Chapter 1c - General Guidelines for Offering Undergraduate Double Degree Programmes with Non-local Institutions

This set of guidelines applies to collaboration involving learning experiences in a non-local institution of one academic year or more.

This set of guidelines apply to a collaborative programme involving awards of twobachelor’s degrees, regardless of its being termed a “double” or “dual” degree programme.

In accordance with the UGC’s Interim Guidelines on Offshore Teaching and Learning Activities (UGC Offshore Guidelines), the teaching and learning provided by the partnerinstitution should be quality-assured in the home country and any double degree awardedby the partner institution is duly recognised in the home country. The University takesthe view that the reputation of institutions is one of the crucial factors to be considered inthe selection of partners. As such, a rigorous assessment of the suitability of a potentialpartner institution should be conducted to evaluate if the institution attains compatiblequality and international repute.

Regulations and Procedures Governing Undertakings to be Signed by Staff on Behalf of Lingnan University placed on the webpage of the Office of Council/Court Business and Governance Administration (available via https://www.ln.edu.hk/occbga/policies-and-guidelines) provide relevant details about the contents of a written agreement (such as in the form of memorandum of understanding) and approval procedures.

Starting time and duration of collaboration and size of enrolment, e.g. enrolment from Term 1 of 20xx-xx academic year, for xx intakes, with an annual intake target of xx students (respectively by Lingnan and the partner institution, if applicable), have to be specified.

For a newly designed double degree programme (paragraph 6.1a) below refers), the proposal shall go through procedures as a new undergraduate programme detailed in Chapter 1a of the AQA Manual. Details about the contents of an initial programme proposal and a full programme proposal for a double degree programme are respectively given in Appendix A and Appendix B.

For a double degree programme that awards a degree of an existing Lingnan undergraduate programme by transferring credits of recognised courses obtained in the partner institution (paragraph 6.1b) below refers), the full programme proposal containing details of the double degree programme (contents of which given in Appendix B) shall be endorsed by the relevant Department Board/Programme and Curriculum Committee and the Faculty Board/School of Data Science Management Board (SDSMB)/Wu Jieh Yee School of Interdisciplinary Studies Management Board (WJYSISMB) before it is submitted to the AQAC for endorsement which will submit the endorsed proposal to the Senate for approval.

If any extra resources are required or there are any resource implications, a proposal with relevant details should be submitted to the University Administrative and Planning Committee (UAPC) for approval.

Students shall meet the academic and language requirements of both institutions upon admission.

Each local Lingnan student should be counted as one full-time equivalent regardless of whether the study years are spent in or outside Hong Kong.

All non-local Lingnan students should be admitted through over-enrolment (subject to the university-wide non-local student quota) and will be counted towards the university-wide non-local student quota regardless of the admission route (i.e. regardless of whether the student is admitted by Lingnan or through the partner institution).

According to the benchmarking information collected, two common models of double degree programmes adopted by sister institutions are:

An academic unit shall gather relevant benchmarking information as reference for discussion with the partner institution and determination of the proper arrangement.

The proposed arrangement should align with the Academic Regulation of up to 50% of transfer credits and the rule in the UGC Offshore Guidelines that at least 50% of the teaching and learning for a funded programme should take place in Hong Kong.

Designing a new programme that meets requirements of both institutions

The minimum curriculum requirements for each institution, including courses that make up the curriculum, shall be specified. To meet the requirements of a bachelor’s degree from Lingnan, the curriculum shall include the teaching and learning components following the general curriculum framework (of at least 120 credits as shown below) of an undergraduate programme at Lingnan or courses with equivalent learning hours/units. Any deviation shall be specified in the programme proposal for seeking endorsement of relevant committees and approval of the Senate.

Recognition of course credits to satisfy curriculum requirements of an existing programme at Lingnan

Lingnan and the partner institution should recognise the courses completed by students at the other institution as equivalent to meet the course requirements of their own. The academic unit should propose the equivalency or ways to meet the curriculum requirements for all different categories in the Lingnan programme curriculum with reference to the guidelines on credit transfer set out in Section 7 below. A clear mapping between courses offered by Lingnan and those by the partner institution shall be worked out.

