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Life in busy departments
Too much work,
too little time

By Timothy Ser

Some departments at universities are known for their overwhelming workloads.

The Department of Architecture and the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at The Chinese University of Hong Kong are two of them.

Patrick Wong (not his real name) is a Year 1 architecture student at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

As for his heavy workload, he said he had no special feelings about it.

During his interview with Varsity, Wong was working on a design in a studio. In fact, he had a fever that day.

But he said it was normal, as he could not get enough sleep.

Excluding working hours at home, Wong said he worked for an average of 10 hours per day in the studio.

“I just get used to it,” said he.

He had 34 lessons each week, and he could not but accept such hectic schedule.

“The department assigned the tight schedule to me,” said Wong, “I have no choice.”

A typical example was that there were 11 lessons per week for a 3-credit major course.

Wong has nearly no leisure time and he works in the studio when he is free.

“I am very interested in architecture,” said Wong. That is why he can survive the tiresome work.

He has fun in the studio. He likes chatting with his classmates.

Justin Leung is another student who is overloaded with his assignments.

“I am completely exhausted!” exclaimed Leung, a Year 2 student in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

Leung has 29 lessons per week, and he spends most of his time in the computer laboratory.

“I did an assignment in the laboratory for 50 hours within 4 days last week,” said he.

Leung said that in his “peak hours” he was required to complete one assignment per day.

He got prepared for the gruelling schedule after deciding to study computer science. 

But it was still beyond his expectations that the department would be so demanding.

He said the department should provide supplementary courses for students who were weak in  foundations.

He said that such courses are necessary for those who have not taken applied mathematics in secondary schools, as he did.

Said Leung: “The professor will just ask you to complete an assignment without teaching you anything.

“Sometimes, the tutor does not know how to run the computer programme either.”

Leung finds no alternative other than self-studying, which has made him spend even more time working the end.

However, Leung is satisfied with his work.

“This is because I started from nothing,” said Leung.

However, the two department heads held very different views toward the workload.

Chairperson of the Department of Architecture, Prof. Essy Baniassad, came to the University in August 2000.

He said that all architecture students had heavy workload, but their students’ workload was not too heavy compared with that of other schools.

According to Prof. Baniassad, he often works with students in studio.

“I find them enjoying their work,” said Prof. Baniassad.

Similarly, Chairperson of Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Prof. Leung Kwong Sak, said that heavy workload is indispensable.

Prof. Leung said they did not just train students simply to be programmers.

“We are responsible for training fully equipped professionals, since they will become leaders in information technology,” said he.

Prof. Leung welcomed all comments from students about tight schedules or heavy workloads.

“My door is open,” said he.

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