Application for Graduation : Frequently Asked Questions

Each semester, an email will be sent to students enrolled in the undergraduate degree programmes (including Articulation and Senior Year programmes), informing them of the application period and other details on the "Application for Graduation” exercise.

The application period will normally be as follows:

Before applying for graduation, you are required to: 

• review your graduation requirements listed at Programme Requirement Document and your Reference Checklist (eStudent > My Profile > Study Information > Reference Checklist). If you will fulfil all the requirements at the end of the semester, you should submit an application for graduation during the specified application period.
• For students enrolling in Minor programme: 
  apply “Major/Minor Overlapped” subjects, if any, if you are enrolled in a Minor programme (see Q3 for details)

• For students who wish to withdraw the Minor and/or Secondary Major programme(s):
  Seek approval from “Minor-offering department” and/or “host department of Secondary Major” prior to the end of the add/drop period of the last semester of study, i.e. the semester that you graduate.  Detail procedures can be found in the Student Handbook.
  
  

Once you have fulfilled all requirements and graduated in the semester/term, subjects registered in the following semester/summer term (including the follow-on term of consecutive subjects) will be nullified and removed.

Please contact your programme offering department immediately to see if any exceptional arrangement can be made.  Otherwise, your graduation would probably be delayed or your Award GPA may not be processed with the best scenario (see Q6).

For students who have enrolled in a Minor programme, please read the following points before applying for graduation:

Overlapped Major/Minor Subjects

• Students enrolling in a Minor programme may be allowed to count up to 6 credits from their Major (including GUR subjects but excluding "Free Elective subjects" and "Double Counting subjects for Major and Secondary Major programmes", if any) towards the Minor subject requirements.
• If the Major subjects taken are the same as the Minor compulsory subjects, you MUST apply to count these subjects towards the compulsory Minor subject requirements in order to graduate.

Procedures for Applying Major/Minor Overlapped Subjects

• You are required to submit the Form AR147(a) (AR Homepage > Students in Taught Programmes > Application Forms) to and obtain approval from the Minor offering department, as soon as possible and before you apply for graduation.
• Approved Major/Minor Overlapped subjects will be shown on the section “Counting of subjects under Major Programme towards Minor Study” of your Reference Checklist.  You are required to contact your programme offering department immediately if you find any abnormalities or missing/invalid remark (e.g. approved major/minor overlapped subjects) on the Reference Checklist so that rectifications can be made as soon as possible.
  
  

You can apply for graduation via the eStudent platform during the specified period if you are expected to graduate in that semester.  Procedures are listed below:

eStudent > My Profile > Study Information > Application for Graduation > 
Tick "I would like to apply for graduation in this Semester" > "Proceed"

• see Q4a for details related to selection of “Free Elective subjects” 
• see Q4b for details related to selection of “Double Counting subjects for Major and Secondary Major programmes” 
  

If your graduation requirements contain "Free Elective" subjects, you will be directed to the "Select Subject(s) for Fulfilling the "Free Elective" Requirement" page upon clicking the "Proceed" button when you apply for graduation.  You can then proceed to select subjects for fulfilling the “Free Elective” requirement.  

What subjects can be selected as "Free Elective" subjects?
"Free Elective" subjects refer to any subjects (including CAR subjects but excluding level-0 subjects and training subjects) offered by the University, unless otherwise specified by your programme. You have to refer to your Programme Requirement Document and ensure that the subjects are selected according to the specific requirements stated, if any.  

The following subjects will NOT be listed under the "Select Subject(s) for Fulfilling the "Free Elective" Requirement" page:

• Level-0 subjects and training subjects (including clinical/field training)
• Approved overlapping Major/Minor subjects
  these subjects should be shown under the section "Counting of subject(s) under Major Programme towards Minor Study (latest application)" on the first page of your Reference Checklist. Please contact your programme offering department if you have been approved with Major/Minor overlapped subject(s) but find such information is missing 

Subjects selected to fulfil the "Free Elective" requirement will NOT be taken to fulfil other requirements, like Major (including GUR), Minor, Secondary Major, etc.

