Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for Internship Courses

No, you must apply for leave of absence before the start date of your internship.

Yes you may send the registration form with all required documents by email from your HKU Portal email. Please follow the instructions on APAI4766, STAT4766 and STAT4767 registration form.

As a general guideline, the job nature (not simply the job title or job description) should be related to your Major study. You should be able to explain in your written report and oral presentation how you can apply the knowledge you learned in your Major curriculum in the work. Job types which are too general (e.g. clerical work) or jobs which accept any students from any background (e.g. sales person or financial planner) should not be accepted. If you have any enquiries, you should give the job descriptions and more details to the course coordinator for consultation.

As long as the requirement is fulfilled before the start of your internship, your registration would be accepted. This is why only a conditional approval is given to certain students for their registration.

For science courses, an advanced course should have a number prefix starting with 3, 4 or 7, such as APAI3xxx, MATH3xxx or STAT3xxx.

For non-science courses, please check with the corresponding course offering department such as COMPxxxx, GEOGxxxx and PSYCxxxx.

For students in BASc(AppliedAI) programme, you should pass at least 4 advanced courses including COMP3340 Applied Deep Learning, MATH3904 Introduction to Optimization, STAT3612 Statistical Machine Learning, and any advanced course in the selected concentration before the commencement of the internship.

For students in BSc(ActuarSc) programme and BSc programmes (Majors in Decision Analytics, Risk Management and Statistics), the 24 credits (four 6-credit courses) must be in the core disciplinary or core elective course list of that Major.

Yes, so if you plan to register courses (including internship courses) which amount to more than 72 credits, you need to apply for course overloading during the application period set by the Faculty, e.g. (semester 1) add-drop period in August and (semester 2) within 3 working days after announcement of semester 1 examination results. Therefore, please prepare your study plan well in advance.

No, the determination of enrollment semester for the internship course is based on the mechanism agreed with the Faculty.

No, it is not recommended to accept multiple internship offers or sign two internship contracts for the same internship period before the start date of the internship. Doing so may violate the terms of the contracts and negatively impact your reputation, as well as the reputation of the department and the university. It is advisable to consult with your internship coordinator and/or career adviser before accepting multiple internship offers or signing two contracts for the same internship period to ensure that you are not in violation of any agreements.

Please consult the Department at ugenq@hku.hk for further information.

No in general, especially when your registration has already been given to the Faculty. In this situation, it is likely that the course would be ended up with a fail grade.

This is a document for students holding visa only.

According to the Immigration Department (ImmD) of the HKSAR Government, non-local students of full-time locally accredited programmes at degree level or above whose study period is not less than one academic year may take up internships subject to the following conditions: (Note 1)

• The internship(s) should be study/curriculum-related and be arranged or endorsed by the institutions they are studying in; and

• The total duration of the internship(s) is up to one year, or one-third of the normal duration of the relevant full-time academic programme, whichever is shorter.

In order to undertake internships regardless of full-time or part-time nature, students (holding visa) should possess an applicable No-Objection Letter (NOL) from ImmD. NOL (Note 2) will spell out explicitly the types and conditions of employment which can be undertaken by individual students.

In this connection, if you do not have an applicable NOL or your NOL has expired, AFTER having secured an internship offer,

Non-local students, including Mainland students and students with nationalities other than Chinese should first submit an application for leave of absence to the Faculty of Science via the Science Online Application Submission System (OASS) (https://webapp.science.hku.hk/intranet/OnlineFormUG.html) with the proof/contract of the internship offer.

Once the application is approved,

Full-time internship: a leave of absence confirmation letter/email will be issued by the Faculty Office, then request for the NOL (with the confirmation letter/email and internship contract).

Part-time internship: a supporting letter/email will be issued by the Faculty Office, then request for the NOL (with the confirmation letter/email and internship contract).

• Students in BASc(AppliedAI) and BSc(ActuarSc) programme should request for the NOL at the General Office of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science (Room 303, 3/F, Run Run Shaw Building) during office hour.

• Mainland students OR Non-local students with nationalities other than Chinese OR Chinese nationals with residency overseas in BSc programmes (e.g. Majors in Decision Analytics, Risk Management and Statistics) or research postgraduate (RPG) students, should request for the NOL from ImmD directly.

