Online Application System for PhD and MPhil Admission
Welcome to the Online Application System for admission to the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and Master of Philosophy (MPhil) programmes of the University of Hong Kong. Please read the information on the Graduate School homepage under “Prospective Students” carefully to make sure you understand the application procedures and requirements before completing the form.
All applicants are required to create an account to submit the application. The account is valid for 4 weeks. If you do not submit your application within 4 weeks after account creation, your account and all information entered will be deleted from the system. Save your data in the online application form from time to time. The system will automatically log you out if it is idle for 30 minutes. All unsaved data will be lost. Click here for the operational guide of the Online Application System.
The applications will be reviewed by the relevant academic units. Applicants may be required to attend an interview and/or sit for a test arranged by the proposed department of study as part of the selection process. The Graduate School will inform all applicants of the result of their applications via email in about three to four months after the deadline of application. Applicants may also check the result via the Online Application System. Under NO circumstances will the Graduate School inform applicants of the results through telephone.
Applicants who have indicated interest in applying for admission to the Joint PhD Programme(s) will NOT be notified separately of the results of their applications for the Joint PhD Programme(s). Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted individually by the Faculties/Departments concerned for further processing of their Joint PhD applications.
Please refer to the Personal Information Collection Statement and the Privacy Policy Statement of the University for details. For unsuccessful applications, information will normally be destroyed 6 months after the release of the application result.
Online Application System
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Undergraduate Programme | LLB
About the programme.
Introduced in 2004-05, the 4-Year LLB programme is designed to meet the changing demands on law graduates. It is devised by benchmarking against the law programmes offered by the best law schools in the world and has a number of features to ensure the competitiveness of our graduates. These salient features include :
Maximum flexibility: Specialization and minors
The new programme offers the possibility of specializing in a particular area of law such as commercial law, Chinese law, international trade and economic law, so that our graduates would have an edge over law graduates elsewhere with general legal training. The programme also offers the possibility to do a minor in a non-law discipline offered in the University. For minors offered by other faculties to LLB students, please click here for further details.
Problem-based, student-centred learning
Teaching of the new curriculum will be largely problem-based and be conducted in a small group, student centred environment. Apart from legal knowledge, the curriculum will also focus on transferable skills such as communicative skills, analytical skills, research skills and problem solving skills.
Exchange with overseas universities
Students in the 3rd and 4th years of study will have an opportunity of going overseas as exchange students with a partner university. The University has entered into exchange agreements with over 150 leading universities worldwide and the Faculty has entered into other Faculty-specific exchange agreements with leading universities. Students may spend one semester or one academic year in one of these universities with scholarships.
Clinical programmes
Students will have the chance to participate in various clinical programmes and workshops to handle cases in real life. Students will also have a chance to participate in international mooting competitions.
Admission Requirements
Applicants for admission to the bachelor degrees offered by HKU Faculty of Law must satisfy the University entrance requirements ( https://aal.hku.hk/admissions/international/admissions-information?page=admissions-standards#B ) However, applicants must note that admission into our law programmes are extremely competitive, and the average grades of students who have been admitted into the programme are significantly higher than the minimum University requirements and the University average. You may refer to this website ( https://aal.hku.hk/admissions/local/admissions-information?page=admissions-information-previous-years ) for more admission information from previous years.
Assessment Method
The Faculty adopts a wide variety of assessment methods, ranging from sit-in exam, open book exam, take-home exam, research paper, coursework assessment, online assessment, oral presentation, mooting, simulation exercise etc. Most courses would have a component of research essay, though the weighting may vary from courses to courses.
Please refer to link
Center for Comparative and Public Law (CCPL) was established in 1995 as a non-profit virtual research centre in the Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong. Its goals are to (1) advance knowledge on public law and human rights issues primarily from the perspectives of international and comparative law and practice; (2) encourage and facilitate collaborative work within the Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong, and the broader community in the fields of comparative and public law; (3) make the law more accessible to the community and more effective as an agent of social change. The Centre’s projects and events generally come within one of the following areas of focus: Comparative Human Rights; Empirical Legal Studies; Equality and Non-discrimination; International Law in the Domestic Order; Judicial Studies; and Public Law and Governance.
