“I had no idea what HK was like before I came here,” says Tom Vinamont. “To me it started as one big adventure. I had lived in Manhattan and that i like big cites. My partner on the time was Portuguese, but grew up within the Cape Verde islands, and for many of her youth she travelled between Boston and Lisbon. So Hong Kong gave the impression of neutral terrain – neither folks had lived in Asia. After which for sure, it’s miles hard to conquer a 16% maximum tax rate. That sounded very attractive coming from Belgium.
“Most of my time is spent on research. I teach about 6 hours a week – it’s the typical academic teaching load – mostly to graduate students. The timing of the move wasn’t great for me. Within the three months across the move, I needed to defend my doctoral work, and that i lost my father unexpectedly to cancer. Then I became a father, and that i also somehow needed to prepare for the nine hours of educating every week because it was then. It was brutal, but I’ve never looked back.
“i feel academics in south-east Asia work harder, for longer hours, and we’re further clear of the action. But nevertheless, Hong Kong changes so rapidly that it appears like some other year i’m in another city. Plus the pay is not very bad. Asian universities pay comparably (pre-tax) to US universities and higher than European universities.
“Both Hong Kong and Singapore are seen as transitory places. Ideal for buying your career on the right track (research funding is pretty generous here) after which moving on from. But a number of us appear to stay here. i used to be planning to remain for 3 years, and now i’ve stayed for 10, and that i just bought a home.
“Academics inside the UK/Europe/America who’re taking into consideration making the move have got to keep an open mind. Western universities typically have a horizontal organisational structure. At Asian universities the structure is far more hierarchical. Contracts and promises are less strictly followed than we’re used to within the west – although i’m being treated rather well.
“Give yourself time to conform to the local ways of doing things. Asian students are more reserved and that i did adapt my teaching to take this under consideration. We’re evaluated by the scholars for each course we teach. The 1st semester I taught, I had not bothered to make the effort to appreciate the students’ background or needs. As a result of the my teaching evaluations were far below average. i used to be politely but strongly advised to explore and attend different teaching seminars that were being offered by the university. I did visit these kind of, but mostly i attempted to engage with the scholars that allows you to understand their aspirations, doubts, etc. Five years later i used to be awarded the university’s teaching award. There are almost weekly seminars specifically targeting our teaching personnel. The support with reference to teaching is much better than in Europe.
“In our school about half our students go on exchange to destinations within the UK, Europe, Australia, US and Canada. And their places are filled by the western students. The western students are more vocal in school they usually seem at the start sight more creative. But Asian students often perform better on tests and are on average better in group work.”
Tom Vinaimont is assistant professor within the department of economics and finance on the City University of Hong Kong
