Academic Regulations and Records Office
Academic Regulations and Records Office

Frequently Asked Questions

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General

    • Students studying on a government-funded bachelor’s degree have to settle the tuition fees in two equal installments. For details of the payment arrangements, please visit: Payment Schedule.

    • Local students studying on a government-funded bachelor's degree are required to pay the tuition fees of $42,100 per annum. For other fees and charges, please visit: Fees and Charges.

    • Students pursuing a double major are required to pay the extra credits exceeding the maximum credit limit permitted on a self-financing basis. Students pursuing a double degree are required to pay the additional year(s) of study beyond the normal study period on a self-financing basis.  Please visit: Fees and Charges for details.

    • The maximum period of study (irrespective of mode of study) for different types of students, inclusive of any change of majors, periods of leave of absence and suspension of studies, is as follows:
      • Normative 4-year degree: 8 years
      • Advanced Standing I: 6 years
      • Advanced Standing II: 5 years
      • Double degree/degree with a normal study duration longer than 4 years: To be stipulated by the cognizant academic units
      Students who cannot complete all the degree requirements for graduation within the maximum study period will be required to discontinue their studies. Requests for extension of study beyond the maximum study period will not be granted.

    • You can apply for a leave of absence to be away from your study temporarily while maintaining a valid enrolment status with the University. Periods of approved leave of absence may not be less than one full semester, and may not accumulate to more than four semesters. A continuation fee for each semester will be charged. For details, please visit: Leave of Absence.

    • The University will not release information relating to a student, either academic or personal, to any party without the student’s consent. However, please note that the University may contact the emergency contact person/parents/guardians in relation to students' study, health or medical condition and/or financial circumstances, and release the student’s information at the University under emergency situations as determined by the University.  For details, please visit: Personal Information Collection Statement (PICS) - Students.

    • Basically, ‘below 18’ students are treated equally with other university students. However, the law draws an important line at the age of 18, and therefore there are a number of issues that this group of students should take note of. For details, please visit: Information for Students under the Age of 18.

Remarks: For students enrolled under the Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine programme with a normal study duration longer than 4 years, the above FAQs may not be applicable.  In case of questions, please contact the Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences or the Academic Regulations and Records Office.



Degree Audit and Academic Advising

    • You should review your advising worksheet at least a few times in each semester, particularly:
      1. Before course registration to check the courses you need
      2. Before you meet with your advisor or upon receiving email notification that your advisor had written notes for you
      3. After your grades are available

    • Your course registration record will be transferred to the DegreeWorks system daily at midnight. Any changes to your course add/drop will normally be seen on your advising worksheet tomorrow.

    • As the requirements for any major, minor, college requirements, etc may change over time, "catalogue term" is used to differentiate the set of requirements that you are following. Normally, for your degree and gateway education requirements, the catalogue term will be the same as your admission term to the Bachelor's degree programme. If you find that what you have studied do not follow exactly the requirements of the catalogue term that you are following, please discuss with your advisor immediately.

    • You must not mix up your DegreeWorks advising worksheet with your transcript. Your transcript is the official academic record at the University. Only the GPA as shown in your transcript is the official GPA recorded by the University. DegreeWorks, on the other hand, is a tool that helps you monitor your progress towards degree completion. The GPAs that appear in the header of the blocks of requirements are for your reference only. It gives you and your advisor an overview of your progress in different areas in your degree. The area GPAs will also be helpful to monitor the progress in some minors that require a minimum GPA for award.

    • DegreeWorks matches your academic record against your degree requirements using a "best fit” scenario. It will try to match as much completion of requirements as possible with some programmed priorities. This process will not always be perfect, particularly when multiple possibilities exist and you have just started pursuing an area of study. Normally, when you have taken more courses, DegreeWorks should better match your plan. You can also use the "Look Ahead" function and add the courses you plan to take in future to test the degree audit.

      If you are about to complete your degree and you still find that the courses do not fit in your requirements as expected. Please contact the Academic Regulations and Records Office (ARRO) or your home academic unit for assistance.

    • You should first check with the Academic Regulations and Records Office (ARRO) or your home academic unit if you find that the courses you have taken are not counted in your degree audit. If you have questions about your degree requirement or study plan, please discuss with your major leader or academic advisor. You can also send an e-mail to your advisor by clicking their name in your advising worksheet.

    • Yes, you can print your worksheet by clicking the "Print" button at the top of the manual bar.

    • You can click the name of your advisor in your advising worksheet to send him/her an email. Besides, your advisor's contact information can be found from the "Student Record" tab in AIMS and choose "My advisor/Mentor and my Mentees".

    • Please contact your home academic unit to check if any advising services are available to you. Also, they can explain and help with the assignment of an advisor if necessary.