You may find more information about CCPL in our Annual Reports:
- Annual Report 2021 – 2022
- Annual Report 2020 – 2021
- Annual Report 2019 – 2020
- Annual Report 2018 – 2019
- Annual Report 2017 – 2018
- Annual Report 2016 – 2017
- Annual Report 2015 – 2016
- Annual Report 2013 – 2014
- Annual Report 2011 – 2013
Call for Papers
The 4th Academic Seminar on “Law, Courts and Judges in Comparative Perspective” (July 2024 Hong Kong)
Workshop on Interdisciplinary Legal Studies (July 2024 Hong Kong)
10th Asian Constitutional Law Forum (December 2024 Hong Kong)
Master of Laws
Human Rights
Experiential
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Doctor of Philosophy in Laws (PhD)
The PhD in Laws is the most advanced degree awarded by the University. Students are required to conduct extensive research and write a thesis of publishable quality making an original contribution to knowledge, under the guidance of a member of CUHK LAW. Only a limited number of places are available each year and placement is highly competitive.
| Medium of instruction: | English |
| How and when to apply: | You may apply by using our on-line application process at the University’s . Applications for 2024-25 admissions, with the following application deadlines, have closed.
For admission under the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS): by 12 noon, 1 December 2023 (Hong Kong time); and by 11:59 pm, 1 December 2023 (Hong Kong time).Details of the HKPFS can be found at the and the . For regular admission: Even if you do not plan to apply for HKPFS, you are encouraged to apply early. |
| Admission requirements: | In addition to the General Requirements of the Graduate School, applicants must: Applicants must satisfy the English Language Proficiency Requirement by: For HKPFS applicants, please visit the for additional admission requirements. |
| Applicants to submit research plan: | All applicants are required to submit as part of their application a research plan not exceeding 5,000 words in length. The research plan will be reviewed by CUHK LAW in evaluating the applicant’s potential for conducting academic research at PhD level. Although it is understood that applicants are generally not yet ready to develop a full argument and/or solution for a problem at the application stage, they are expected to address the following in their research plan: The proposal should include relevant |
| Applicants to submit personal statement and curriculum vitae: | Applicants should submit as part of their application a personal statement not exceeding 1,500 words and brief curriculum vitae. The personal statement may describe the academic and professional experiences, interests and goals of the applicant, as well as the personal credentials that he or she considers most relevant to the proposed |
| Duration: |
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| Campus: | University main campus |
| Programme requirements: | Students are required to complete the following courses for graduation: , of enrolment; and in the first academic term of the second year of enrolment; and (multi-taking), a thesis monitoring course, throughout their enrolment in the Programme.Additionally, students are also required to complete the following modules for graduation: |
| Assessment and graduation: | In their graduating year, students shall submit a thesis which shall be an original piece of work that makes a substantial contribution to learning in the field of law, upon endorsement of their supervisor as to their readiness to submit. Students are also required to pass an |
| Delivery mode: | Full-time or part-time |
| Tuition fees: | HK$42,100 HK$42,100 (Above quoted tuition fees are subject to annual review.) |
| Studentship: | Full-time research postgraduate students may receive postgraduate studentship, valued at HK$18,360 per month for the 2023-24 academic year, during the normative study period. Awardees of the postgraduate studentships do not receive a waiver of tuition fee. Further details can be found . |
| Student housing: | Full-time research postgraduate students who are within their normative study period are eligible to apply for on campus accommodation at the Postgraduate Halls. Further details can be found . |
No. You will need to apply separately for each Programme as applications for admission into either MPhil or PhD Programme will be processed independently.
You are strongly encouraged to apply by 1 December. We encourage you to send us your application and supporting materials as early as possible. While you can apply until 31 March in the following year, most (if not all) of research students are usually selected from the main round of applicants who submitted their applications by 1 December.
CUHK LAW assigns supervisors to each successful applicant based on the applicant’s areas of interest and the supervisor’s availability. You do not need to mention your preferred supervisor at the application stage. However, if you have based your application on what you hope will be supervised by a specific person, it will be helpful to name that person. Although there can be no guarantee that successful applicant will be assigned the supervisor of choice, CUHK LAW will make an effort to do so when the choice is reasonable.
