Prestigious scholarship for incoming exchange students

LU offers scholarships to attract high-quality incoming exchange students and to strengthen our partnerships with leading universities in the region. Thanks to the generous support from the Mr Lam Man Tsan Memorial Fund, stipends were used to sponsor two outstanding exchange students in 2021-22.

Miss Emmalyn Nadine Coonce was one of the scholarship recipients. She is an American student majoring in International Studies at Yonsei University (YSU), and had lived in Korea for the past 2 years before coming to Hong Kong for her exchange. At LU, she had the chance to take unique courses that are not available at YSU. Instrumental Ensemble provided her with an opportunity to play various types of instrumental music with other LU students under the guidance of a music instructor, while Gender and Politics facilitated her undergraduate research project on gender inequality and the feminist movement in South Korea. Emmalyn learned a lot from her LU professors, and was greatly impressed by their dedication to teaching.       

During her short (4-month) stay in Hong Kong, Emmalyn learned much about the region, about which she had previously known little. Although she found Hong Kong society more open to foreigners than Korean society, she nevertheless had to adjust to a completely new environment surrounded by new people and perspectives that she was not very familiar with. She gradually picked up Cantonese and reached a basic level that enabled her to interact with the locals in her neighbourhood. She found that learning about the culture and people of Hong Kong through her professors, classmates, friends and people she encountered every day was the most interesting part of her exchange. Cultural exposure in Hong Kong helped to expand her perspective and grow as a person, and her experience at LU far exceeded her expectations.