At least 50% of the number of credits for the academic award (i.e. 60 credits for a 120-credit curriculum) should be taken at Lingnan which shall include at least two Common Core courses in the Core Curriculum and not less than half of the credits required for a Major discipline (i.e. 24 credits normally).

Capstone projects, supervised individual research (such as community-based research and Service-Learning projects) and research seminars should be taken at Lingnan as far as possible. Such courses/learning activities could be taken at the partner institution if similar courses/learning activities are available.

sequence/study year of taking Common Core courses (i.e. Students are normally assigned to take CCC8011, CCC8012 and CCC8015 in the first year, and CCC8013 and CCC8014 in the second year);

Consultation should be made with relevant units concerning Core Curriculum, English and Chinese Language courses, e.g. which courses should better be taken at Lingnan, necessary adjustments in study year and course sequencing, etc.

The General Guidelines on Course Exemption or Credit Transfer for Undergraduate Programmes (available via https://www.ln.edu.hk/reg/info/intranet/cetup) spell out details of the recognition of credits by completing courses in another institution. The recognised courses should be at comparable standard and of equivalency in terms of learning outcomes, contents, etc. Some important provisions are given below for easy reference while more details are given in the Guidelines on Course Exemption or Credit Transfer for Undergraduate Programmes.

level of the course should be at a comparable level;

course content and contact hours should cover a substantial portion of the content of a course in an undergraduate programme at Lingnan;

learning outcomes should be largely comparable to the learning outcomes of a course in an undergraduate programme at Lingnan; and

the course should be taken within a number of years set by the academic unit concerned.

but the course falls in the Major discipline(s) of the student, the student may be exempted from taking a course in the Major discipline(s) and granted with equivalent credits; or  

the course can still be recognised for credit transfer as a free elective or a Core Curriculum course if deemed appropriate.

Considering that the number of credits and the course content of a course completed at the partner institution may be smaller or lighter in comparison with a course at Lingnan (e.g. courses offered by institutions on the Chinese Mainland may bear one or two credits only), flexibility is allowed for combining two courses for credit transfer or course exemption purpose.

Generally, it is expected that students of the programme are required to observe the rules and regulations of both institutions. In principle, Lingnan’s regulations and guidelines for examination and assessment shall apply to the courses in the curriculum offered by the University, while those of the partner institution will apply to courses it offers, viz. courses will follow regulations and guidelines of the respective offering institutions. Any deviations and additional requirements shall be proposed for seeking approval.

The regulations for continuing on and discontinuing from the programme shall be agreed upon among the institutions, taking into account relevant regulations in both institutions.

Students should meet all of the graduation requirements (academic, language, co-curricular and other) of each of the institutions before they can be awarded the degree by the respective institutions.

The details for arriving at or calculating the overall score/GPA for classification of award, including the processes and indicative timeline, etc. should be agreed upon among the institutions. It is important that the processes are timely and will not lead to postponement of students’ graduation.

Separate graduation certificates from Lingnan and the partner institution will be awarded to students who have satisfied the curricular and graduation requirements of respective institutions.

Students taking a double degree programme should be subject to the same graduation requirements as those taking an undergraduate programme at Lingnan, including the Service-Learning, the Integrated Learning Programme (ILP), the Information Technology Fluency Test and English language graduation requirements (IELTS and Password test), except otherwise approved. The academic unit may propose adjustments, e.g. reduced number of units required for ILP in consultation with the Office of Student Affairs.

The financial arrangements associated with the proposed collaborative programme must be clearly defined. For instance, students remit their current tuition and other mandatory fees to their respective home institutions, and pay accommodation and any miscellaneous fees, if any, to the host institutions.

Local UGC-funded students should be charged the same tuition fees regardless of whether the study years take place in or outside Hong Kong. If extra fees needed to be paid to the partner institution, these should be borne by Lingnan for local UGC-funded students to fulfil UGC Offshore Guidelines, provided that UGC funds are only used to pay for additional cost of teaching local Hong Kong students studying in non-local institutions. As regards non-local students, Lingnan should recover the additional cost of the education services provided to them either through charging higher tuition fees or through payment received from the partner institution.

For a programme of more than 4 years in duration, the year(s) beyond the first 4 years should be run on a self-financing basis.

Support and facilities available to students should be agreed upon as far as possible, e.g. students can enjoy the same level of support and facilities as other students in the two institutions.