THE CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

Course & Unit Exemptions For Undergraduate Students with Post-secondary Qualifications

Types of Qualifications

Qualifications, either gained at other post-secondary institutions or at another programme of studies previously undertaken at CUHK, or equivalent, and may include:

(1)     Courses taken in a previous first degree programme, full-time or part-time, in Hong Kong or elsewhere, irrespective whether that programme was actually completed or not;

(2)     Courses taken in Diploma or Higher Diploma or Teacher’s Certificate programmes;

(3)     Course taken by CUHK students on approved exchange programmes;

(4)     Passes in papers of professional bodies.

In listing all these qualifications, it is not suggested that they shall necessarily be recognized, as the decision in each case will rest with the recommendation of the Department Chairman/Director of Studies concerned and subject to approval by the Faculty Dean.   Students should consult the Department/Programme concerned on the possibility of granting course and unit exemptions before making application.

General Principles (note 1)

(1)     Recognition should be dealt with in terms of equivalence to particular courses at CUHK without direct reference to the Programmes of Studies.   The general principle is that a course taken elsewhere will be recognized as equivalent to a CUHK course if it is comparable in scope and standard, and provides the student with sufficient knowledge to pursue higher level courses at CUHK for which the exempted course is a prerequisite.

(2)     Recommendations should be made by the individual Department/Programme responsible for the particular course, subject to general guidelines.  Such recommendations should then be approved by the Dean of the Faculty concerned.  In cases where no comparable courses are offered at CUHK, the decision will rest with the Department Chairman/Director of Studies in the student’s major subject and the Faculty Dean concerned.

(3)     In making its evaluation, the Department/Programme should take into account the status of the institution where the qualification was gained, the number of hours and the normal level of the course in that institution (e.g. normally taken by second year students), the grade achieved, how long ago the course was taken, and may even conduct a test if necessary.

(4)     When equivalence to a particular CUHK course is recognized, the student will be treated as if he had taken that course, in effect gaining both course and unit (note 2) exemption (the number of units exempted being that of the equivalent CUHK course).  Student cannot take the exempted course.

(5)     Courses exempted through recognition of such equivalence will not count in GPA calculations.

(6)     A student must achieve the following minimum unit and attendance requirements at CUHK (Excepts from the General Regulations Governing Full-time Undergraduate Studies) (note 3)

-     complete at least 60 units of courses at this University; and

-     complete at least two-thirds of his Major requirements at this University; and

-     complete at least two-thirds of his Minor requirements at this University, if he wishes to graduate with a Minor (note 4); and

-     attend this University for at least 2 years; and

-     his total period of attendance at this University and another university or institution of higher learning recognized by the Senate is not less than 3 years.

(7)     Students should also observe the University regulations on period of study, course requirements and exemptions and other related regulations.

Note:

(1)      Some of the principles may not be directly applicable to students in the MBChB and BNurs Programmes which are not credit-unit-based

(2)      For students whose application is based on AD/HD qualification, they can only be exempted from the course(s) but not the unit requirements. Students are required to complete all course and unit requirements for graduation.  In general, students of the above qualification are exempted from courses of 1000 or 2000 level at CUHK.

(3)      Students of Major Programme with different set of regulations should refer to relevant clauses of their programme for the requirements.

(4)      Not applicable to students of part-time degree programmes.

Application Procedures

        Students should submit their application for course and unit exemptions via the on-line application at MyCUHK or on prescribed application form which is obtainable from the Registration & Examinations Section.  The application form must be submitted together with the supporting documents listed below to the Registration & Examinations Section Office (Students of MBChB programme must submit their application to their Faculty Office).

Required Documents

(1)       Certificates/Diplomas – copies to accompany application.  Originals are required for inspection.

(2)       Transcripts – students should ask institution(s) concerned to forward transcript(s) directly to the Registration & Examinations Section/Faculty Office of Medicine.

 (3)      Course descriptions – copies of course content/course outline of courses taken at other institutions (or at previous programme of CUHK).

Application will not be processed if the required documents are not submitted/received.

Enquiries

For any questions, please contact the Registration & Examinations Section.

Office address:  1/F., Sui-Loong Pao Building

Telephone:        3943 8942

E-mail:              ugadmin@cuhk.edu.hk

January 2012