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College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

Curriculum Structure

(Applicable to Normative 4-year degree, Advanced I and Advanced Standing II students admitted from 2014/15 onwards)

The four-year undergraduate curriculum allows students to gain in-depth knowledge through major studies, and diversify their learning with Gateway Education (GE) courses, electives and optional minors. The curriculum structure is as follows:

Component Normative 4-year Degree Advanced Standing I Advanced Standing II
(Senior-year Entry)
GE English 1: GE1401 University English (see note 1) 3 credits 3 credits --
English 2: Discipline-specific English (see note 4) 3 credits 3 credits 3 credits
Chinese Civilisation - History and Philosophy (see note 1) 3 credits 3 credits Non-compulsory requirement
Distributional Area Requirements
Minimum 3 credit units from each area
  • Arts and Humanities
  • Study of Societies, Social and Business Organisations
  • Science and Technology
 12 credits # 6 credits * 3 credits
College-specified courses (see note 3) 9 credits 6 credits 6 credits
Major + college requirement (see note 3) ≤ 72 credits ≤ 72 credits ≤ 72 credits
Minor (optional) 15-18 credits 15-18 credits 15-18 credits
Free electives Remainder to fulfill the credit requirement for graduation, if necessary Remainder to fulfill the credit requirement for graduation, if necessary Remainder to fulfill the credit requirement for graduation, if necessary
Minimum credit units for graduation 120 credits, subject to the requirements of respective majors 90 credits, subject to the requirements of respective majors 60 credits, subject to the requirements of respective majors
Maximum credit units for graduation 144 credits 114 credits 84 credits

# Take at least 1 course from each of the three distributional areas
* Take 2 courses from two different distributional areas

Notes:
  1. Students are required to fulfill the English language requirement and Chinese language requirement, and may be required to take additional language courses depending on their entry qualification in English/Chinese.
  2. Students are required to fulfill the internship/consultancy project/research project requirement in accordance with the requirements stipulated by the respective college/school.
  3. The College Requirement and the College-specified course requirement for students transferring from other non-CLASS academic units will follow the same arrangements for the Advanced Standing I students. For students transferring within CLASS Departments, if they have already successfully completed a College foundation course offered by their new home department, they are not required to take another College foundation course from the same group. This applies to students admitted/transferred to CLASS in Semester A 2022/23 and thereafter.
  4. Students who have already successfully completed a Discipline-specific GE English course required by their original home academic units at the University will not be required to take another Discipline-specific English course after transferring to CLASS departments.

Major Requirement

Please refer to Academic Regulations and Records Office / Departmental websites.