Research Postgraduate Programmes

Admission

Admission Criteria and Requirements

  1. The admission of a student to the University is based on academic suitability and potential for a programme. There should be no discrimination on the grounds of sex, age, race, religion, ethnic origin or physical disability or other grounds.
     

  2. An applicant for admission to candidature for the degree of MPhil should normally:
     

    a) hold a relevant bachelor's degree with first or second class honours or at an equivalent standard awarded by a tertiary education institution recognised for this purpose by the University; or
     

    b) have obtained an equivalent qualification; or
     

    c)have provided satisfactory evidence of academic and professional attainment.
     

  3. An applicant for admission to candidature for the degree of PhD should normally:
     

    a) hold a master's degree awarded by a tertiary education institution recognised for this purpose by the University; or
     

    b) hold a relevant bachelor's degree with first or second class honours or at an equivalent standard, and have registered in a programme of study for a master's degree at a recognised tertiary education institution for at least one year and have evidence of research achievement; or

    c) hold a bachelor's degree with first class honours or an equivalent qualification at a recognised tertiary education institution, and have evidence of substantial research achievement; or  

    d) have obtained an equivalent qualification of a) or b) above; or 

    e) have provided satisfactory evidence of academic and professional attainment.
     

  4. In addition to the above, an applicant whose degree is not from a tertiary institution where English is used as the medium of instruction (MOI) for all courses for the degree mentioned should obtain a minimum score of 79 (for tests taken before 21 January 2026) or 4* (for tests taken on or after 21 January 2026) (internet-based test) in the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), or a band score of 6.5 or above in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), or an equivalent score in a recognised test, or an equivalent qualification to prove his/her language proficiency which will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Applicants are required to fulfil additional requirements, if any, set by the programmes to which they apply for admission.

     

     (*subject to the approval of the University)

     

    [Note: For IELTS and TOEFL qualifications for admission to MPhil/PhD programmes, the University only accepts results of tests that are conducted at a test centre and within the validity period, viz. 2 years, from the time of submission of an admission application for the specific intake cohort.]
     

  5. For admission to Lingnan PhD programmes via the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS), the Research Grants Council (RGC) stipulated that for an applicant from non-English speaking university, unless he/she provides proof that English is the language of instruction for all courses for the entrance qualifications of his/her proposed PhD programme, he/she is required to attach score results of TOEFL or IELTS in the PhD application. This requirement (mandatory submission of TOEFL/IELTS score results) can be exempted for applicants whose proposed PhD studies are specifically in non-English medium, e.g. Chinese. [Note: However, the applicants still have to meet the language requirement of the University as stipulated in paragraph 4 above.]
     

  6. Some of the programmes have specified additional admission requirements. Applicants are required to fulfil additional requirements, if any, set by the programmes to which they apply for admission.
     

  7. The language for writing a thesis shall be determined at the time of admission. A thesis should be written in English except for candidates in the Department of Chinese or those who are otherwise approved to write their theses in Chinese or another language. An applicant who intends to write his/her thesis in a language other than English shall indicate such in the application form for admission for consideration of the relevant department. An applicant will not be prejudiced against during the admission process due to his/her choice of language for thesis writing, except that the admitting Department must consider fully its ability to supervise and examine that thesis in the proposed language.