Yes. A student who has registered in a research master’s programme and has completed the first year of studies may be permitted, on the recommendation of the Graduate Division concerned and with the approval of the Graduate Council, to transfer to a research doctoral programme provided that the student meets the admission requirements of the doctoral programme concerned. The period of study of a student changing from research master’s to research doctoral in the same field of study shall count from the commencement date of his/her research master’s studies.
Yes. Postgraduate studentships, valued at HK$18,360 per month for the 2023-24 academic year, may be awarded to full-time research postgraduate students who are within their normative study period. Students receiving postgraduate studentships are expected to assist in the teaching and research work of CUHK LAW. Further information on financial aid can be found at the University’s Graduate School website .
| Tel: | (852) 3943 1681 |
| Fax: | (852) 2994 2505 |
| E-mail: | |
| Address: | Faculty of Law 6/F, Lee Shau Kee Building The Chinese University of Hong Kong Shatin, New Territories Hong Kong |
Rankings released! QS World University Rankings 2025
The QS World University Rankings 2025 are now live !
Being the first of its kind to incorporate both employability and sustainability factors into the methodology , the QS World University Rankings provides the higher education sector, governments and students a reliable rankings system that identifies the world’s leading universities in a range of performance metrics.
This year’s ranking is the largest – featuring 1,500 universities from 106 countries and territories across the globe. For the thirteenth consecutive year Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US has placed first.
Who are the top ten universities in the QS World University Rankings 2025?
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), US
2. Imperial College London, UK
3. University of Oxford, UK
4. Harvard University, US
5. University of Cambridge, UK
6. Stanford University, US
7. ETH Zürich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Switzerland
8. National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore
9. University College London, UK
10. California Institute of Technology (Caltech), US
Notably, Imperial College London has moved up four places – the biggest improvement among the top ten. Their progress is attributed to several factors, including their improvement in the ‘Sustainability’ category, (scoring 99.7 out of 100 overall) and in various research metrics including ‘Citations per faculty’, which they earned 86.5 last year, compared to a total of 93.9 this year, for example.
New entrants
There are 21 newly ranked institutions in the QS World University Rankings 2025, with the highest debutant being the American University of Ras Al Khaimah (AURAK) in the United Arab Emirates, with a ranking of 485th – the University scored 100 in indicators ‘International students’ and ‘International faculty’.
Global highlights of the QS World University Rankings 2025
China and India’s universities have seen the biggest upward movements for both the number of institutions increasing their ranking position and for the number of significant moves (defined as 10 places or more) in the QS World University Rankings 2025.
Other highlights in institutional performance globally are:
The UK’s strongest performance is in the ‘International Student Ratio’ indicator. It achieves the world’s second-highest average score among countries with ten or more ranked universities, behind only Saudi Arabia – underscoring the global appeal of UK higher education institutions and their ability to attract a diverse student body.
The US continues to boast one of the world’s most renowned higher education systems for their reputation, according to employers and academics – this is clear in the ranking as four of the top ten universities, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University, Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley (UCB) earn 100 in the ‘Academic reputation’ indicator.
Canada
Canadian universities are performing exceptionally in ‘Sustainability’, with two universities among the world’s top five, including the world’s most sustainable institution, the University of Toronto .
Australia
Three Australian institutions are in the world’s top 20 – with the University of Melbourne and the University of Sydney each climbing one position to 13th and 18th respectively. Australia also dominates in ‘International research’ in the Asia-Pacific region, claiming nine of the top 10 positions.
Africa
South Africa holds the African continent’s top four positions in the rankings – with the University of Cape Town (ranked 171st) being the continent’s highest-ranked institution, an improvement of two places from the previous year. Cairo University (Egypt) completed the top five in Africa, ranking 350th globally.
Latin America
Latin America has four representatives in the top 100, one from each of its four largest economies: Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) in Argentina (71st); Universidade de São Paulo in Brazil (92nd); Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC) in Chile (93rd); and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) in Mexico (94th).
Related QS Insights
What to expect from the qs world university rankings 2025 .
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Fax: (852) 2559 5690. Email: [email protected]. {:en}The Faculty offers three types of research degrees, MPhil, PhD and the SJD. A successful MPhil thesis should represent the result of the candidate's research which displays some originality and which demonstrates a sound understanding of the field of study and the appropriate research methods.
