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Semester System

  1. In an academic year, there are two regular semesters (Semester A & Semester B) and a Summer Term.

    Most of the courses offered are one-semester courses that carry 3 credit units each. Each course has 13 class meetings during the semester and each class meeting lasts for 3 hours.

    One exception is EF5063 “Professional Seminars”: it is a year-long course that carries 3 credit units. In general, it meets 1.5 hours per week in Semesters A and B.

    In the summer term, only a limited number of courses may be offered.

    The structure for 2014/2015 is as follows:

    Semester A
    Semester B
    Summer Term
    1 September 2014 to
    20 December 20141
    12 January 2015 to
    16 May 20151
    8 June 2015 to
    8 August 20151
    One class in a week per course
    Two classes in a week per course

 

 

 


  1. Students pursue the programmes on either full-time or part-time basis. Most class meetings are scheduled on weekday evenings and Saturday afternoons, while some class sessions are held in daytime for full-time students.

    Type
    Class time
    Daytime class
    (for full-time students)
    3 hours per class meeting between
    9:00 am – 7:00 pm on weekdays or
    9:00 am – 1:00 pm on Saturdays
    Weekday evening class
    (for full-time and part-time students)
    7:00 pm – 10:00 pm
    Saturday afternoon class
    (for full-time and part-time students)
    4:00 pm – 7:00 pm
    EF5063 Professional Seminars
    2:00 pm – 3:30 pm on Saturdays
    Occasional meetings may be arranged on Friday evenings starting at 7:00 pm and last for 1.5 to 2.5 hours depending on the seminars.

 

 

 

 

 



Students should be prepared to attend classes on weekday evenings AND weekends. It is quite impossible for students to complete the programme by attending classes on weekday evenings OR weekends alone.

 

1The duration includes the examination period. The exact academic calendar can be found at https://www6.cityu.edu.hk/arro/ac_calendar.asp.

Study Mode & Student Status

The programmes are offered in combined mode. Local students taking programmes in combined mode can study either in full-time (12 - 18 credit units per semester) or part-time (no more than 11 credit units per semester) mode in different semesters without seeking approval from the University. For non-local students, they are admitted to these programmes in either full-time mode or part-time mode. Non-local students must maintain the required study load for their full-time or part-time studies, and if there are any changes in the mode of study, approval should be sought from the University.

Student Classification and Study Mode:

Student Classification
Examples
Study Mode
Local
  1. Persons holding a “Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card” or the right to land in Hong Kong or a One-way Permit for entry to Hong Kong
Combined or Full-time
  1. Persons holding an employment visa in Hong Kong
Part-time2
Non-Local
Persons entering Hong Kong for the purpose of education with a student visa/entry permit issued by the Director of Immigration
Either part-time or full-time depending on the permission granted by the Immigration Department


Study Mode and Study Load:

Study Mode
Study Load according to University’s Academic Regulations
Normal Study Load3
Time to complete the programme in general4
Part-time
    • -  3 - 11 credit units per semester
  • -  no more than 7 credit units for summer term

  1. - 6 credit units per semester

    - 3 credit units for summer term
24 months
Full-time
  1. -  12 - 18 credit units per semester
  2. -  no more than 7 credit units for summer term
  1. -  12 - 15 credit units per semester
  2. -  3 credit units for summer term
12 months
Combined
  1. -  3 - 18 credit units per semester
  2. -  no more than 7 credit units for summer term

Depends on the study modes that students choose in different semesters (refer to the above)


Important Note

All persons who are not holding a “Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card” should check with the Immigration Department on immigration regulations and conditions governing eligibility for their studies. It is the students’ responsibility to understand and comply with the immigration rules governing the conditions of their stay in Hong Kong.

For students whose status is not one of the examples above, they should also check with the Immigration Department.

The above information is only an extract from the University website.  For details of information, please visit http://www.sgs.cityu.edu.hk/student/tpg/regulations/enrolment.

 

2Under exceptional circumstances, employment visa holders may apply to take more than the maximum study load permitted in the Academic Regulations for Part-time Students, by providing written proof from the employer and submitting an application for consideration and approval by the Head of the Department.

3All first-year students will also take EF5063 “Professional Seminars” in Semesters A and B on top of their normal study load.

4According to the University’s regulations, students have to complete the MSF/MSFE/MSFS programme within the maximum period of study. For MSF/MSFE/MSFS, the maximum period of study is 2.5 years for full-time students and 5 years for part-time students, inclusive of programme transfer and any periods of leave of absence and suspension of studies.