    • If you are having issues with viewing your DegreeWorks worksheet, please try to clear cache and cookies in the browser you are using. For Internet Explorer:
      1. Open the "Tools" (imgage of IE) menu at the top right hand side of the browser.
      2. Select "Internet Options"
      3. Click the "Delete" button in "Browsing history" section under the "General" Tab.
      4. Uncheck the "Preserve Favorites website data" box.
      5. Check the "Temporary Internet files and website files", "Cookies and website data" and "History" boxes.
      6. Check the "Delete" button at the bottom. It will take a few seconds to clear the cache memory and cookies.
      7. Click "OK" to quit the dialogue box.
      8. Close and reopen the browser.
      9. Login "DegreeWorks" via AIMS again.
      For Firefox:
      1. Open the browser menu (image of firefox) at the top right hand corner.
      2. Select "History" and then click "Clear Recent History"
      3. Select "Everything" from the drop down menu of "Time range to clean".
      4. Check the "Browsing & Download History", "Cookies", "Cache" and "Active Logins" boxes.
      5. Click the "Clear Now" button.
      6. Close and reopen the browser.
      7. Login "DegreeWorks" via AIMS again.
      For Chrome:
      1. Open the browser menu (imgage of chrome) at the top right hand corner.
      2. Select "Settings".
      3. Click "Show advanced settings" at the bottom to open the "Privacy" setting menu.
      4. Click the "Clear browsing data" button
      5. Choose "the beginning of time" from the drop down menu at the top.
      6. Check the "Browsing History", "Download History", "Cookies and other site and plugin data", "Cached images and files" boxes.
      7. Click the "Clear browsing data" button.
      8. Close and reopen the browser.
      9. Login to "DegreeWorks" via AIMS again.

    • Both What-if and Look Ahead help you plan your studies and show you how the courses you have taken and how the courses you plan to take will apply to your graduation requirements. In Look Ahead, you can quickly enter a list of courses you plan to study in future and run a degree audit to check how the courses meet your current degree requirements. In What-if, you can hypothetically change your major, minor or stream. If you are planning to declare or change their major, minor or stream, the What-if feature will help you see how the courses you have taken will apply to the new degree requirements.

    • Since What-if scenarios are not stored in DegreeWorks, you need to print them out if you wish to show your advisor the What-if scenarios. Alternatively, you can work through What-if together with your advisor in DegreeWorks.

    • No, the What-if scenario cannot be saved in DegreeWorks. You need to run the What-if scenario again when you wish to see it. You can also print the What-if scenario by clicking the "Print" button at the top of the manual bar.

    • No. The offering of course section is subject to availability of teaching staff and other resources. Listing a course in your plan does not guarantee that the course will have available places for your registration and have no time conflict with the other courses in the plan However, your study plan information will help academic units to better gauge course demand when preparing for class schedule in the upcoming semesters. This will help the University to provide sufficient class sections to help students complete their study plan as much as possible.

    • No. You will have to review the course catalogue and make sure you fulfil the pre-requisite requirement. In your advising worksheet, courses with pre-requisite are highlighted with an asterisk *. Click on the course code and check the course catalogue before you work out your study plan.

    • The courses that you put in the study plan will be validated against the University course catalogue. If you put in course codes belonging to another University in your study plan, errors will be prompted when you save your plan. If you would like your advisor to review the courses you plan to take during exchange, please place a dash (-) before the course code (e.g. –AC 1234). You can also put a note in the notes section explaining your study plan during exchange programme.

    • Yes. Your advisor can see your plan(s). You can inform your advisor for academic advising after you have finished building your plan.



Course Registration

    • In each semester, full-time students must register for courses summing to a total of at least 12 credit units, and for not more than 18 credit units; and part-time students must register for courses summing to a total of no more than 11 credit units. In the Summer Term, students may register for courses but the total load must not exceed seven credit units.

    • Your pre-registration schedule is mainly compiled with the essential courses for fulfilling your degree requirements. You may use this as a draft version to further compile your class schedule in accordance with your study plan. However, you are advised to meet your Advisor before making any adjustments to the pre-registration schedule.

    • Your pre-registration class schedule may be used as a blueprint for you to build your class schedule according to your curriculum requirements and study plan. When your course grades for the previous semester are released, you might need to make adjustments to your class schedule.

    • If the course is web-enabled, simply drop the course through the web. If the course is not web-enabled, please use the electronic form on AIMS [Course Registration > Application for Add/Drop of Non-Web-enabled Course & Study Load Adjustment] and provide reason(s) and supporting document(s), e.g. the approval for credit transfer/excemption obtained, for approval by the course-offering academic unit.

