with functions and nature of graphs helped me a lot in graphical representation in the course, that I never needed to memorize any of them, or their trends, as long as I knew the concept. To some extent, even the understanding of mechanics helped me out.
I got an A in Economics and an A- in Management with an SGPA of 3.88, grades that I’m very satisfied with, given that I had overload, the semester was online and they were totally new subjects for me. I found an interest in management, that I now plan to take a Minor in Management in near future.
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