Graduation on Completion of Studies

When students have completed, or are registered in courses that will complete, the academic and non-academic requirements for an award, they will be included in the list of pending graduates. The non-academic requirement includes the settlement of all fees or fines payable and that there is no serious case pending decision with the Student Disciplinary Committee.

To be considered for graduation, an MPhil or PhD student must:

1. Complete the specific program requirements for graduation within the specified time limit;
2. Achieve a graduation grade average of at least 2.850 in the courses used to satisfy the program requirements;
3. Attain a pass in the thesis examination; and
4. Meet the residency requirements of the program.

Graduation Grade Average (GGA)

At graduation, a graduation grade average (GGA) will be calculated from the courses that are presented for an academic award. The GGA for graduation for all postgraduate programs must at least be 2.850.

If a student has taken more courses than required by the award, upon recommendation of the Department, certain courses included in the calculation of the CGA may be excluded from the GGA calculation to improve the GGA of the student. Otherwise, all courses taken will be included.

Graduation Approval

Endorsement by School Boards or their Postgraduate Studies Committees is required to confirm the graduation list and any special recommendations by Departments for program completion. Departmental and School recommendations are then considered and approved by the Committee on Postgraduate Studies, as delegated by the Senate.

Conferment of Awards

Awards are conferred on students on a fixed annual schedule. Please click here for details on the conferment dates.

Congregation

The Congregation is the formal graduation ceremony held in Fall Term of each year. All graduates with degrees conferred in the academic year concerned will be invited to the ceremony. Attendance at the Congregation is not compulsory. 

Award Diploma

Diplomas are distributed to graduates after the conferment of the award. Diplomas show in Chinese and English the following:

• Name of the graduate as shown on the graduate’s Hong Kong Identity Card, with the surname capitalized and appearing first, followed by a comma and the given names;
• Award title, which is normally shown the same as the program title, with no concentration given; and
• The date of award conferment.