    • You can check for the list of courses being offered for the entire academic year from the Master Class Schedule which is accessible from the CityU Portal. Please note that the class schedules are subject to changes prior to the start of the respective semester/term.

    • Portal » Academic & Research » Academic Services » Master Class Schedule. Click Show Gateway Education (GE) Courses ONLY and press Search Class. The master list of Gateway Education courses available for the semester will be displayed.

    • Students who wish to take a reduced study load in a semester (full-time students less than 12 credits) due to special circumstances may make an application via an electronic form available AIMS [Course Registration > Application for Add/Drop of Non-Web-enabled Course & Study Load Adjustment]. Once you submit an application, it will be forwarded to your home academic unit for consideration.

    • Students who wish to increase the study load due to special circumstances may make an application via an electronic form available in AIMS [Course Registration > Application for Add/Drop of Non-Web-enabled Course & Study Load Adjustment]. Once you submit an application, it will be forwarded to your home academic unit for consideration.

    • Check if there is any time conflict resulting from the change. If no, you can drop the original tutorial section and add the new tutorial section at the same time when submitting the add/drop request via AIMS.
      As the enrolment numbers are real-time dynamic data, several students may be competing for the few remaining seats at the same time. If the capacity of the course section is almost full, students are advised not to attempt to swap into those sections.

    • This means the registration page is under a large number of accesses during the peak course registration period, especially at the commencement of each time slot. As a measure of network traffic control, it is a standard measure to restrict the number of accesses to the server to maintain the operation of the server. This will result in some users failing to log into AIMS temporarily. Please be patience and try again later.

    • You may submit a request for late add/drop of courses for approval by the Head of the course-offering academic units. However, the request will be considered on a case-by-case basis and will not necessarily be approved.
    • Please note that late requests for dropping courses after the add/drop deadline must be submitted no later than the end of the teaching period for the relevant semester/term, and approval of such requests will only be granted under exceptional circumstances. For approved late drop of courses, an X grade representing the late drop of the course will be assigned and shown on your academic transcript.
    • If you are studying in a programme with tuition fees charged by credit unit basis, tuition fees are chargeable for courses approved for dropping after the end of Week 2 of the semester/term. For details, please refer to the Regulations on Tuition Fees.

    • You have to apply for a leave of absence by the end of the course add/drop period of the semester. If your application is approved, you will need to pay a continuation fee during the period of your leave of absence. For details, please visit: Leave of Absence.

    • These courses are non-credit bearing and will not contribute to your semester's study load. For the physical education courses, pass grade or "Not Completed" will be recorded in your transcript. For the optional language courses offered by SCOPE, no grade will be recorded in your transcript.



Academic Progress

    • The entry qualifications are as follows:
      Normative 4-year degree Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination, 12-year school-leaving qualification

       
      Advanced Standing I 13-year school-leaving qualification [e.g. an International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma, a General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (GCEAL)], Associate Degree/Higher Diploma graduates admitted to a non-senior year place
      Advanced Standing II Associate Degree/Higher Diploma graduates admitted to a senior year place
      As the degree requirements for the above three types of students vary, please check your admission offer letter to ascertain your ‘student type’. Please also refer to the Academic Regulations for Undergraduate Degrees for the relevant degree requirements.

    • If you have fulfilled the minimum credit unit requirement specified by your major and degree as well as the University Language Requirements, you may apply for graduation. Alternatively, you can choose to take further courses for personal or career interests as long as your credit load does not exceed the maximum credit units permitted for a degree, and you have not reached the maximum period of study.

    • Students who have completed the maximum credit units permitted as mentioned above cannot register for further courses in subsequent semesters/terms except for (a) those pursuing a double major paying the extra credits exceeding the above maximum credit limit on a self-financing basis; (b) those pursuing a double degree paying the additional year(s) of study on a self-financing basis; or (c) students who have been granted special permission to exceed the maximum credit limit.
    • Please note that except for the above, students who cannot complete all the degree requirements for graduation within the maximum number of credit units permitted will be required to discontinue their studies.

    • In mid to late May of your first year of study.
    • Through a majors allocation exercise in May-June, you will be allocated a major, which will take effect from Semester A of your second year of study.
    • For details of the timeline and related procedures, please visit: Declaring a Home Major.

    • Bachelor’s degrees students of the following categories are eligible to apply for change of home major during the specified round(s) of applications: 
      Category of Students Majors for Selection
      Application Round
      Year One Normative 4-year degree students

      Any majors except those within the students’ home academic units
      2
      Year Two or above Normative 4-year degree students and those admitted with advanced standing Any majors except those not open for application as stipulated by individual academic units
      1 and 2
    • For details of the application periods and related procedures, please visit: Change of Home Major.

