4-Year Degree Programs

For a 4-year BBA or BSc student admitted in 2024-25, you will need to complete at least 120 credits as follows:

University Common Core

The University Common Core Program strives to provide undergraduate students with a well-rounded quality education that broadens their horizons, inspires and ignites their passion for learning and empowers them for lifelong pursuit of excellence.

For details, please refer to https://uce.ust.hk/web/courses_after/course_curriculum.html for students admitted in 2022-23 and onward, and http://uce.ust.hk/web/courses/course_curriculum_8.html for students admitted in 2021-22 or before. 

Business Core

Business Core courses are to help students to build a strong foundation of core business subject areas and they are:

For students admitted in 2024-25, click here for the SBM School requirements.

For students admitted prior to 2024-25, please visit the University's Program Catalog for the requirements applicable to your cohort.

Students with certain public examination scores may receive credit transfer on some business core courses. To apply for credit transfer on entry, please visit here. 

Business Major

Every student must have a major. Please refer to Major Programs for details of program options.

Starting from 2016-17, some students are admitted with a major upon admission while others admitted to the School will be able to choose a major as long as the requirements of the respective programs are met.

Students (including those admitted to a major) can take a year or up to 3 regular terms (2 terms for senior year entry students) to see what programs fit your skills and interests before committing to a specialization. If you do not have a major by the end of the 3rd term (or the end of the 2nd term for senior year entry students), you will be assigned General Business Management (GBM). GBM students cannot pursue an additional major. 

Free Electives

Students may enroll in any courses or consider taking an additional major and/or a minor to fulfill the 120-credit requirement for graduation.

Additional Major

Choosing an additional major is optional. You may pursue an additional BBA major program if you are pursuing a BBA degree (except students majoring in GBM). To graduate with an additional major, students must complete at least 20 single-counted credits. These 20 credits cannot be used to fulfill any other requirements for graduation except for the 120-credit degree requirement. For some major combinations such as ACCT with MGMT, extra credits in MGMT courses will be required for those with additional major in MGMT due to the shared required course MGMT4210. Another combination is FINA major with additional major in IS. Please speak with your respective major and additional major programs for more details.

In addition, students may be able to pursue an additional major program in other schools. Information can be found under "Cross-School Additional Major" below. Talk to your AAA counselor or major counselor for more details.

Extended Major

Extended major (Major + X) is not a standalone major. It adheres to certain relevant major as expanded choices for students to enrich their major study with cross-disciplinary applications of emerging technology and innovations relevant to their majors. Its curriculum typically consists of 21-24 credits. The declaration of the extended major will take place after the 3rd term, once all students have selected a major. Students with an extended major (or opting out after receiving an offer) will not be able to select a BBA additional major in Year 2 Spring. For more information, please visit https://emia.hkust.edu.hk/extended-majors for further details.

Minor Options

In addition to your major program, you may also pursue minor programs offered by the School of Science, the School of Engineering, the School of Humanities and Social Science or other academic divisions that interest you. For details about minor programs, please visit Program and Course Catalog. 

Other Information

Course Enrollments for Major and Additional BBA Major

You will normally be pre-registered for your major required courses. For your additional major courses, you will need to enroll on your own, but you will have priority on course enrollment during course registration period. If, for some reason, you are not able to register for an additional major program, you can still try and enroll in additional major courses by yourself. However, since class quotas may forbid you from securing a course place, it is better to go through the formal major selection exercise if you have set your heart on a particular additional major.

Declaring a Different Additional BBA Major

If you have not selected an additional major during the major selection exercise, but nonetheless are able to enroll in all the courses required for an additional major on your own, you may declare your additional major after the add/drop period of your last term of study.

Opting Out of Your Additional BBA Major

After one regular term of study, if you end up studying for a different additional major from the one you originally selected during the major selection exercise, you may opt out of your assigned additional major and update your profile after the add/drop period. The last opportunity for students to opt out of their additional major is after the final examination of their last term of study.

Program Transfer

A student may change from one program of study to another with the permission of the major department into which the student wishes to transfer. Application for transfer should be made at least one week prior to the beginning of a regular term to be effected in the following regular term. Students who are interested to apply for program transfer to SBM should complete and submit ARO RR-6 form “Application for Program Transfer” together with the latest unofficial transcript to SBM Department and/or SBM UG Programs Office for consideration. For non-SBM students interested in applying for program transfer to SBM, more supporting documents such as resume, study plan and public examination results (e.g. HKDSE, IB, GCEAL etc.) and an interview may be required. Students are advised to consult respective program before submitting an application.

For non-SBM students interested in program transfer, taking some SBM courses prior to submitting an application will be helpful.

Cross-School Additional Major

SBM students who are interested in cross-school additional major should complete ARO RR-47 form “Declaration/ Withdrawal of Additional Undergraduate Major Program” to apply. Students should enclose with the application their Unofficial Academic Transcript as well as a sample term-by-term study plan to meet the curriculum requirements within a reasonable duration of study after consultations with the home and additional major offering departments. Approval has to be sought from home department, additional major offering department and the respective Schools. The minimum CGA requirement for SBM students applying for cross-school additional major is 3.3.

Non-SBM students who would like to take additional SBM major, please contact bmug@ust.hk for further details.

Exchange Program and School Projects

If you would like to enrich your university experience, HKUST also offers term exchanges, so you may also take a term to study abroad. You can also enroll in enrichment courses like the School’s Corporate or Community Services Projects.