Type of Credits

Transfer of credits may be granted to students in recognition of studies completed PRIOR TO ADMISSION to HKUST, provided that students' prior study is disclosed in their applications for admission.

Credits taken at HKUST

For students who have taken HKUST courses prior to admission to an undergraduate program at HKUST, credits will be transferred to the undergraduate study and no application is required. Some examples are courses offered by HKUST Summer Institute, Hong Kong Virtual University, or Enhancement/Talented Programs, or courses taken while attending exchange-in programs.

These credits will be included in the calculation of grade averages (with full weight). Upon graduation, students may opt to cancel the transfer of credits to improve their Graduation Grade Average, which is used to determine their class of honors.

Students will be informed of the transfer by email at the first term of study.

Qualifications obtained outside HKUST

Students may apply for transfer credits based on their pre-tertiary qualifications or studies completed elsewhere at an appropriate level prior to admission to HKUST and applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

There are three types of credits which will be granted without the need of an application and students will be informed of the transfer by email at the first term of study:

Pre-tertiary Public Examinations

Subject attainments in pre-tertiary public examinations presented to the University for admission purpose will be granted transfer credits if the mappings exist in the Course Equivalence Database (for Examinations).

Language Proficiency

  • 6 University Common Core English Communication credits

Students who have attained the required level of language proficiency (details) are eligible for credit transfer if the information has been presented to the University for admission purpose:

  • 3 University Common Core Chinese Communication credits

Students who have attained the required level of language proficiency if the information has been presented to the University for admission purpose and passed the Assessment of Communicative Competence in Putonghua (details) are eligible for credit transfer.

Admission Basis

Students admitted on specific basis will be granted block credits as below:

Public Examination

9 University Common Core credits, including 3 credits each for Humanities, Social Analysis, and Science and Technology (non-School-Sponsored Courses) will be given to students admitted based on the following examination attainments.

  • International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB)
  • General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (GCEAL)
  • Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination (HKALE) 
     

Local Post-secondary Awards

9 University Common Core credits, including 3 credits each for Humanities, Social Analysis, and Science and Technology (non-School-Sponsored Courses) and 12 unassigned free credits will be given to students admitted based on the following qualifications.

  • Specific local Associate Degrees
  • Specific local Higher Diplomas

These students may also apply for or be granted transfer credits to other HKUST equivalent courses based on subject attainments or relevant courses taken in the sub-degree programs. However, these credits cannot be used as required or elective credits to fulfill the University Common Core requirements in the following areas: Humanities (H), Social Analysis (SA), Science and Technology (S&T), Quantitative Reasoning (QR) and Arts.

For students admitted on the Public Examinations mentioned above, the maximum total number of credits to be granted is 30. The maximum for students admitted on Local Post-secondary Awards is 60.