"I think PolyU is a really great university to meet new people and also a university full of endless possibilities, where the sky is the limit of what you can do," Michelle said.

Michelle Karen Natasya Putri Sandhika has been enrolled in Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) for four years, receiving a full scholarship of HK$160,000 (US$20,519), which is equivalent to the coverage of full tuition fee of HK$145,000 plus some living subsidies. Majoring in information technology (IT), Michelle is expected to get her bachelor of science next year.

"My teacher showed me a competition called the PolyU Global Student Challenge in Hong Kong when I was in my high school in Indonesia. And because I got to the semifinals, PolyU sponsored me and my team to Hong Kong for the final round," Michelle said. "I remembered one of the things that they brought me to was a social enterprise in Hong Kong, and at that time I thought PolyU must really have a strong passion for helping others. I thought that this is the university I want to be a part of, which cares about not only its students but also the people around it. This first-hand pre-university experience at PolyU merely reinforced my decision to study at PolyU "

Her first impression is paralleled with her experience at the university, revealing that everyone — from her professors to international students — has helped her throughout her academic career in the past years. Additionally, as the community of international students in PolyU is tight-knit, it is not only the place where students of different backgrounds coexist but also become very close to each other. [SM[1] [SM[2] In fact, Michelle said meeting different people was the best part of being an international student at PolyU: the chance to be among all the other students who are from abroad as well.

Other than the connection among international students, Michelle mentioned that her professors were welcoming and always ready to help.

"I got a lot of support in terms of academics as teachers were willing to walk me through questions, but especially non-academically, too. My professor would be one of the people to encourage me to do things outside of my comfort zone," Michelle said.

In terms of activities, Michelle can be seen as an active student , participating in hackathons on and off campus. A hackathon is an event where programmers, software developers, graphic designers or IT students like Michelle, collaborate intensively on software projects.

"As I really enjoy meeting new people, I love to participate in programs that do just that, which includes being a group leader for the new freshmen and also participating in the Belt and Road Global Youth Leader Summit in 2019, which was held in both Hong Kong and Beijing," Michelle revealed. “It was fascinating to learn how to run a social enterprise from renowned speakers. The summit inspired me as I started to realize how my skills in computing could be of use to contribute to society in the future.”

Moreover, PolyU also has an exchange program. Michelle revealed that while she was accepted to go on an exchange program to the University of Twente in the Netherland and receive a HK$20,000 Wong Tit Scholarship for it, she was unable to because of COVID-19 restrictions.

"I had to withdraw from the exchange program because international travel was restricted due to COVID-19. Instead, I accepted an offer of a half-year internship at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Hong Kong. The six-month internship experience allowed me to apply the knowledge I gained from school to real work setting. Not only did I gain technical skills in security audit, but also skills such as communication teamworking and problem-solving, which are essential to my future career.

"I think Hong Kong is a very bustling and busy city; however, that is what I think makes Hong Kong also so lively. Hong Kong being a big financial center in Asia and home to many technology companies, I cannot wait to kick off my career in Hong Kong where a lot of inspirational applicable technology is in our day to day lives, then take it further and work across the world,”  she concluded.

Undergraduate admissions at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University is now open for the 2022 intake. Apply now.

Questions? Check out our video series to learn about the new program structure and help you with the application process.

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