For enquiries, please refer to Admissions Office, Registry’s website:-
Mainland students: https://www.studentvisa.hku.hk/mainland-internship-approval.
Macao / Taiwan students: https://www.studentvisa.hku.hk/copy-of-internship-approval.
Non-local students: https://www.studentvisa.hku.hk/copy-of-internship-approval-1.

• Students should also apply to the Faculty for a leave of absence confirmation letter/email (full-time internship) or supporting letter (part-time internship) before applying NOL.

Please note that application for NOL may take up to 4-6 weeks.

Please also note that students do not require NOL during the period of 1 June to 31 August. An approval letter for Student Visa/Entry Permit of your first entry has stated there is no limit in relation to work hours and location regarding the employment during the summer months. “Summer months” here are taken to mean the period from 1 June to 31 August, both dates inclusive. (If you have lost the original copy, please re-apply from the Hong Kong Immigration Department (ImmD).)

Note 1: In case of information discrepancy, ImmD’s version shall prevail.

Note 2: NOL has a time restriction, e.g. usually for one academic year. Please refer to the exact academic year/period stipulated on the letter. Renewal of NOL is needed should the validity of your NOL expire and you wish to undertake an internship during your study.

IMPORTANT:
Students have the ultimate responsibility to ensure that that the duration of the cumulative internship does not exceed one academic year, or one-third of the normal duration of the relevant full-time academic programme, whichever is shorter.

Students can contact Admission Office for further instruction. Please visit Admission Office’s website at https://www.studentvisa.hku.hk/

For full-time internship, if your application for leave of absence is approved by the Faculty and the Department, the Faculty will issue an approval letter to supporting you to take a particular internship.

For part-time internship, if you need the support letter to apply for NOL, please bring along your contract and HKU timetable to the Faculty to apply for the supporting letter. Please note that the working time of your internship should not clash with your course schedule.

Summer internship in the final year is strongly NOT encouraged, the application needs special approval from the Faculty. If the application is not accepted, your graduation will be affected and delayed.

Final year students are normally not allowed to enroll in any courses in the summer semester. Any final year students who have left the required courses to the summer or later semesters may not be able to graduate in that summer.

Yes, although some students are not eligible to enroll in APAI4766, STAT4766 or STAT4767, they are still eligible to apply for leave of absence for undertaking the internship.

• For students in BASc in Applied Artificial Intelligence:

If you want to fulfil the capstone requirement without doing an internship, you can consider enrolling in APAI3799 Directed studies in Applied AI or APAI4798 Applied AI project.

• For students in BSc majoring in Decision Analytics / Risk Management / Statistics:

If you want to fulfil the capstone requirement without doing an internship, you can consider enrolling in STAT3799 Directed studies in statistics, STAT4710 Capstone experience for statistics undergraduates or STAT4799 Statistics project.
(Note: STAT4766 is mutually exclusive with STAT4710.)

• For students in BSc in Actuarial Science programme:

If you want to fulfil the capstone requirement without doing an internship, you can consider enrolling in STAT4711 Capstone experience for actuarial science undergraduates or STAT4798 Statistics and actuarial science project.
(Note: STAT4767 is mutually exclusive with STAT4711.)

If you are approved to take leave of absence, then you can take the second internship. However, if students already enrolled APAI4766/STAT4766/STAT4767 previously, then the second internship will not affect the previously enrolled internship course, whilst students can take the second internship for your own experience. At the same time, the Department would like to understand the progress and feedback of your internship for the improvement of the internship programme, students have to submit 1) Registration Form, 2) Progress Report 1st and 2nd and 3) invite employer to complete Employer's Evaluation Form during the second internship.

The required documents is one of the learning process throughout the internship. The documents provided a chance for student to reflect your strengths, weaknesses and the difficulties in the internship. Hence, the improvement in the future for your career. It is also important for Department to follow up with students' internships.

Students who have participated in the CAP activities (e.g. PPP workshops) would be given a higher priority in Department's nomination to employers. On the other hand, students who have been blacklisted in CAP activities would be given a lower priority.

Students should also be reminded that the Department will also keep record of the compulsory attendance of actuarial science year 1 students for their seniors' oral presentation of STAT4767.

