Admission Requirements
Applicants must hold a bachelor’s degree from a recognized university. An undergraduate degree in economics or related areas is not a pre-requisite. Students with a solid quantitative background and commitment to academic study are encouraged to apply.
Applicants whose bachelor's degree is obtained from an institution where the medium of instruction is not English should also fulfill the following minimum English proficiency requirement:
- Score 550 (paper-based test) or 59 (revised paper-delivered test) or 79 (Internet-based test) in the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL); or
- Overall band score of 6.5 in International English Language Testing System (IELTS); or
- Score 490 in the new College English Test (CET-6) of Chinese mainland or a pass in the old CET-6 test; or
- Other equivalent qualifications
Selection Criteria
Selection will be based on the following factors:
- Academic performance in previous studies;
- Knowledge and interest in economics;
- Quantitative skills; and
- Commitment to academic study
Full-time Mode of Study
Students can normally complete the programme in one academic year. Courses are held on weekdays (daytime and evenings) and weekends.
Important Note for Admission Application
Applicants are recommended to attach (or upload) all the required supporting documents (see below), before submitting their applications online (https://www.cityu.edu.hk/pg/taught-postgraduate-programmes). This may shorten the processing time of your application.
- award certificate/degree certificate (学位证书)*
- graduation certificate (毕业证书)*, only applicable to mainland China students
- latest official academic transcripts with official explanation on the grading system
- English test results#, such as CET-6, IELTS, TOEFL, etc.
- English translation of academic transcripts with official explanation on the grading system and award certificates issued by the University, if they are not in English/Chinese
- any other supporting documents (such as GMAT/GRE score report^, etc.)
Please do not submit your supporting documents by post.
* If you are a final year student, you will have to upload the award certificate/degree certificate (学位证书) and graduation certificate (毕业证书) after completion of the programme.
# For applicants who obtained their bachelor's degree from institutions where the medium of instruction is not English.
^ We do not require GMAT/GRE scores. Nevertheless, the more information/documents you provide us, the more accurate we can evaluate whether our programme suits you. Hence, we will consider your GMAT/GRE scores if you choose to submit them.
Moreover, in the application form, applicants are required to provide an Applicant Statement (no more than 1,000 words) addressing the following issues:
- Interest in economics;
- (Optional) Discussion of at least one topic in economics that you find most interesting;
- Background in quantitative analysis/skills gained in undergraduate studies; and
- Career aspirations, and how the MSAE programme might help you to achieve them
Remarks:
Programme Policy on Student-Initiated Internship
Since the MSAE programme is a one-year taught programme, internship is not encouraged during the study period. Perhaps more importantly, the programme of MSAE is actually very intense and students may find a balance between study and work difficult.
In case students would like to accumulate work experience, they could consider taking up part-time jobs at CityU. For non-local students, they are allowed to work part-time at CityU during the period of study under certain regulations. For more details on relevant regulations, please visit https://www.cityu.edu.hk/meao/cns_ptnintern.htm.