Economics

The HKU Master of Economics (MEcon) Programme aims at providing rigorous advanced training in economics with emphasis on real world applications.

The programme usually has its recruitment exercise from November to January every year.

Programme Details

​Our curriculum is designed to help students master economic analysis, use it creatively to find solutions to problems, and develop confidence in analysing issues and answering questions relevant to their work.

Flexibility is a key character of the programme-students have a number of elective courses to choose from, and courses of varying blends of abstraction and applicability are available. In addition to courses offered by the MEcon Programme, students may also choose elective courses in the HKU Master of Finance (MFin) and Master of Business Administration (MBA) Programmes which are also offered by the Faculty of Business and Economics (FBE), subject to availability and approval of the Programme Director.

Who Should Apply​

The MEcon Programme is most suitable for three types of students:

• those who have some economics training and consider starting a career as a professional economist;
• those who want to acquire advanced economics knowledge that is useful for them in the workplace;
• those who simply wish to gain a systemic framework to understand the economic problems around us.

Although an undergraduate degree in economics or related disciplines is not a pre-requisite, applicants should have good quantitative skills/possess knowledge of first-year college calculus.

Duration of Study​

The curriculum shall extend over a minimum of one academic year and a maximum of two academic years for full-time study, or a minimum of two academic years and a maximum of four academic years for part-time study. Full-time students at normal progress shall finish the programme in one academic year while part-time students shall do so in two academic years.

Students are required to successfully complete a total of ten courses, including the completion of three core courses (on microeconomics, macroeconomics and econometrics) and a capstone course. Students can choose to concentrate in one of the streams: Data Analysis Stream, Policy Stream or Theory Stream, according to their interests and career aspirations. They may elect to submit a dissertation in lieu of two elective courses. Assessment for each course may include assignments, mid-term examinations, project papers, other course work, as well as a final examination, which is normally held at the end of each course, unless otherwise specified.

Structure

Fundamental Core Courses (choose one course from each)

• Microeconomics
• Macroeconomics
• Econometrics
• Capstone experience

Stream Core Cources (choose one stream)

• Data Analyses Stream (Basic stream core and two courses from Advanced stream core)
• Policy Stream (Choose three)
• Theory Stream (Choose three)

Elective Courses

Candidates can choose electives from a list of courses to make a total number of courses taken ten.

To be eligible, you should:

1. Hold a good Bachelor's degree from this university; or another qualification of equivalent standard to this University or from another University or comparable institution accepted for this purpose; and
2. Obtain a TOEFL/IETLS score if you are not from an English teaching university.

An applicant who wishes to be admitted on the basis of a qualification from an university or comparable institution outside Hong Kong where the language of teaching or examination is not English is required to obtain a score of 577 or above (paper-based test), 233 or above (computer-based test) or 90 or above (internet-based test) in the TOEFL. Test scores that are more than 2 years old will not be accepted.

There is a non-refundable application fee of HK$300 for each taught postgraduate programme.

A minimum overall band of 7 with no subtest lower than 6.5 in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is also accepted as an equivalent standard.  

The Master of Economics Scholarships shall be awarded to new students in the programme on the basis of prior academic performance at the time of admission. The number of scholarships to be awarded shall not exceed 10% of the intake number in the relevant academic year. The cash value of each of the scholarships ranges from 10% to 50% of the Master of Economics tuition fee, subject to the academic performance of each awardee.

All applicants of the programme will automatically be considered.