Postgraduate Diploma in Education

• To be eligible for admission to the PGDE programme, applicants should hold a Bachelor’s degree of this University or the equivalent. Applicants are normally expected to have completed a substantial portion of their undergraduate studies in the major subject for which they wish to apply.
• For admission to the part-time programme, applicants should normally be serving teachers in Hong Kong schools with a minimum of one year of relevant teaching experience, in addition to the above requirement.

Applicants who are in their final year of undergraduate studies should provide us with a photocopy of their available results after submission of the online application. Successful candidates will be given a conditional offer and required to submit an official transcript soon after the result of the final degree examinations are known, and in any case by August 1, 2024 at the latest.

• PGDE (part-time) students are normally expected to be full-time teachers in a Hong Kong school teaching relevant subject for a substantial part of their school timetable.
• Applicants who do not hold a teaching position may still apply for the part-time programme but may be given a lower priority for admission compared with applicants who have met the admissions requirements.
• If a conditional Offer of Admission is given to an applicant without a teaching position, the applicant is required to make his/her own arrangement to present himself/herself for "Supervised Professional Practicum" in a suitable teaching context throughout the two years of part-time study.

     The general requirements are given below:

• a total of 12 weeks of professional teaching experience in a school or equivalent throughout the two years of the PT PGDE programme
• about 65 periods or 43 hours (ie, 5 periods regularly practiced throughout a 5-day teaching week) of your Major subject with a reasonable class size
• In addition, the applicant may be required to submit evidence of having a suitable teaching context (e.g. a copy of the teaching contract or a supporting letter from the school principal) by June 30, 2024 before a confirmed Offer of Admission is given. Failing to fulfill the condition(s) of offer by the specified deadline may result in withdrawal of conditional offer due to non-fulfillment of the admissions requirements.
• However, different Majors may have specific practicum requirements that students are required to follow. More details will be given to successful candidates on the conditional Offer of Admission letter.

Please refer to the “Instructions for Submitting Supporting Documents” for details. An email notification will be sent to you within 48 hours after submitting your online application, please follow the instructions in the email and upload your supporting documents in pdf format for our preliminary consideration by logging in https://tpg-admission-addon.its.hku.hk/applicant by the application deadline or within one month starting from the date you receive the email notification, whichever is earlier.

Posting of documents is NOT required at the application stage. Should an applicant be considered for admission, he/she will receive an email notification from the PGDE Programme Office to submit the original/officially certified copy of documents. Please note that our request to submit documents does not necessarily mean that you will receive an offer of admission.

A photocopy of the original document that has been duly declared as a true copy of the original document by the applicant before a notary public (e.g. the District Offices in Hong Kong) (Please click here for details on making declarations of your documents at the District Offices. Please see a declaration sample here.) or certified by the appropriate official of your home institution (e.g. the Registry).

You may apply for more than one major. Please submit an application with a full set of supporting documents and pay the application fees for each application. (Note: Different Majors and different study modes or study streams of the same Major are regarded as two programmes).

Students are NOT allowed to transfer from their major subject, study mode or study stream of the same major once an online application has been submitted, after acceptance of an offer or during the course of study, under any circumstances (e.g. a job situation change).

• In past years, the Jing Kung Scholarship, of the value HK$3,000, has been awarded to a PGDE full-time student each year. Interested applicants are required to submit their applications by mid September. More details will be given to admitted students in July.
• There are a number of awards available to PGDE graduates who perform outstandingly in the PGDE programme, subject to the nomination and approval of the PGDE Board of Examiners. Details will be given to nominated graduates.

• Successful applicants will be notified of their admission results by email and will receive an official Offer of Admission enclosing a Notice of Admission statement.
• Applicants who do not hear from the Faculty of Education by June 30, 2024 may assume their application has been unsuccessful. No individual notifications will be sent.

We welcome overseas applicants, and successful applicants will need to arrange their own student visas. All student visa applicants should request the HKU Admissions Office of the Registry to be their visa sponsor. Details on student visa application procedures can be viewed at https://www.studentvisa.hku.hk/. Please note that approximately 10 weeks should be allowed for visa processing.

The MEd is a subject knowledge based programme, while PGDE is a teacher training qualification emphasizing methods and practices of teaching of the subject knowledge that you may have acquired in your tertiary education. Applicants are therefore expected to have completed a substantial portion of their undergraduate studies in the major subject for which they wish to apply.

• University Regulation G6 prohibits concurrent registration by a student for another post-secondary qualification either at this University or at another institution, unless approval of the Senate has been obtained in advance. A breach of this regulation may result in discontinuation of studies at this University.
• Admitted students may be required to provide proof of withdrawal or deferral of the other programme of study after acceptance of an Offer of Admission to the PGDE programme, preferably by late June (i.e. before registration as a PGDE student).

Admitted students will be contacted by email in July for details of online registration and course selection in late July/ early Aug.

All courses are conducted in English and all assignments submitted for assessment to the PGDE programme must be written in English. The exceptions are for students taking Chinese Language subjects who may submit their Methods assignments in English or Chinese, and for all students where school students’ learning materials for Chinese as the Medium of Instruction (CMI) teaching are submitted.

• For full-time students, the programme runs throughout the academic year from September to June. Classes are normally held during daytime from Monday to Friday. However, some Majors may schedule classes on Saturday. Electives are mostly scheduled for weekday evenings and Saturday mornings.
• For part-time students, the programme extends over two academic years of part-time study. Classes are normally held from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. on two evenings per week in Year 1 from September to June. Classes may also be scheduled on Saturdays.
• All classes will be conducted on HKU campus. The master timetables will be available to admitted students in late July/ early August.