• APAI4766
  Online syllabuses for APAI4766

   

  Guidelines on Internship and APAI Course APAI4766 for Applied Artificial Intelligence Students
  Faculty > Home > Current Students > Undergraduate Programmes > Student Experiential Learning and Enrichment Opportunities >Other Opportunities > Internships

   

• STAT4766
  Online syllabuses for STAT4766

   

  Guidelines on Internship for BSc Students
  Faculty > Home > Current Students > Undergraduate Programmes > Student Experiential Learning and Enrichment Opportunities >Other Opportunities > Internships

   

• STAT4767
  Online syllabuses for STAT4767

   

  Guidelines on Internship and STAT Course STAT4767 for Actuarial Science Students
  Faculty > Home > Current Students > Undergraduate Programmes > Student Experiential Learning and Enrichment Opportunities >Other Opportunities > Internships

In about two weeks' time, you will receive an email notification of either a conditional approval or a rejection of your application.

There are different reasons, depending on each student's case. This is possible that some pre-requisites can only be met later, for example, a student may be still waiting for the exam results to be released in order to meet the enrollment pre-requisites including but not restricted to the passing of 24 credits of advanced level disciplinary core/elective courses in the Decision Analytics/Risk Management/Statistics majors before the start of the internship.

(For Actuarial Science students, passing STAT3901 is also required.)

(For Applied Artificial Intelligence students, passing COMP3340, MATH3904 and STAT3612 are also required.)

No, if you are approved to take the internship course, you will be enrolled to the course manually by the Faculty / Department.

The submission timeline for required documents will be indicated in the conditional confirmation email. You have to follow this timeline strictly. For the written report, students are required to submit one printed hard copy to the Department AND one soft copy via Moodle Turnitin of your enrolled academic year and semester.

The Moodle Turnitin system will be ready about two weeks before the oral presentation. You are allowed to resubmit the written report before due in Moodle Turnitin.

Moreover, submission with the similarity index above 15% may be considered as plagiarism after eliminating falsifying factors (e.g. formatting, references, appendices, etc.)

Yes, although your supervisor's evaluation on you does not directly contribute to the score (which in turn to be a grade) of your internship written report or presentation, if our examiners find your work performance was far from standard you may fail the course due to the unsatisfactory performance during the internship.

(For APAI4766) The internship course will be enrolled in the semester you give the oral presentation (1st semester, 2nd semester, or summer semester), NOT necessarily the semester you do the internship.

Actual enrollment will be slightly different for full-time and part-time internship. Please refer to the table below.

(For STAT4766) The internship course will be enrolled in the semester you give the oral presentation (1st semester, 2nd semester, or summer semester), NOT necessarily the semester you do the internship.

Actual enrollment will be slightly different for full-time and part-time internship. Please refer to the table below.

(for STAT4767) Note: The Faculty has the ultimate decision on the enrollment upon any special situations.

The oral presentation may be different from your actual enrollment because oral presentation will only be conducted in semester 1 or 2 for STAT4767, while the actual enrollment will be in semester 1, 2 or summer.

Please also note that actuarial science year 1 students have to attend the compulsory session for oral presentation for STAT4767.

Besides examiner(s), your peers are welcome to sit in your oral presentation session, although they are not required to do so.

Besides examiner(s), all Actuarial Science Year 1 students are required to attend certain number of session of internship presentation in each semester. We want our freshmen to have an idea of different job natures of actuarial work in an early stage in their study, so that they can note any important issues regarding their own preparation for their future internships. As a result, you should be a role model for your junior classmates. They should be able to learn a lot from your presentation on actuarial internship experience.

No, if the performance of the written report and oral presentation are excellent, it is possible for you to get a grade of pass with distinction which will be shown on your transcript. The weighting of the assessment is:

Assessment of this course is on a Pass or Fail basis (Students demonstrating excellent performance would be awarded a grade of Distinction). Besides the three required forms - Progress Report Form, Employer's Evaluation Form and Student Feedback Form. Students will be assessed by the following criteria: content and skills of presentation content and skills (30%), participation in oral presentation (10%), content and organization written report (60%).

If you have taken two internships consecutively before the oral presentation, you are required to submit all documents (e.g. progress report, employer's evaluation form, student feedback form, etc.) for BOTH internships, while you can focus to one internship (or both internships) in your oral presentation and written report.

1. 1500-word written report on their internship experience;
2. oral presentation; and

3. participation in the Q&A session.*

    

*Students should participate actively and ask at least 2 questions (in total) in other presenters' Q&A session.