Programme Structure & Study Plan

Each of the MSF/MSFE/MSFS programmes requires students to complete 30 credit units. In general, each course carries 3 credit units. In each programme, there are 8 required core courses (24 credit units) and 2 elective courses (6 credit units).

The MSF/MSFE/MSFS programme structures are presented in the following Table 1, 2 and 3 respectively. All courses listed in the tables run for one semester. One exception is EF5063 “Professional Seminars” which runs through Semesters A and B.

 

  • EF 5063 Professional Seminars

    This is a required core course for MSF, MSFE and MSFS programmes. The course aims to help students:

    • develop insights about some of the latest developments in the economy and the financial markets, and

    • acquire knowledge about some of the current practices in the financial markets.

    It is a year-long course with 9-11 seminars in each of Semesters A and B. Most of the seminars are held on Saturday afternoons from 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm with occasional ones on weekday evenings.

    The course is graded on a Pass - Fail basis. To pass the course, students have to satisfy the course requirements. Course details will be provided by instructor in the course web site.

 

5Prerequisite: A requirement that must be fulfilled before a student can register in a particular course.
Precursor: Precursors are not requirements, but students are advised to complete the precursors before registering in these courses (or at least take the courses and their precursors simultaneously).

Elective Courses available in 2014/2015

Subject to the approval of the Department and the offering departments if appropriate, students can choose two elective courses from:

  1. (a) the Department,

  2. (b) consortium courses offered by other departments of the College of Business, or

  3. (c) courses other than “consortium courses” offered by other departments of the College of Business or even from other Colleges/Schools in the University.

Generally speaking, full-time students will take the 2 elective courses during Semester A, Semester B or Summer term (no core courses will be offered in Summer term, and students are advised to take 1 elective course in Summer as it is offered in an intensive mode).

For part-time students, they usually take elective courses in their 2nd year of study.


(a) Courses offered by the EF Department in 2014/2015 primarily for MSc students in Finance, Financial Engineering and Financial Services programmes6.

EF Courses
Semester
Summer term
A
B
Core courses for MSF, MSFE and MSFS
EF5063
✔
✔
 
EF5042
✔
 
 
EF5050
✔
✔
 
EF5052
✔
✔
 
Core course for both MSF and MSFE
EF5157
✔
✔
 
Core courses for MSF7
EF5070
✔
 
 
EF5142
✔
✔
 
EF5143
✔
✔
 
Core courses for MSFE
EF5210
✔
✔
 
EF5213
 
✔
 
MA5182
✔
 
 
Core courses for MSFS
EF5340
Credit Risk Management8
 
✔
 
EF5342
Monetary and Financial Systems8
 
✔
 
EF5343
 
✔
 
EF5370
✔
 
 

 

EF Courses
Semester
Summer term
A
B
Elective courses for MSF, MSFE and MSFS
AC5815
Financial Reporting and Analysis9
 
✔
 
EF5010
Economics for Business10
 
✔
✔
EF5083
Operational Risk Management for Financial Institutions
(usually taught by practitioner/adjunct professor)
 
 
✔
EF5064
Auditing and Control for Financial Institutions10
(usually taught by practitioner/adjunct professor)
✔
 
 
EF5300
Advanced Personal Finance10
 
✔
 
EF5341
Bank Management in the Global Market
(usually taught by practitioner/adjunct professor)
✔
 
 
EF5410
 
✔
 

 

(b) Consortium courses offered by the departments of the College of Business in 2014/2015*

The College of Business consists of six departments: Accountancy, Economics and Finance, Information Systems, Management, Management Sciences, Marketing. “Consortium courses” are courses offered by these departments for all postgraduate students within the College.

Consortium Courses*
Semester
Summer term
A
B
✔
 
 
✔
 
 
✔
 
 
 
✔
 
 
✔
 
✔
 
 
 
✔
 
✔
 
 
✔
 
 
✔
 
 
 
✔
 
 
✔
 
✔
 
 
 
✔
 
✔
 
 
✔
 
 
✔
 
 
 
✔
 
 
✔
 
✔
 
 
 
✔
  
 
✔
 
 
✔
 
 
✔
 
✔
 
 
 
✔
 
 
✔
 
✔
 
✔
✔
✔
 
 
✔
 
MKT5642 Financial Services Marketing
(limited quotas reserved to MSF/FE/FS students)
 
 
✔
 
✔
✔
 
✔
 
 
✔
 
✔
 
✔
 
✔
 
✔
 
 
✔
 
 
✔
 
 
 
✔
 
✔
 
 
MS6711 Data Mining
(limited quotas reserved to MSF/FE/FS students)
 
✔
 
 
✔
 

*The courses listed will be offered tentatively in the coming academic year. However, it will be subject to change in accordance with the decision of the offering departments without further notice.


