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A joint degree programme between two of the world’s most prestigious universities, where undergraduates gain two bachelor’s degrees, sounds ambitious. However, the City University of Hong Kong (CityU) and Columbia University in New York are now in their sixth year of offering a multidisciplinary student experience across two continents, having celebrated their first graduate in 2014.
Students on the joint degree programme can choose from a range of majors – from business analysis to public policy – completing their first and second years at CityU and their final two at Columbia. Students first complete their Gateway Education Requirements at CityU, which exposes them to various disciplines and increases the breadth of their undergraduate education. Then, at Columbia, they complete a core curriculum alongside their chosen major, which encourages them to apply critical thinking and analyse the world around them. They are assigned an academic adviser by the School of General Studies to make their course selection and plan their studies during their time at Columbia.
Frank Li started his joint degree programme at CityU in 2017, joining Columbia in 2019. The experience helped him crystallise his study pathway, ultimately settling on an economics-mathematics final major. “From an academic perspective, it’s a prestigious environment with great professors such as Edmund Phelps, a Nobel laureate in economics,” he says. “I was also studying things I had not imagined before I joined Columbia, such as Western art, music, literature, and social science courses like linguistics.”
Meeting people from a variety of disciplines and with experience of different industries has been invaluable. Li’s first two years at CityU were taught in English, so he was well versed in the business language he would need once he arrived at Columbia for the latter half of the programme.
By offering two distinct learning environments, the programme gives students the chance to consider the big questions emerging in an increasingly fast-moving world. At the same time, they experience the buzz of two cosmopolitan cities, expanding their network and cultural capital. They are immersed in the social and cultural traditions of Hong Kong and New York while nurturing their intellectual growth alongside a diverse group of fellow students.
“Both campuses have a lot of international students and at first it can be hard to step out of your comfort zone from a cultural perspective,” Li says. When he came to CityU, he led a university choir and found this experience broadened his horizons and helped him learn more about building relationships and networks. “The programme has helped me adapt to events like I would need to in a work environment, so it was useful when interviewing with companies,” he says.
Li has been working at strategy consulting company McKinsey & Company for the past six months and is still living in New York. “The joint degree programme helped me prepare for a more globalised and diverse environment, informing how I communicate with people and learn from those with a different cultural background,” Li says.
about the joint degree programme.
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