Minors

Students admitted to bachelor’s degrees who (i) have a home major/an allocated major and (ii) have not been granted any extra credit units above the maximum credit limit permitted by the University are eligible to apply for declaring a minor during the specified application periods. Please note that students admitted with an undeclared major are not eligible to declare a minor until they are allocated a home major.

Students who have previously declared a minor can submit a request to drop the minor, if they so wish, during the specified periods for add/drop of minors.

There are two rounds for adding/dropping minors in each academic year, and the periods for 2023/24 are as follows:

Note: Requests for add/drop of minors must be submitted by 23:00 of the last day of the application period and late requests submitted after the specified deadlines will not be accepted. Students can view the results of their requests for adding minors in AIMS, and no separate emails will be issued to students announcing the results.

• Eligible students can login AIMS → Study Plan → Major and Minor Applications → Add/Drop of Minors, to submit their requests for adding/dropping minors.
• Please click here for steps on request of ADD of minors, and here for DROP of minors.
• Students can add only ONE minor in each application round.
• Once submitted, no change can be made to the requests for add/drop of minors. Students are therefore advised to double-check the add/drop details before submission.
• Students should check if the requested minor is exclusive with their home/second major, and if so, they should not apply to add the said minor.
• Students who wish to declare a minor should check beforehand if the credit load of their curriculum (degree/major requirements + LC0200A & LC0200B/CHIN1001, if applicable) allows them to take on the requested minor without exceeding the maximum credit limit permitted by the University (please refer to the Section on “Exceeding the Maximum Credit Limit for Pursuing a Minor” below). 
• The declaration of minors requires the approval of both home and minor-offering academic units. Requests for dropping minors are processed automatically and no approval is required.
• When the results for adding minors are available, students can view the results via AIMS as follows: AIMS → Study Plan → Major and Minor Applications → Add/Drop of Minors. Please note that no separate emails will be issued to students announcing the results.
• Minors successfully added will take effect from the following semester, which for drop of minors will take effect from current semester. Students should observe the period for add/drop of minors, and the effective term stipulated in order to plan for their studies and graduation.
• Details of the minors offered by academic units are available on the Programmes and Courses website and the respective academic unit’s website. Students should check the curriculum information of the requested minor before submitting an application for adding the minor.

• Students’ catalogue term for minor requirements is based on the effective term of their declared minor. For example, if a student applies to add a minor in November 2023 and the application is approved to take effect from Semester B 2023/24, the catalogue term for the declared minor is “Semester B 2023/24”. The student should therefore enroll in courses for the minor according to its Semester B 2023/24 curriculum.
• If a student who has applied for graduation in the current semester/term cannot complete the requirements of the declared minor, he/she will be considered as not fulfilling the graduation requirements and his/her application for graduation will be withdrawn. If the student still wants to graduate as originally planned at the end of the current semester/term, he/she will need to submit an Application for Change of Academic Curriculum and Graduation to the Academic Regulations and Records Office by the stipulated deadline to indicate his/her intention for graduation and the revised academic curriculum. For details of the change of academic curriculum and graduation, please visit the Application for Graduation website.
• Please note that students who have been granted extra credit units above the maximum credit limit will not be allowed to declare a minor.
• Please note that double counting of courses is permissible between minor and college/school requirements, as well as minor and College/School-specified courses under the Gateway Education (GE) requirement only.
• Students who are undertaking a minor should review if the minor and the major are exclusive. If so, they will need to drop the minor or are not allowed to take the minor in accordance with the procedures stipulated by the University.
• For students who have been approved to change their major AND add a minor in the same application round effective from the same semester, the request for adding a minor should be further approved by the new receiving major-offering academic unit (i.e., current home academic unit >> minor-offering academic unit >> new receiving major-offering academic unit). If the change of major (and adding a minor) will result in exceeding the maximum credit limit, the approval for adding a minor will be rescinded and the students concerned will not be allowed to add the minor.

• The University has stipulated the following maximum credit limit for students: 144 for normative 4-year degree / 114 for Advanced Standing I / 84 for Advanced Standing II.
• Students who wish to declare a minor should check beforehand if the credit load of their curriculum (degree/major requirements + LC0200A & LC0200B/CHIN1001, if applicable) allows them to take on the requested minor without exceeding the aforementioned maximum credit limit permitted by the University. For details of the curriculum requirement of the requested minor, please refer to the Programmes and Courses website or run the 'What-If' audit in DegreeWorks (the 'Catalog Term' inputted in DegreeWorks should be the semester for which the requested minor will take effect).
• If a student who wishes to declare a minor, and the study of the minor will result in exceeding the maximum credit limit, he/she should, via the online system, (i) indicate the number of extra credit units requested for completing the declared minor, and (ii) provide justifications in support of the request. The student's request will be forwarded to the home academic unit for consideration, and final approval for exceeding the maximum credit limit rests with the Associate Provost (Academic Affairs). If the request is not approved, the academic unit’s approval for adding the minor will be rescinded and the student will not be allowed to pursue the minor.
• If the recommendation for extra credit units mentioned above is approved, the student will continue to pay tuition fees at the UGC rate (or non-local rate for non-local students, or self-financed rate for self-financed students) until completion of the extra credit units permitted for the requested minor. Notwithstanding the above, if the student subsequently pursues a double major, any extra credit units exceeding the original maximum limit permitted by the University should be paid on a self-financing basis.
• If a student subsequently drops any minor and he/she has been previous approved with exceeding the maximum credit limit as mentioned above, the revised maximum credit permitted will be reverted to the original one (i.e. 144 for normative 4-year degree / 114 for Advanced Standing I / 84 for Advanced Standing II).