Duty Hours of PGS/Fellowship Recipients

The maximum tutorial hours (i.e. class contact hours) is 5 hours per week for a full studentship recipient. The maximum duty hours is 12 hours per week which includes duties related to research and teaching assistance. From 2012-13, for a PGS recipient who is in his/her final year of studies, the maximum tutorial hours is 2.5 hours per week while the maximum duty hours is 6 hours per week.

Engagement in Part-time Employment

As stipulated in section 5.3 of Terms and Conditions of PGSs, a PGS recipient who wishes to engage in part-time employment may submit an application for consideration by the Research and Postgraduate Studies Committee (RPSC) concerned/ Board of Graduate Studies (BGS). The student may be allowed to engage in academic work, but the hours for both mandatory teaching/research assistance required for the PGS award and the optional academic work should be subject to a limit to be determined by the RPSC/BGS concerned. The three RPSCs and BGS have set the limit that the maximum hours for engagement in part-time employment is 6 hours per week.

Non-local students are only allowed to take up on-campus employment according to the conditions of stays of the student's entry permit/visa as stipulated by the Immigration Department.

For HKPFS awardees, they are not permitted to undertake any part-time or full-time paid employment during the fellowship period unless exceptional approval has been given by the RGC with strong justification and support from the affiliated institution.

Mandatory Attendance of Lectures by Teaching Assistants

For the purpose of strengthening the training for Teaching Assistants (TAs), from 2009-10, it is made mandatory for TAs who have to lead tutorials to attend all the lectures of the relevant courses, except that exemption is granted. The academic staff teaching the course shall fill in the form"Granting Exemption from Attending Lectures by Teaching Assistants", providing justifications for the exemption and the form shall be endorsed by the Head of Department/Unit concerned. The duly completed form shall be sent to the School of Graduate Studies for record purpose.

For RPg students acting as TAs, the time for sit-in lectures shall be counted within the 12 hours of duties for the postgraduate studentship award but not counted in the maximum 5 hours of class contacts.

The policy shall apply to all TAs, not limited to RPg students.

Granting Exemption from Attending Lectures by Teaching Assistants