Early Recruitment Scheme for Graduate Studies, HKU School of Computing & Data Science

Date of Admission: 1st September, 2026

Introduction:

The early recruitment scheme for graduate studies at HKU School of Computing and Data Science (HKU CDS) now invites applications from outstanding undergraduate students and master students studying in premier universities in both Mainland China and the rest of the world. The faculty members of HKU CDS include many internationally renowned scholars in diverse fields of Computer and Data Science, such as Statistics and Actuarial Science, Machine Learning and AI, Algorithms, Bioinformatics, Computer Forensic, Information Security, Computer Vision and Graphics, Human-Computer Interaction, Database and Data Mining, Network, Programming Languages, Quantum Information and Computation, and Systems. The offcial web page is at https://www.cds.hku.hk/.

Details:

1. Your application should include a CV in English, an optional research statement, and other supporting documents, such as transcripts, class ranking, proof of English proficiency, and certificates of academic achievements, all preferably in English. The official TOEFL or IELTS score is not needed at this stage. Please indicate THREE research areas of interest in a prioritized order in your application.

Note 1: Because the selection process is highly competitive, only applicants with excellent academic records will be invited for interview. For example, it is expected that an undergraduate applicant from Mainland China should be ranked in top 10% in a related field from a top 20 university in China. A master student intending to apply for the Ph.D. program is expected to demonstrate strong research ability or research record, e.g. in terms of research publications.

Note 2: The research statement is used to assess your research ability. It should contain your research ideas and plans pertaining to some specific problems, and a survey of some research papers. You are encouraged to indicate three areas of interest, and contact a professor in HKU CDS in your area of interest for assistance in preparing this document. For example, you can ask the professor’s advice about which papers to read. You should complete the research statement independently without copying sentences from existing papers.

2. The application period (2nd round) will be between 15th July 2025 – 31st September 2025:

• deadline: 11:59pm, 31st August, 2025

3. Selection criteria are mainly based on academic merits, research ability and potential, communication skills, and English proficiency. Offers will be made to successful applicants soon after the interview. We expect the applicants to confirm their acceptance of our offer as soon as possible. However, we’ll consider allowing some applicants to extend their deadline for acceptance on a case-by-case basis.

4. Postgraduate Scholarships (PGS) of HK$18,760 per month during the period of study (4 years for Ph.D. study and 2 years for M.Phil. study) are available for applicants. Furthermore, there are annual conference and research-related travel allowance up to HK$13,500. PhD Applicants are also encouraged to apply for the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship (HKPF) scheme and the HKU Presidential PhD Scholarship.

5. Inquiries about the application procedure should be directed by email to gradappl@cs.hku.hk.

6. If you have already made a submission in the first early round, it is automatically valid for the second early round. You may modify or update your application before the deadline. Do not make a new submission in case of any misleading.

7. The application is unsuccessful if you have not heard from us by the end of September. There will not be a seperate notification about the unsuccessful result.

8. Applicants who are unsuccessful in this early recruitment scheme may still apply through the main round of application for HKU research postgraduate admission (http://www.gradsch.hku.hk/gradsch/programmes).

9. For CS application, the six-digit application number is cancelled this year. Your application is valid as long as all the required documents are submitted before the deadline. You can modify your application at https://gradappl.cs.hku.hk/InterviewSystem/login after you have submitted your application. The applications will be reviewed only after the deadline and any modification before that is allowed.

10. For SAAS application, a Google account is needed in order to submit an application through the google form. If you do not have an account, you may either create or borrow an account. This account will be only used once when accessing the form. You may use any other email for further response and modifications.

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