Integrated Honours Project

Overview

Students who are enrolled in the Engineering & Economics double degree programme and intend to pursue double honours may opt to complete a 16-MC Integrated Honours Project which will count towards the requirements and CAP of both degrees. The project will provide the best students with opportunities to explore the meeting points of their two disciplines. It will be jointly supervised by faculty members from Engineering and Arts & Social Sciences, and students are encouraged to work with the faculty members on possible thesis topics that are interdisciplinary in nature which may lead to an integrated thesis.

Registration process

A student whose home faculty is Engineering should first register for a final year project within their his/her Engineering degree programme. Thereafter, he/she may will consult with a faculty member from the Department of Economics on the possibility of framing the research topic such that it is also suitable for the B.Soc.Sci. degree. Conversely, a student whose home faculty is Arts & Social Sciences should first register for the Economics Honours Thesis module and then consult with a faculty member from Engineering about the relevance of the research topic to Engineering.

By the end of the first semester of the final year project or honours thesis, a joint committee for the double degree programme in consultation with the student’s supervisors from both Engineering and Economics will assess whether the student may be allowed to switch from the final year project or honours thesis module in his/her primary degree programme to the Integrated Honours Project. The assessment may be done by requiring the student to give a formal presentation and/or submit a written report to his/her supervisors. Alternatively, the supervisors may dispense with the presentation and/or report if they know the student’s work well enough and are able to indicate their assessment of his/her work in writing.

If the student’s work has sufficient scope for both degree programmes, the joint committee will allow the student to switch to the Integrated Honours Project and complete it in the following semester. One of the following module codes will be shown in both semesters of the Integrated Honours Project:

  • XFE4401 Integrated Honours Project: for students whose home faculty is Engineering.
  • XFA4401 Integrated Honours Thesis: for students whose home faculty is Arts & Social Sciences.

However, if there is insufficient overlap between the two disciplines, the student will be required switch to one of these options:

  • Complete separate thesis modules for both degrees: B.Eng. Dissertation module for Engineering, and Honours Thesis for Economics if the student is working towards a First Class Honours or Honours (Highest Distinction) for the B.Soc.Sci degree.
  • Complete B.Eng. Dissertation module for Engineering, and three Level 4000 Economics modules if the student is not working towards a First Class Honours or Honours (Highest Distinction) for the B.Soc.Sci degree.