Res - Information on Course and Unit Exemptions for Undergraduate Students

THE CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

Course & Unit Exemptions for Undergraduate Students

1.	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:

	(a)	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;
	(b)	Courses taken in Diploma or Higher Diploma or Teacher’s Certificate programmes;
	(c)	Course taken by CUHK students on approved exchange programmes;
	(d)	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.
	*	Qualifications obtainted from entrance examinations for admission to university/tertiary education are not considered as post-secondary qualification e.g. International Baccalaureate (IB), General Certificate of Education (GCE) and Hong Kong Advanced Level Examinations (HKALE) etc.

	General Principles

	(a)	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.
	(b)	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.
	(c)	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.
	(d)	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 exemption (the number of units exempted being that of the equivalent CUHK course). Student cannot take the exempted course.
	(e)	Courses exempted through recognition of such equivalence will not be included in GPA calculations.
	(f)	Students should also observe the related university regulations on minimum units and attendance requirements, period of study, course requirements and exemptions.
	(g)	Other important note:
		Some of the principles may not be applicable to students of the MBChB Programme.
		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 these qualifications are exempted from courses of 1000 or 2000 level at CUHK.

2.	For Undergraduate Students admitted with Advanced Standing
	Students admitted with Advanced Standing, apart from exemption from Foundation English for University Studies, University Chinese I & II, IT requirement/Digital Literacy and Computational Thinking, 1 unit of PE and specified units of UGE courses, may be granted further exemption from the 3-unit Discipline/Faculty-specific English Language course, the non-credit bearing Chinese Language courses and specific courses based on specified qualifications and requirements obtained prior to student registration.
	For further exemption of the language courses, students should follow the application procedures and observe the specified deadlines on the homepage of the Registration and Examinations Section. For further exemption of the specific courses of various Faculties based on specified qualifications prior to student registration, students should submit application via CUSIS, and observe the relevant principles listed in (1) above.

3.	Application Guidelines and Procedures
	Students should submit under CUSIS the application for course & unit exemptions and follow the instructions to upload the softcopy of the required documents. Students can track their application status in CUSIS.
	The application will be forwarded to concerned departments for consideration and approval ONLY after all required documents (see 4 below) are received/inspected. Students will be advised to cancel the application if any of the documents have NOT been uploaded or received by Registration and Examinations Section within 1 month after the application has been submitted.
	Once the application is approved by the Faculty Dean, a “Statement of Course & Unit Exemptions” will be sent to the students for record. If students have any further queries/appeal to the result, they must approach the Registration and Examinations Section within 2 months from the issue date of the statement, or for graduating students, on or before the first working day of February (for 1^st term graduation) and July (for 2^nd term graduation), whichever date is earlier. Any late appeal of the results will NOT be considered.

4.	Required Documents
	(a)	Certificates/Diplomas – please upload the photocopy, as required. Students MUST submit the original(s) for inspection in person to the Registration and Examinations Section.
	(b)	Transcripts – students should ask institution(s) concerned to forward transcript(s), where applicable, directly to the Registration and Examinations Section.
	(c)	Course descriptions – copies of course content/course outline of courses taken at other institutions (or at previous programme of CUHK), for post-secondary qualifications stated in (1).
	Application will NOT be processed if the required documents are not submitted/received.

5.	Enquiries
	For enquiries, please contact Registration and Examinations Section (MBChB students should contact their Faculty and Planning Office).
	Address：10/F, Yasumoto International Academic Park
	Telephone：3943 9888
	E-mail：This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

15 November 2022