StudyQA — Master: Applied Social Sciences — City University of Hong Kong

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Description Contents Requirements Funding

This programme will provide advanced training in situational knowledge, independent capacity for research, collection of data, qualitative and quantitative methodologies, and writing skills necessary for the presentation of research findings. It will offer students opportunities to acquire scholarly competence in the areas of governance, public and social policy, social and criminal justice, and personal and social services, and related issues in the behavioural sciences.

Upon successful completion of this Programme, students should be able to:

demonstrate advanced knowledge about major issues, be they political, economic, social, psychological and international, that are relevant to the student’s research;
demonstrate independent scholarly competencies in research design, methodological and analytical techniques and sophisticated theorizing;
generate seminar and conference papers; and
analyze real world policy issues with theoretical and empirical research.

Departmental Research Degree Student Seminar
Qualitative Research Methods
Quantitative Research Methods
Teaching Students: First Steps

Qualifying Report

Students must submit a qualifying report within the specified qualifying period. The qualifying report should include a survey of the relevant literature, an identification of a specific research topic, the research methodology and a discussion on possible outcomes. The Qualifying Panel will assess the students’ suitability to continue their studies on the basis of the qualifying report, coursework results and any other assessment as considered appropriate by the Panel.

Annual Progress Report

After the qualifying period, students must submit progress reports on an annual basis until they have submitted the final version of their thesis for oral examination and completed any other academic requirements. On the basis of the annual progress report, the Qualifying Panel should make a recommendation regarding the students’ suitability to continue their studies for approval by the Department/School.

Thesis

An MPhil thesis should demonstrate the student’s ability to design a research agenda, collect data from a variety of locally available sources, deploy methodologies in a systematic way, build a coherent argument that addresses relevant literature and debates, and indicate prospects for making serious theoretical contributions.

Requirements

Hold a relevant bachelor’s degree with first or second class honours (or equivalent qualification) from a recognised university.
Applicants from an institution where the language of teaching is not English should satisfy the minimum English proficiency requirements specified by both the University and individual Colleges and Schools. The University’s minimum English proficiency requirement for research degree programmes is 593 (paper-based test) or 243 (computerbased test) or 95 (internet-based test) in the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) OR an overall band score of 7.0 in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). Equivalent qualifications are also acceptable.
Official certificates and transcripts of academic qualifications (Certificates and transcripts that are not in English should be accompanied by a formal certified translation in English.) [Applicants who obtained degrees from institutions that gave degree classification and/or grade point average but are not shown in the certificate or transcript are required to also send copies of any other official documents that indicate their formal degree classification or grade point average.]
Certificates of professional qualifications, if applicable (Certificates that are not in English should be accompanied by a formal certified translation in English.)
(In support of the applicant’s publication record, if applicable) the front page of the papers (for papers that have been published) or the letter of acceptance (for papers that have been accepted for publication). [Applicants to the School of Law must also submit a self-assessment (of not more than 400 words) of their publications together with full copies of their best three publications. Where any publication so submitted is in a language other than English, it must be accompanied by an abstract in English.]
Nominate two academic referees who can comment on their academic performances (proposed supervisor and persons from non-academic circles are normally not acceptable as academic referees).
A non-refundable application fee of HK$200 will be charged for each online application. Settlement of the application fee shall be made via online credit card payment.