THE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNIVERSITY

The Court, Council, Senate and Faculties

The Court is, subject to the provisions of the University of Hong Kong Ordinance (Cap. 1053, 1964), the supreme advisory body of the University, and must meet once each year. Its President is the Chancellor, and its membership includes the members of Council and the members of the Senate, as well as a number of other persons from the University and from the community in general. In addition to receiving various reports it may request of the Legislative Council changes to the Ordinance and can, itself, change the University Statutes.

The Council is the supreme governing body of the University. It includes academic staff and student members as well as lay members of the community in general and it manages the property, investment, budget, appointments and contracts of the University. Specifically it approves the allocation of resources to the faculties and non-faculty budget centres.

The Senate, subject to the provisions of the Ordinance and the financial control of the Council, regulates all matters in the University relating to education. Chaired by the Vice-Chancellor, it has no resource responsibilities of its own but the Council consults it on any implications for the University's academic affairs of proposals about resourcing. It has delegated its power to determine examination results for the degrees of MPhil and PhD to the Board of Examination for Graduate Studies.

The Boards of the ten Faculties (Architecture, Arts, Business & Economics, Dentistry, Education, Engineering, Law, Medicine, Science and Social Sciences) are responsible to the Senate for the teaching of the subjects assigned to them. The Deans of the Faculties are appointed by the Council. They normally serve for a period of five years. Heads of Departments in a Faculty are formally responsible to the Faculty Board for the organization of teaching in their department. Each Faculty Board has a higher degrees committee which is concerned with matters concerning postgraduate education.

The University of Hong Kong Ordinance and the University Statutes are published in the University Calendar together with the General Regulations, which can be amended by the Council or the Senate, and cover such matters as admission requirements, registration, attendance and absence, examinations, discontinuation, fees and charges. The General Regulations applicable to research students are reproduced in this Handbook (see Appendix I).

The Graduate School

The Graduate School was formally established by the Senate in June 1998. It is responsible for the quality assurance and overall management of the research postgraduate (RPg) degrees, i.e. Master of Philosophy (MPhil) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). It helps to set guidelines and regulations for research postgraduate education, and it implements policies on admissions, academic progress, examinations and quality assurance in respect of training for research students.

The Graduate School is governed by a Policy Board of Postgraduate Education ("Policy Board") which is a Senate Committee and the School's main strategic and policy-making body. Under the Policy Board are the Board of Graduate Studies and the Board of Examination for Graduate Studies, each being chaired by an Associate Dean of the Graduate School.

The BoGS is given the authority to ensure that best practice is followed in the Faculties and to grant exceptions on these matters based on the policy set by the Policy Board. It also has the responsibility for determining examination results of higher degree research candidates and maintaining regular review mechanisms to provide feedback for policy considerations.

Policy Board of Postgraduate Education

The Policy Board of Postgraduate Education sets the overall plan of the University's long-term strategies in, and policies on, all matters concerning research postgraduate education. The powers and duties of the Policy Board of Postgraduate Education are shown in Appendix II.

Board of Graduate Studies

The Board of Graduate Studies ensures that good practices, consistent with policy and guidelines determined by the Policy Board, in admission, academic programmes, progress monitoring, thesis submission, and thesis / coursework examinations are adopted throughout the University. The Board may grant exceptions to the rules and regulations on academic grounds.

The Board consists of representatives from Faculty Higher Degrees Committees, and is chaired by an Associate Dean of the Graduate School. The Board is not expected to deal with routine matters which will be dealt with by the Graduate School Office. The powers and duties of the Board of Graduate Studies are shown in Appendix III.

Faculty Higher Degrees Committee

Each Faculty has a Higher Degrees Committee (FHDC) which reports to the Faculty Board; its membership is determined by the Faculty itself, which accounts for their differing composition.

The FHDC recommends to the Board of Graduate Studies via its parent Faculty Board those who shall be admitted as research students, the degree for which they shall be registered, their field of study, who their supervisors shall be and whether any exemptions from the University's admission requirements shall be made. The FHDC is advised by the Graduate School on the authenticity and acceptability of qualifications presented for admission. Exemptions from English language qualifications, where necessary, are made on a case-by-case basis by the Board of Graduate Studies on the advice of the FHDC. The FHDC also recommends to the Board of Graduate Studies those students who shall be granted a postgraduate studentship.

Candidates and their supervisors are required to submit progress reports on the candidates' studies once every six months. At the end of each student's probationary period (12 months for full-time students and 18 months for part- time students, or in the case of 4-year PhD students, 18 months for full-time students and 24 months for part-time students), the FHDC receives reports from both the student and the supervisors, whose report is endorsed or commented upon by the Chairman of the Departmental Research Postgraduate Committee, and decides whether to recommend confirmation of candidature, transfer of candidature (MPhil to PhD, and / or between full-time and part-time status) or an extension of the probationary period.

Every 6 months thereafter the FHDC receives further reports from each research student in the Faculty and their supervisors, whose report is endorsed or commented upon by the Departmental Research Postgraduate Committee, and determines whether any particular course of action is required. The FHDC also reports biannually to the Board of Graduate Studies on the progress of students in the Faculty.

