Information for Current Research Postgraduate (RPG) Students

Introduction

Welcome to the School of English and what we are sure will be an exciting and challenging phase of your education and personal development. This page provides a summary of necessary and useful information to help your transition to graduate studies.

Practical guide

Please click here for details.

Coursework requirements and descriptions

Students admitted in the academic year 2021-22 and thereafter

There are three parts of coursework requirements:

Part I: Graduate School;

Part II: School of English;

Part III: Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education required by Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (if applicable).

Part I: Graduate School’s Coursework Requirements

For MPhil and 4-year PhD students:

To complete 6 Modules offered by the Graduate School, with options to complete two ENGL equivalent replacement courses in lieu of Module 2 and/ or Module 3.

The School of English strongly encourages MPhil and PhD students to take the School’s courses (ENGL6070 and ENGL7011) in lieu of the Graduate School’s Modules whenever possible, as ENGL courses are more relevant to research in English Studies.

General rule on the completion of coursework:
By the end of the probationary period, all MPhil/ 4-year PhD students are required to complete all Graduate School Modules and at least 50% of the School courses required. Moreover, all coursework requirements must be completed before thesis submission.

For 3-year PhD students:

To complete Modules 4 and 5 offered by the Graduate School.

For the timetable of Graduate School courses, please click here.

Graduate School	School of English
Module 1: GRSC6100 Doing Research @ HKU (2 hours)
Module 2: Introduction to Qualitative/ Quantitative Research Methods (3 hours) Module 2a: GRSC6106 Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods (Humanities), or Module 2b: GRSC6104 Introduction to Quantitative Research Methods (Humanities)	Or take an equivalent replacement course in lieu of Module 2: ENGL7011 Research Methods (6 credits)
Module 3: Introduction to Thesis Writing (3 hours) Module 3a: GRSC6120 Introduction to Thesis Writing (Humanities), or Module 3c: GRSC6140 Advanced Thesis Writing (Humanities) Note: Some students are required to complete GRSC6027 Intensive English for Postgraduate Students as a prerequisite for enrolling in Module 3. Graduate School will inform those students individually.	Or take an equivalent replacement course in lieu of Module 3: ENGL6070 Introduction to Thesis Writing in English Studies (6 credits)
Module 4: GRSC6101 Responsible Conduct of Research (3 hours)
Module 5: GRSC6102 Stream-based Responsible Conduct of Research (3 hours)
Module 6: Professional Development Training (PDT) (12 hours) Module 6a: GRSC6108 Online Transferrable Skills Programme (12 hours), or Module 6b: GRSC6138 Transferrable Skills Retreat (12 hours)

Notes on course exemption:

For Modules 2 to 5: Students who have successfully completed and passed a required course(s) or equivalent(s), either from HKU or a comparable institution, may apply for course exemption, subject to the Graduate School’s approval on a case-by-case basis.
For Module 6: Students who have successfully completed and passed a required course(s) or equivalent(s), either from HKU or a comparable institution; or possessed full-time work experience for at least 6 months, may apply for course exemption on a case-by-case basis.

Part II: School of English’s Coursework Requirements

To complete 2 to 4 ENGL courses as follows:

Required course(s):

ENGL6001 Research Seminar (6 credits)
ENGL6070 Introduction to Thesis Writing in English Studies (6 credits; for students who wish to use this as an equivalent course in lieu of Module 3 offered by the Graduate School);
ENGL7011 Research Methods (6 credits; for students who wish to use this as an equivalent course in lieu of Module 2 offered by the Graduate School)

Note: The School of English strongly encourages MPhil and PhD students to take the School’s courses (ENGL6070 and ENGL7011) in lieu of the Graduate School’s Modules whenever possible, as ENGL courses are more relevant to research in English Studies.

Elective course:

To complete any one elective (E) course from the list below:

An RPG course (6 credits): ENGL6003 Guided Reading Course, or ENGL6053 Special Topics in English Studies, or ENGL7114 How To Write (ENGL7114 only admits RPG Year 2 students), or
A TPG course (6 credits) from the Master of Arts in English Studies (MAES) programme.

