The wait for decisions on your application can be agonising. To ease the pressure, let’s go through the things you need to do once you receive an offer from a university in Hong Kong.

Offers from universities in Hong Kong are announced between January and March. At this time, most students will not have their grade 12 final exams scores. In that case, students may receive a conditional offer.

A conditional offer means that the offer holds good only if you achieve the condition the university has given you in your acceptance letter. For example, the university might give you a conditional minimum percentage of 90% and only if you score that or more, you are admitted to the institution. If not, then your offer expires and you have to go through an appeal process.

During the appeal process, applicants have to appeal via a form sent out to unsuccessful applicants, and this is followed by a brief interview and a statement stating your reason to be admitted to the university again. The results of the appeal are announced within a week or so.

Accepting an Offer

Once you receive an offer, you would be required to accept or reject your offer via the application portal. Applicants are also required to pay an admission deposit upon acceptance of the offer usually within 2 weeks after the offers are announced

This deposit varies from university to university. For example, international applicants for HKUST need to pay an amount of HKD 20,000 which is roughly 1.8 lakhs and for HKU you need to pay an amount of HKD 10,000 which is roughly 90,000 rupees. This deposit will be treated towards your tuition fee for that year. 

If the applicant fails to reach the condition(s) in the offer, only then the university will refund the amount. However, if the applicant achieves the condition, then this deposit is non-refundable.

Conditional Offer Acceptance

After the results of the final examination are out, applicants are required to upload their transcript on the application portal, for the university to acknowledge that their condition has been met. In cases, where the condition has not been met, each university has an appeal process wherein you can appeal to the university stating your reasons, any other supporting transcript or documents within 14 days of the rejection email.

Successful applicants can go ahead with their visa, housing and other arrangements.

Student Visa

After accepting an offer, all non-local students should apply for a student visa/entry permit. The University Online Application System where you had submitted your application will have the list of required documents such as your parents’ financial information, passport copies, the visa form etc. For some universities, the required documents and procedures are sent by email. After you complete the online process and gather the required documents, they have to be sent to the university for further processing. The process of getting a visa is fairly easy and does not require any interview. After your visa is processed, you will receive the visa and other documents by post at your local address within a month.

Student Accommodation

Once applicants accept the offer, universities will get in touch with them for their housing arrangements. Universities provide accommodation to all incoming students and they are required to apply for housing right after they receive their offer. A separate email will be sent out regarding the types of halls, the number of spaces and other such information.

At UniRely, our university-specific mentors and counselors are here to support you on your journey to university. For more information, please visit our website unirely.com to learn more about the process of applying to universities in HK for an undergraduate degree.