At Hong Kong PolyU I studied four subjects; corporate finance, international finance, marketing decision analysis and marketing research. All the courses were taught in English, and the lecturers were able to communicate their content relatively well, as did the students participating in the class. The Accounting and Finance faculty at PolyU opts for a lectorial style format, with small classes of approximately 30-40 students and a single lecturer who simultaneously presents new content and interacts with the class. These classes ran for about three hours, with one class per subject per week. The lectorials all had participation grades and were not recorded. Fortunately, most of the lecturers were willing to accommodate exchange students who wanted to travel or explore Hong Kong, and would make exceptions to support us. The difficulty of the content was fairly comparable to that of QUT and required about an equal amount of work. The content itself was quite interesting and I found myself enjoying the two finance subjects in particular.
As mentioned earlier, I decided to live at the Hung Hom Student Halls while studying in Hong Kong. They are in close proximity to everything, with a 10 minute walk to the MTR subway system which goes to anywhere in Hong Kong, and 5 minutes further to the University itself. The student halls are also exceptionally affordable, costing about $50 AUD a week. A
ll rooms in the halls are shared, and I chose to room with a student from a foreign country, though I was given the option to share with another Australian student or local student. I would definitely recommend this choice; you become close friends with your roommate and they can introduce you to other people from their home country. If you do decide to study at PolyU, I highly recommend taking a sleeping bag for bedding; it is comfortable, reduces washing and is incredibly useful for any travel that you may do.
The Halls are divided by every two levels. Each set of two levels was classed as its own ‘Hall’ with a committee that runs events for students living there. Each ‘Hall’ so has their own common areas and cooking equipment, which was a great space to relax and share meals together with friends. The student accommodation also has some exceptional facilities such as a swimming pool, table-tennis tables, pool tables and a gym. All these facilities are either free or very cheap to use. It also provides useful services such as counselling and tutoring support, though I never used them personally.
The cost of living in Hong Kong is relatively low, so I didn’t struggle too much with budgeting. Full-sized meals at restaurants cost anywhere from $5-10 AUD and going out isn’t too pricey either. 
There are plenty of free cultural events that you can attend, such as the Chinese National Day fireworks or the Mid-Autumn Festival. I was able to stay on a budget of $400HKD ($80 AUD) a week quite easily. I mostly used an international travel money card, which was useful for managing expenses in that you can load budgeted amounts.
My exchange to Hong Kong will always be one of the most memorable experiences of both my studies and my lifetime. There’s a reason why every student returns from exchange missing the country in which the studied, and the people that they met. It’s because only on exchange are you able to grow and learn more about yourself as a human being, while making friendships that you will cherish forever. I’ve come into my own as an adult in the later stages of my degree, become more independent and have an international network of people who I am sure I will visit at a later stage of my life. For that I am so very grateful to have been able to go on exchange and explore the world. I highly recommend that you do too.
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What was the GPA when you applied for poly U?