Academic Questions

1. What are the implications for under- or over-loading credits?

   We strongly recommend students to take 15 credits in the first semester. For students who really want to go beyond that, they can do 18 credits without the need to obtain any approval. As one of the Engineering introduction courses is 4-credit hours, we will give approval to students to overload to 19 credits if they take this 4-credit course. However, no approval will be given beyond 19 credits to 1st year 4Y SENG students.

2. Why isn’t there a "phys 1112"(physics with calculus) course in my pre-enrolment? It is the fundamental course for ELEC?

   PHYS1112 is open to only those who have studied both calculus and physics before. Only students with the right background will see this course in the pre-enrolment form. Students with background in Physics but not in Calculus will need to take Calculus (MATH1013) in the Fall term first. If they pass the Calculus course, they can enrol into PHYS1112 in the Spring term.

3. Why was my enrolment unsuccessful when my timetable has an empty slot for a particular course that still has quota?

   There can be many possible factors. E.g. you do not meet the course prerequisite; you are trying to take a course that has an "exclusion"; with another course you are taking or have taken before at HKUST or a subject that you have taken in secondary school, etc. Some courses are offered to specific groups of students (which you may not belong) and the quota is reserved for these specific groups, etc. One other possible factor is that, some courses have more than one component, e.g. a lecture plus a tutorial plus a lab session. If your timetable cannot accommodate all these components (not just the lecture alone, or lab alone, etc), you will not be able to register for it. If you exceed the credit limit (18), the system will also stop you from doing so. The system normally gives you a warning when you fail to get into a course. From that you would have a better idea of why you fail to get into a course.

4. What are the validation and class enrollment periods and procedures?

   Those courses that you have been pre-registered for and confirmed when you see your timetable on 30 Aug are already done for you. You do not have to register for them again. During the validation period, it is for students to check if they can meet the course prerequisite and seek approval if necessary. In the case of year 1 students like you, we have already checked your background and enrolled you into the right courses. Therefore, the validation period seems to be irrelevant. But when you proceed to more senior years, you will have to make your own choice of courses and you come across courses that require approval of some type. Then the validation period would helps.

5. Why is there duplication in Major Requirement (Engineering Fundamentals) and Common Core Requirements (i.e. courses such as mech1901 and phy 1112 are in the same field in common core (S&T))

   Some courses can be used to fulfill both Major and University Common Core Requirements. Students may reuse a maximum of 6 credits (or 9 credits depending on the major) of these courses to count towards both Requirements. For example, PHYS1112 can be counted to fulfill both the major requirement and the common core requirement (i.e. either the 3 credits in the S&T category or 3 of the 6 credits of the core electives).

6. What are the math course requirements? MATH1013 is a major requirement of BEng. However, if I take MATH1023, which is an exclusion of MATH1013, do i still need to take MATH1013 in another year?

   This is one of the few special cases that is not listed in the requirement. In this case, if you have taken MATH1023, ECE dept will allow you to use MATH1023 to substitute the MATH1013 requirement in the major. In other words, you can take MATH1023 instead of MATH1013 and still satisfy the EE major requirement.

7. How can students apply for the language courses exemption

   The criteria and procedures will be explained in the first class of the course by the Language Instructor. Therefore, it is important that you attend the first class to find out the details.

8. Can I drop the English for Engineering Course and take up something else since I have an IELTS overall band score of 8.0 with a minimum of 7.0 in each field. If so, how do I drop that and take another one?

   You must be assessed by the Center for Language Education first. If they approve your exemption or credit transfer, you will be allowed to drop the course and take something else with the freed up credits.

9. What can I do after studying some courses that are unrelated to my final major and didn't study any courses relating to my final major (i.e.desired major vs. actual declared major)

   In order to graduate with a major, you need 120 credits and satisfy (a) the common core (CC) requirement and (b) major requirement. For many majors, the 36 credits in CC and the credits required in the major (e.g. ELEC needs ~82) add to 118 only. Together with the fact that 6 credits can be used to fulfill both requirements (i.e. use a course to double count for both requirements), one can fulfill both requirements with around 112 credits. The student still needs 8 additional credits in order to graduate and these 8 credits can be any courses. If you take a course in the 1st year and enter a major where this course is not part of that major's requirement, this course will still help you to accumulate towards the 120 credits. Not to mention that you have learned something from that course!! In fact, many students graduate with more than the basic requirement and they take additional courses to learn more.

10. Which fundamental courses would I need to take in year 1 if I want to major in IELM in year 2?

    For the first semester, you may want to take a physics course (PHYS1112), perhaps a computing course (COMP1022P) and either a common core course or chemistry (CHEM1010 or CHEM1020 if you are interested in Chemistry).

11. Due to the credit transfer by my hkdse English result(5*), does it means that i need only 117 credits to graduate? Can I still take another course to earn 120 credits?

    Yes, it means that you can graduate with 117 credits. There is no need to take any course to make up the 3 credits, but you can if you want to.

12. Is the enrollment system based on first come first serve principle?

    Basically yes, but enrollment is subject to many factors such as fulfillment of prerequisite, timetable clash, etc. Moreover, during the add/drop period, students will adjust their course enrolment that some students will drop out from a course while some others will get into it. You will be seeing a lot of movements in terms of quota availability in the coming 2 weeks.