(c) Courses other than the “Consortium courses” offered by other departments of the College of Business or courses from other Colleges/Schools in the University

Subject to the approval of the Economics and Finance Department and the offering departments, students may also choose the postgraduate courses other than the consortium courses offered in the College of Business or even other Colleges/Schools. For example, MSFE students who are interested in taking more quantitative courses may consider courses offered by the Mathematics Department.

For courses offered by all the departments in the University, please visit
https://www.cityu.edu.hk/pg/current/catalogue/catalogue_TP.htm?page=TP/TP_course_index.htm.



6There are other postgraduate courses offered by the Department exclusively for MSc Applied Economics students. The list of these courses is available at https://www.cityu.edu.hk/pg/current/catalogue/catalogue_TP.htm?page=TP/TP_course_EF.htm.

7MSFE students can take these courses as their electives. In particular, MSFE students who do not have much statistics background are strongly encouraged to take EF5070 Econometrics as one of their electives.

8MSF and MSFE students can take these courses as their electives.

9Offering of this course is subject to change. AC5815 is offered by Department of Accountancy, but it is open exclusively for MSF/MSFE/MSFS students.

10These are consortium courses open to all postgraduate students within the College of Business.

Preparatory Math Workshop Series in the summer

The Preparatory Math Workshop Series is designed for MSF, MSFE and MSFS students. The objective of these workshop series is to help students review some of the mathematical concepts and tools that will be used in the programmes. No extra fee or tuition is required for these workshops.

The workshops for the MSFE programme will start from 6 - 30 August, 2014 while the MSF and MSFS ones will start from 8 - 26 August, 2014 and 8 - 15 August, 2014 respectively. Details on schedule, venue and course outline were sent to students on 13 June, 2014 via email.

Handouts are available on-line. Thus, for overseas students who cannot arrive in Hong Kong on time for the workshops, they can also study the handouts before they come to Hong Kong.

Attendance is optional.  However, we do strongly encourage students to attend the workshops for two reasons:

  1. To review concepts: The workshops will help students review some of the mathematical concepts and tools that they will encounter in the programmes – this is especially important for students who are lack of strong mathematical background or who have not used the mathematical tools for a long time. In particular, the workshops for the MSFE programme are specifically designed to help students prepare for MA5182 “Mathematical Methods in Finance”, a required core course that many students find difficult.

  2. To earn PDUs for EF5063 Professional Seminars: We consider the Preparatory Math workshops as part of EF5063 and students can earn PDUs (Professional Development Units) towards satisfying the attendance requirement of EF5063.  For details of PDUs earned in the workshop series, please refer to the course outline which was sent to students on 13 June, 2014 via email.

    (In the past, some students have difficulty satisfying the attendance requirement of EF5063 due to heavy workload or unexpected business trips. Hence, it would be advantageous for students to earn as many PDUs as possible during the summer and at the beginning of the academic year.)

Graduation Requirements & Award Classification

  • Graduation Requirements
    • Pass all core and elective courses,
    • Earn 30 credit units, and
    • Have a Cumulative Grade Points Average (CGPA) of 2.00 or above.

    Grading of Courses

    Letter Grade Grade Points
    A+ 4.3
    A 4.0
    A- 3.7
    B+ 3.3
    B 3.0
    B- 2.7
    C+ 2.3
    C 2.0
    C- 1.7
    D 1.0
    F 0.0
    P “Pass” in a pass-fail course

     

  • University Award Classification
    • Distinction, Credit and Pass

    • The College Examination Board classifies awards with regard to,
      but not necessarily in strict conformity with, a student's CGPA.

    For details, please visit http://www.sgs.cityu.edu.hk/student/tpg/regulations/cgpabanding.

  • Academic Standing

    Students who fail to perform satisfactorily in the programmes might be given academic warning or probation. Extreme cases might lead to termination (e.g., failing a required core course more than twice). Students are responsible for complying with all the rules and regulations regarding their study in the programmes. For details of information, please visit http://www.sgs.cityu.edu.hk/student/TPg/regulation.

    Under extenuating circumstances, students may apply for leave of absence. Application procedures and regulations can be found at “Leave of Absence” under “Student Records and Status” on the website of Chow Yei Ching School of Graduate Studies: http://www.sgs.cityu.edu.hk/student/TPg.