165 164 Chapter Eight: Faculty and Staff Testimonials Chapter Eight: Faculty and Staff Testimonials “ Counselling is a very important part in universities where young individuals continue to grows, gain knowledge and new experiences. Nonetheless these aspects of universities often also make students have conflicted feelings, confused and feel lost. Students frequently experience new kinds and new levels of stress which they may not know how to handle or what to expect. To me, physical health is important, but mental health is probably a more crucial one. Mental issues are harder to detect and very difficult to handle. It is great that HKUST as a very strong Counseling team who are well-trained to help students. I could attest that our counselors have major roles and have made significant impact on students’ life. As a UG coordinator, I regularly talk to students mostly just some casual chat. Sometimes however I was surprised to find out that the one I was talking to who looked just as fine as others actually was under a lot of stress and felt lost. I see students cried probably every year when they talk about their stress. And many times they also mentioned that they didn’t know who to talk to. And they thanked me for listening to them although I could not provide them a good solution, listening is probably enough to make a big different to their feeling. We UST people can also help promote mental health for our friends and others by simply checking how our friends feel and being a good listener for them. HKUST have a very high number of excellent individuals. Sometimes this situation makes quite a lot of students feel intense peer pressure especially if they compare themselves to those who are at the top of the class. Some of them think that they could succeed only if they are better than their peers. This kind of thinking process adds a lot of pressure to them. I hope our students will learn to set their own goals that are not attached to how well their peers perform. For example, they could set a goal that they want to create their own business or they want to work in a large corporation. And they should think about their friends as a supporting network that can help them achieve their individual goals easier. Personally, I found that thinking this way helps reduce stress significantly and I become much happier when I am surrounded by all excellent people. ” Prof Ekkachai Saenyasiri Associate Professor of Business Education, Department of Finance UG Programs Coordinator (Finance)
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