    • Eligible students can submit add/drop of second major request in AIMS within the periods specified by the University. For details of the add/drop periods and related procedures, please visit: Second Major
    • The second major can be any major offered by an academic unit, including the student’s home academic unit.

    • If you are a bachelor’s degree student with a home major and have not been granted any extra credit units above the maximum credit limit permitted by the University, you can declare a minor during the specified application periods. This also applies to students admitted with advanced standing.
    • A minor consists of a structured group of courses (15 to 18 credit units) that focuses on a particular academic discipline, allowing students to develop some depth of understanding in a subject area or topic of professional interest. Please refer to the Minor Catalogue for a full list of minors and their curriculum requirements.

    • Students who have already been granted extra credits above the maximum credit limit (i.e. 144 for normative 4-year degree / 114 for Advanced Standing I / 84 for Advanced Standing II) will not be allowed to declare a minor.

    • You can submit your add/drop of minors request in AIMS within the periods specified by the University. For details of the add/drop periods and related procedures, please visit: Minors.

    • You can add only one minor in each application round. If you wish to declare two minors, you can do so in two separate application rounds.

    • No, late requests for add/drop of minors will not be accepted. You have to submit your request for add/drop of minors in the next round of exercise.

    • No. Double counting of courses is permissible between minor and college/school requirements, as well as minor and College/School-specified courses under the Gateway Education (GE) requirement only.

    • Yes, you can. In fact your application for graduation previously submitted will be automatically withdrawn as you cannot complete the requirements for your confirmed academic curriculum. For details, please visit: Application for Graduation.

    • Yes, you can do so by submitting an “Application for Change of Academic Curriculum and Graduation” by the specified deadline, indicating your intention to drop the minor and graduate as originally planned. For details, please visit: Application for Graduation.



Application for Graduation

    • Late application will normally not be accepted unless you have strong justifications for the late. Please apply for graduation in the following semester/term.

    • To maintain an active status in order to apply for graduation without taking any courses, students should apply for a leave of absence to take effect in that semester. You are advised to observe the deadlines to avoid being charged excess tuition fees. For details, please visit Leave of Absence.

    • You can apply in a single application and will be awarded at the same time provided that all requirements of the two majors are completed.

    • You do not have to notify any particular party, but you are advised to contact your academic advisor to seek for advice/assistance on your studies.

    • If you are not sure whether you can fulfill all graduation requirements after receiving the transcript, you should consult your academic advisor to determine what courses you should take in the semester.
    • If you are confident that all graduation requirements will be met after receiving the transcript, you should take the following steps:
      • Apply for leave of absence in the current semester;

      • Apply for graduation in the current semester
    • and your continuation fee may be waived if all of the following conditions are met:
      • Graduation requirements are fulfilled;

      • No course registration in the current semester;

      • Applied for graduation during the application period;

      • Applied for leave of absence before the end of Week 2 in the current semester; and

      • Have submitted a written request to ARRO with the endorsement from the Head of home academic unit.

    • You may continue to study in order to meet the requirements of your second major and defer graduation to a future semester/term; but must submit another application via AIMS in the appropriate semester/term of graduation. Alternatively, you may apply to change your academic curriculum by dropping the second major/change the second major to a minor (if appropriate) by using this application form and submit it before the deadline. Upon approval of the curriculum change, you may graduate in the designated semester/term.

    • If you have fulfilled all your degree and home major requirements; and want to drop your minor in order to graduate in this semester/term, you have to submit an application for changing major/minor as well as applying for graduation as soon as possible but not later than the specified deadline. Please download the application form and submit the completed form to ARRO before the deadline as indicated on it. No late application will be accepted due to time constraints.

    • No. You should have reviewed your academic progress before applying for graduation. Once you have submitted an application, the only consideration is whether you have completed all requirements by the end of that semester/term. Your application will be dropped only in case that your curriculum requirement cannot be met.



Credit Transfer/ Course Exemption

    • Credit transfer may be granted towards a degree requirement.A special course code with the appropriate credit units will be entered in the student's academic record.

    • Make-up Course for Course Exemption Except the following scenarios

      Students are usually required to take any other courses to make up the credits required for graduation except:

      It is a minor requirement course
      Take any other minor-related course specified by the minor-offering academic unit
      It is a Gateway Education (GE) course
      Take any other GE course

    • No. You don’t need to submit any application. Credit transfer/course exemption of GE1501 will be updated to your student record around the start of semester. Please note that if you have been granted an exemption from GE1501, you are required to take any other Gateway Education (GE) course to make up for the credit units.


If there is any inconsistency or ambiguity between the page contents and the Academic Regulations (AR), rules and guidelines, the AR, rules and guidelines shall prevail.