*Abbreviations:
C – Compulsory
R – Replacement course in lieu of the Graduate School’s compulsory Module
E – Elective

Course Code	Course Title	*C / R/ E	Pre-requisites	Course offered in 2023-24
				Semester 1	Semester 2
RPG courses (Please click here for Course Descriptions)
ENGL6001	Research Seminar	C	Nil	Yes	Yes
ENGL6003	Guided Reading Course	E	Nil	Yes	Yes
ENGL6053	Special Topics in English Studies	E	Nil	Yes	Yes
ENGL6070	Introduction to Thesis Writing in English Studies	R	Nil	Yes
ENGL7011	Research Methods	R	Nil	Yes	Yes
ENGL7114	How To Write	E	Nil
MAES courses (Please click here for Course Descriptions)
ENGL6056	Cultural Semiotics	E	Nil		Yes
ENGL6073	Introduction to Literature and Cross-cultural Theory	E	Nil	Yes
ENGL6075	The Politics of English	E	Nil
ENGL6079	World Modernisms	E	Nil		Yes
ENGL6080	Travel Writing and Culture	E	Nil		Yes
ENGL6081	Global Fictions	E	Nil	Yes
ENGL6083	Post-Colonial Representations	E	Nil		Yes
ENGL7101	Introduction to Language and Communication	E	Nil	Yes
ENGL7102	Global Englishes	E	Nil	Yes
ENGL7103	New Media and Discourse	E	Nil	Yes
ENGL7104	Global Shakespeare	E	Nil	Yes
ENGL7105	Intercultural Communication	E	Nil		Yes
ENGL7106	The Global History of English	E	Nil
ENGL7107	Race in America: The Novels of William Faulkner and Toni Morrison	E	Nil
ENGL7108	Imagining Asia	E	Nil
ENGL7109	Language Variation across Society and Speakers	E	Nil
ENGL7110	Gender, Discourse and Society	E	Nil		Yes
ENGL7111	Worlds of Discourse: Metaphor, Metonymy, and Interpretation	E	Nil
ENGL7112	Global Medieval Literatures	E	Nil
ENGL7113	The Cosmopolitan Stage in the Eighteenth Century	E	Nil
ENGL7115	Analysing Speech	E	Nil

Part III: Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

All students, unless they have prior teaching experience, will also be required to take a mandatory course on teaching skills if they are to be deployed as teaching assistants. This course is taught by staff from the Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL). Students may either take this course in the same semester when they are teaching concurrently, or before they take up teaching. For details, please visit HERE: https://www.cetl.hku.hk/certificate-courses/

Students admitted in the academic year 2020-21 and before

All registered MPhil and 4-year PhD students are required to take four compulsory courses offered by the Graduate School or their approved equivalents in the School of English (ENGL6070 Introduction to thesis writing in English studies and ENGL7011 Research methods). In addition, students will also be required to take one compulsory School of English course (ENGL6001 Research Seminar) and one School of English elective. Elective courses vary from year to year and current offerings can be found on the online course selection system.

3-year PhD students are only required to take GRSC6030 Research Ethics for Graduate Students (Faculties of Arts and Architecture) in addition to the School of English course requirements.

Graduate School courses

MPhil and 4-year PhD programme

Compulsory Course I

GRSC6020 Introduction to Thesis Writing (The Humanities & Related Disciplines)

OR

ENGL6070 Introduction to Thesis Writing in English

Compulsory Course II

GRSC6034 Introduction to Quantitative Research Methods (The Humanities & Related Disciplines)

OR

GRSC6036 Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods (The Humanities & Related Disciplines)

OR

GRSC6007 Applied Quantitative Research Methods (Prerequisite: Students who are able to provide documentary evidence that they possess basic knowledge in measurement and statistical concepts)

OR

ENGL7011 Research Methods

Compulsory Course III

GRSC6030 Research Ethics for Graduate Students (Faculties of Arts and Architecture)

Compulsory Course IV

GRSC6008 Transferable Skills

OR

GRSC6038 HKU Transferable Research Skills Course

OR

A 3 or 4-day residential Transferrable Research Skills course

The core courses (or their equivalents) must be passed by the end of the probationary period.

School of English courses

All MPhil, 3-year and 4-year PhD students are required to take one compulsory course (ENGL6001 Research Seminar) and one elective course from the School of English.

Please refer to the course list above.

Faculty information on RPG

For more information about RPG, please visit the Faculty webpage: https://arts.hku.hk/current-students/postgraduate/research-postgraduate.