Study Scheme

1. Students are required to take ENGE8100 each term in preparation for Part I of the qualifying examination.
2. Upon passing Part I of the qualifying examination, students are required to take ENGE8200 each term in preparation for the thesis and Part II of the examination.
3. Thesis monitoring courses are listed below:
   ENGE8100 and ENGE8200

To be centred on the candidate’s chosen area of research. For example, a candidate intending to work on a modernist writer must read five entries from the section labelled “20th Century (pre-1945)” and five from each of those sections which are contiguous with it – currently “19th Century (2nd half)” and “20th Century (post-1945)”. In addition to this, the candidate is to read ten works deemed contextually “important” by the candidate’s mentor / supervisor / committee members. This means that students should be given a reading list consisting of 25 works in total.

Advancement to Ph.D. candidature is conditional upon the successful completion of the following:

1. Section I – Written Exam
   1. A three-hour written examination based on the agreed reading list, devised by supervisor and committee members. Student to answer three questions from a question paper of six questions.
   2. This section is to be completed with 6 months of enrolment.
2. Section II – Written Research Paper and Oral Examination
   1. Completion of two written tasks – a full and final research proposal/plan (c.5k words), and a chapter of (or a substantial portion thereof) the thesis as outlines in the full and final research proposal/plan.
   2. To deliver two presentations – one defence of the proposed thesis and the shape and dimensions of the proposed research area (id est the research proposal/plan); one defence of the argument(s) outline in the submitted chapter.
   3. The written research proposal/plan and delivery of first presentation/defence to be completed within 12 months of enrollment. The written (substantial portion of) chapter and second presentation/defence to be completed within 18 months of enrollment. Both of these dates to be push back by 6 months for those on the four-year programme.

1. Students must fulfill the Term Assessment Requirement of the Graduate School. For details, please refer to Clause 13.0 “Unsatisfactory Performance and Discontinuation of Studies” of the General Regulations Governing Postgraduate Studies which can be accessed from the Graduate School Homepage: http://www.gs.cuhk.edu.hk.
2. A student must achieve a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of at least 2.0 in order to fulfill the graduation requirement, unless special approval is granted by the Graduate Council.
3. Students are required to submit a research thesis and pass an oral examination for graduation.
4. The thesis should involve texts in English unless strong justification for their exclusion be presented to the Graduate Panel. Texts are defined as language, literature, or culture-related texts.
5. Students are required to complete an Improving Postgraduate Learning (IPL) module on “Observing Intellectual Property and Copyright Law during Research”. This is an online module and relevant information can be accessed from the website: https://www.cuhk.edu.hk/clear/prodev/ipl.html.
6. Students are required to complete and pass an IPL module on “Basics of Research Data Management” in their first year of study, with effect from the 2022-23 intake. This is an online module and relevant information can be accessed from the website: https://www.cuhk.edu.hk/clear/download/IPL-Researchskills.pdf.
7. Students are required to submit a Data Management Plan (DMP) during the first year of study, with effect from the 2025-26 intake. The final DMP should have been shared to the CUHK community on DMPTool or the relevant platform that CUHK provides when submitting the final version of the thesis/portfolio to the Graduate School. Students are required to have published the data on the CUHK Research Data Repository or an open data repository with a valid Digital Object Identifier (DOI) or other forms of permanent identifier when submitting the final version of the thesis/portfolio. Upon thesis supervisor’s endorsement, students can decide on how much data from the research project is to be published.
8. Students are required to complete an online Research Ethics Training (RET) module on “Publication Ethics” offered by the Office of Research and Knowledge Transfer Services (ORKTS) and obtain a valid Publication Ethics Certificate for graduation. Relevant information can be accessed from the RET website at https://www.research-ethics.cuhk.edu.hk/web/.