How may subjects should I select for fulfilling the "Free Elective" requirement?

The system will refer to the "Reference Checklist" and help validating the number of credits/subjects you have selected as Free Electives.  Taking "12-credit" Free Elective requirement as an example, the system will accept combinations of subjects meeting the 12-credit requirement (including subject combinations of 3+3+3+3 credits, 3+3+3+2+2 credits, etc). 

The following "error messages" will be shown for invalid cases when you click the "Proceed" button to confirm the subject selection.  Please follow the instructions to complete the process:

• Submission NOT allowed – subjects overflow, please remove excess selected subjects
• Submission NOT allowed – sum of credits for the selected subjects is less than required, please select more subjects
  

If you are enrolled in a Secondary Major programme, you are required to select double counting subjects for Major and Secondary Major programmes, if any, when you apply for graduation.  After selection of Free Elective subjects, you will be directed to the "Select Double Counting Subjects for Major and Secondary Major programmes" page.  The list of eligible subjects will be shown on the page for your selection. 

How many and what subjects should I select for Double Counting the Major and Secondary Major programmes?

• You can select up to 12 credits of Major (including GUR) subjects for counting towards the Secondary Major.  Subjects which fall in both Major and Secondary Major programmes are listed under the section: “Common Subjects – Major and Secondary Major” of your Reference Checklist
• The following subjects should NOT be selected as Double Counting subjects for the Major and Secondary Major programmes:
  -    Major/Secondary Major subjects approved to be counted towards the fulfilment of Minor programme
  -    Subjects selected for fulfilling the “Free Elective” requirement

Subjects selected may become invalid in case your department has made changes(s) to the curriculum settings after your selection.  The word "Invalid" will be shown under the "Remark" column of the relevant “selected” subjects under the "Application for Graduation (latest application)" section of your Reference Checklist.  Please contact your programme offering department for necessary follow-up actions.

Below are examples showing "Invalid" subjects as shown on the Reference Checklist:

Examples

Invalid Free Elective subjects:

Invalid Major/Minor Overlapped subjects:

Invalid Double Counting subjects for Major and Secondary Major programmes:

Yes. "Selected Free Elective subjects", "Major/Minor overlapped subjects" and “Double Counting Major and Secondary Major subjects” will be taken into calculation of Award GPA and for fulfilling graduation requirements. 

If you fail the selected Free Elective subjects or you have not chosen any Free Elective subjects in the expected graduation semester, it may result in random taking of excess subjects, if any, for you to fulfil the Free Elective requirement and for calculating the Award GPA, which may be to your disadvantage.
Similarly, if you have not selected the “Major/Minor overlapped subjects” or “Double Counting Major/Secondary Major subjects”, your graduation may be unnecessarily delayed. 

It is advisable for you to review your academic profile via the "Reference Checklist" again and see if there is possibility for your fulfilling the requirements by juggling of the subject combinations.  If there is, please approach your programme offering department within 2 weeks upon release of overall results and discuss if any follow-up actions can be taken. On the other hand, if you cannot graduate in the specified semester after reviewing your assessment results, you have to re-apply for graduation and re-select the “Free Elective” and “Double Counting” subjects, if any, again in future semester that you expect to graduate.

Graduates can refer to the "Graduate Checklist" for the subjects taken to fulfil various requirements of your award.  You can access the checklist via eStudent (eStudent > My Profile > Study Information > Graduate Checklist) upon release of overall results. 

If your programme curriculum contains Free Elective requirement, you can refer to the Graduate Checklist for subjects taken to fulfil this requirement. If you have excess completed subjects and would like to change the subjects taken to fulfil the Free Elective requirement for a better Award GPA, you can approach your programme offering department within 2 weeks (counting from the release of overall results) for appropriate follow-up actions. 

Please also note that once you have fulfilled the graduation requirements, subjects registered in the following semester/summer term (including the follow-on term of consecutive subjects) will be nullified and removed.