The FHDC is responsible for considering, for advice to its Faculty Board, recommendations for individual students about leave of absence, the confirmation of candidature, the transfer of candidature and the appointment of examiners.

The powers and duties of the committee are shown in Appendix IV.

Boards of Examiners

The Board of Examiners for each research student comprises the Dean of the Faculty (Chairman), the members of the FHDC, the specialist and additional examiners, the supervisor(s), and the chairman of the Thesis Examining Committee. This Board of Examiners may be asked by the Faculty to receive the report of the Thesis Examining Committee, the reports of the specialist examiners of the thesis and the report of the examiners present at the oral examination and recommends a course of action to the Board of Examination for Graduate Studies for approval.

The powers and duties of the Board are shown in Appendix V.

Departmental Research Postgraduate Committee

The Departmental Research Postgraduate Committee is the advisory body to the Faculty Higher Degrees Committee on the management of research postgraduate education at department level. Its objectives are to broaden the basis of decision making on research postgraduate education, to give advice to supervisors and supervisees and to function as the departmental quality assurance body.

The powers and duties of the Departmental Research Postgraduate Committee are shown in Appendix VI.

Supervisors

Supervisors shall be Teachers of the University as defined in the University Ordinance and Statutes, or Honorary or Visiting Teachers. Visiting and Honorary Teachers cannot serve as primary supervisors with the exception of Research Assistant Professors who are appointed as Honorary Teachers. However, when a Research Assistant Professor holding an honorary appointment is appointed as the primary supervisor, another full-time Teacher should be appointed as co-supervisor to ensure continuity of supervision. Suitable persons may be appointed to the position of Honorary Teacher of the University in order to permit them to act as a co-supervisor.

Postgraduate Representation on University Committees

Postgraduate students are represented on a large number of University committees, including the University Council (and hence the Court), the Senate, all Faculty Boards and many of their committees and subcommittees.

Representation is regulated by the terms of reference of each committee and may be effected through the Postgraduate Student Association or be determined by election among all the postgraduate students.

In the case of Faculty Boards, the level of postgraduate representation depends on whether postgraduates or undergraduates are in the majority in a particular faculty. The majority may elect three representatives to the Faculty Board, the minority only one. At least one postgraduate student is a member of the Senate.

If you wish to identify the postgraduate student(s) serving on any committee, you should contact the Registry (tel. 2859 2229), or the Centre of Development and Resources for Students (tel. 2859 2305). Current representatives include the following:

Council

Mr CHEN Xiaohua (until 4.11.10)

Senate

Mr WONG Kai Lun (until 29.9.10)

Board of Graduate Studies

Miss LIU Lanlan (SJD, Faculty of Law - until 31.8.10)

Boards of Faculties

Architecture

Mr David SADOWAY (until 31.12.10)

Arts

Miss C.Y.L. Ng (until 19.2.11)

Business & Economics

Mr MO Ho Sun, Allen (until 31.12.10)

Dentistry

Dr YAU Ka Po

Education

Miss S.Y. HO (until 22.2.11)
Ms N.F.C. PAN (until 22.2.11)
Ms D. YANG (until 22.2.11)

Engineering

(vacant)

Law

(vacant)

Medicine

Miss WU Huijun (until 7.9.10)

Science

(vacant)

Social Sciences

Mr AU YEUNG Francis Man Bun (until 23.3.11)

Careers Advisory Board

Miss WANG Shuang (MPhil, Faculty of Arts) (until 31.8.10)

Committee of Management of the Institute of Human Performance

Miss JIA Yizhen (MPhil, Faculty of Medicine) (until 31.8.10)

Committee on Catering

Mr NI Zhibo (PhD, Faculty of Engineering) (until 31.8.10)

Committee on Halls

Miss ZENG Xiaohui (PhD, Faculty of Science) (until 31.8.10)

Committee on Personal Development & Counselling

Miss JIA Yizhen (MPhil, Faculty of Medicine) (until 31.8.10)

Committee on Student Affairs

Miss WANG Shuang (Chairperson, PGSA) (MPhil, Faculty of Arts) (until 31.8.10)

Committee on Student Amenities

Mr TONG Liangliang (MPhil, Faculty of Engineering) (until 31.8.10)

Committee on Student Finance

Mr CHEN Wei (PhD, Faculty of Engineering) (until 31.8.10)

Computer Committee

Mr TONG Liangliang (MPhil, Faculty of Engineering) (until 31.8.10)

Equal Opportunity Committee

Ms LIU Lanlan (SJD, Faculty of Law) (until 31.8.10)

Graduate House Committee of Management

Miss WU Bian (PhD, Faculty of Education) (until 31.8.10)

Library Committee

Miss ZENG Xiaohui (PhD, Faculty of Science) (until 31.8.10)

Safety, Health and Environment Committee

Mis s WU Huijun (MPhil, Faculty of Medicine) (until 31.8.10)

University Health Services Committee

Mis s WU Huijun (MPhil, Faculty of Medicine) (until 31.8.10)

Information correct as at July 2010