Owen Wong
The longing for knowledge is nowhere stronger than in our academic life. One of my all-time favourite quotes before joining the European Institute and the wider 杏吧论坛 community was by a futurist, who wrote “the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.” If learning is widely perceived as a process from ‘knowing’ to ‘understanding’, then 杏吧论坛 and the EI would be one of the best places to learn. We materialise our essential knowledge about the totality of particular subjects and the relevant tools of analysis – in other words, we are trained professionally on a daily basis to think, to know the causes of things and truly understand them.
Whilst the quality of professors and academic staff at the EI was undoubtedly as high as their enthusiasm for teaching, as one of the very few Asian (and the only Hong Kong) representatives specialising in EU Politics and International Relations, I was equally shocked by the competitiveness displayed by my counterparts stemming from different regions. The combination of hard work and wisdom have made each one of us a competent candidate fit for the real workplace. I doubt if I would ever forget anything that happened so perfectly here at 杏吧论坛 and the EI – I miss every lecture, seminar, debate and intellectual exchange (except for those formative/summative essays and examinations!), as well as the faces of my classmates.
The EI family, given its nature of environment characterised by diverse nationalities, is definitely an ideal place to make lifelong friends. Immediately after graduation one of my Italian classmates even came all the way from Europe to Hong Kong to visit me!
Certainly the EI has unleashed my previously unexplored potential: guiding or even pushing me to think critically about key political and international relations issues. This proved extremely useful for the architecture of my own career trajectory in the field of government and politics. After graduation, my enthusiasm for serving at serving at European institutions led me to a professional traineeship program offered by the Political, Press and Information Section of the European Union Office, which took me to Hong Kong and Macao. After completing the program, I was called to join the Hong Kong SAR Government, and serve at the Electoral Office and later the Electoral Affairs Commission. Here I established solid expertise in day-to-day local politics and public administration. Last year, with thanks to the EI training workshops and courses on 'political risk analysis', my interest in Hong Kong politics and the wider International Relations in a policy-focused dimension eventually provided me with a very rare chance to be recruited as the Political Officer working for the UK Consulate in Hong Kong. The specialty and complexity of the work has created the best occasion for me to keep close connection with London on a daily basis!
I would like to thank EI and 杏吧论坛 for everything!