Faculty News | MAY 07, 2024 Introduction to HKU Law Series (VII) Dr Shane Chalmers Faculty News | APR 24, 2024 In Memoriam: Professor Julius Yam, 1992-2024 Faculty News | MAR 12, 2024 Introduction to HKU Law Series (VI) Dr Massimo Fabio Lando
Academic Staff. The Department of Law The Department of Professional Legal Education Emeritus Professor Honorary Professor Adjunct Professor Adjunct Associate Professor.
The Department of Law is responsible for the undergraduate LLB degree course, and for most of the teaching for post-graduate programmes. It also jointly teaches the BBA(Law)/LLB double degree programme with the Faculty of Business and Economics, the BSocSc(Govt&Laws)/LLB double degree programme with the Faculty of Social Sciences, and the Law and Literature programme with the Faculty of Arts.
Welcome to the Online Application System for admission to the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and Master of Philosophy (MPhil) programmes of the University of Hong Kong. Please read the information on the Graduate School homepage under "Prospective Students" carefully to make sure you understand the application procedures and requirements before completing the form.
Faculty of Law, HKU Menu. Home; Applicants. Programme Structure; Admission Criteria; How to Apply; Tuition Fee; Information Session; Student Sharing; Joint Programme with Penn Law; ... 3917-7015 | [email protected] (For admissions) Contact Us: (852) 3917-7015 | [email protected] (For current students)
About the Programme. Introduced in 2004-05, the 4-Year LLB programme is designed to meet the changing demands on law graduates. It is devised by benchmarking against the law programmes offered by the best law schools in the world and has a number of features to ensure the competitiveness of our graduates. These salient features include :
Juris Doctor. The JD is a full-time, two-year law degree that provides comprehensive and in-depth legal education to students without prior background in the law. The emphasis of the programme is not on rote learning of legal rules, but on critical appreciation and assessment of the underpinnings of these rules.
The University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law (commonly known as HKU Law) is one of the 11 faculties and schools at the University of Hong Kong. [1] Founded in 1969 as the Department of Law, it is the oldest law school in Hong Kong. HKU Law is consistently ranked among the top law schools in the world. In 2019, HKU Law was ranked 18th on the QS ...
HKU Class of 2018 Law PhD Graduates. Congratulations to our 12 PhD graduates who had their degrees conferred upon them at the 200th Congregation on 30 November 2018 at the University of Hong Kong. The newest members of our RPg alumnae family include the following: 1. Dr.
Applicants. The Juris Doctor (JD) is a full-time, two-year law degree that provides comprehensive and in-depth legal education to students without prior background in the law. The emphasis of the programme is not on rote learning of legal rules, but on critical appreciation and assessment of the underpinnings of these rules.
Center for Comparative and Public Law (CCPL) was established in 1995 as a non-profit virtual research centre in the Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong. Its goals are to. (3) make the law more accessible to the community and more effective as an agent of social change. The Centre's projects and events generally come within one of the ...
Welcome. Welcome to the Faculty of Law of the University of Hong Kong. HKU Faculty of Law offers a wide range of leading Master of Laws (LLM) and Master of Common Law (MCL) programmes to more than 450 students around the world. Many of our students are experienced lawyers.
LLM (HR) FT / PT. The Master of Laws in Human Rights Programme [LLM (HR)] was established in 1999 in response to the growing demand for knowledge about human rights in the Asia-Pacific region. The programme focuses on human rights issues of global concern, including in the Asia-Pacific region, and aims to foster an active learning environment.
The PhD in Laws is the most advanced degree awarded by the University. Students are required to conduct extensive research and write a thesis of publishable quality making an original contribution to knowledge, under the guidance of a member of CUHK LAW. Only a limited number of places are available each year and placement is highly competitive.
Being the first of its kind to incorporate both employability and sustainability factors into the methodology, the QS World University Rankings provides the higher education sector, governments and students a reliable rankings system that identifies the world's leading universities in a range of performance metrics.. This year's ranking is the largest - featuring 1,500 universities from ...
As a law student, you can expect to spend at least three years in law school. Full-time students typically complete their studies within three years, while part-time students take up to five years. However, there are several factors that can shorten or lengthen this timeline, such as the time it takes to study for and pass the Law School ...