Academic praises well-rounded hostel lifestyle
Living on campus can help students develop both intellectually and socially, according to a college administrator.
'We see hostel life as promoting self-sufficiency, emotional strength and interpersonal skills,' Andrea Hope, assistant vice-president of development, Lingnan College, said.
'The students are really keen to live in the hostels. Many would like to stay [in them] all three years.' Lingnan is somewhat unusual in Hong Kong in that undergraduates are required to spend two of their three years living in one of college's six student hostels.
The only thing preventing the college from insisting that they spend all three years on campus is a lack of space.
Each hostel houses 250 students and has its own warden, senior tutors and tutors looking after the welfare of its residents. According to Ms Hope, the hostels develop into a sort of 'extended family' - each with its own identity.
'It's an invaluable experience. They learn how to take responsibility for their own lives. Rules and regulations are kept to a minimum. They set the limits themselves. It's part of their transition to adulthood,' she said. 'The basis for our programme at Lingnan is whole person development.
'We have a liberal arts focus. We believe it is particularly important for Hong Kong students, living as they do in a relatively close environment, to have the opportunity to live in an intellectual environment.' One of the advantages of living on campus is that students have access to the library, which stays open until 9.30 pm, or the computer labs, which close their doors at 11 pm.
Although there was what Ms Hope called 'an exodus from campus' on Friday afternoons, some students preferred to stay behind. German Hui, president of the Hall C Hostel Union, estimated that up to one-third of the students in his dormitory spent weekends on campus.
'I have some belongings on campus so I want to stay here to do my work or to play bridge with my classmates,' he said.
His family lived 'too far' away - in Kowloon's Lok Fu district - to make the trip home each weekend worthwhile, Mr Hui said.
Weekend activities ranged from basketball to birthday parties to travelling into Tuen Mun to buy food, which the students brought back to heat up in the hostel's pantry.
