The Education University of Hong Kong

Doctor of Education
(EdD)

Prospective Students

Doctor of Education programme 

September 2025 Intake (Semester I, 2025/26)

Application Deadline: 28 February 2025

programme Information

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Programme Code :   A3D045 / C4D001

Study Mode :   Full-time / Part-time

Medium of Instruction:   English

Programme Director :   Prof LEE, Kwai Sang

E-mail :   edd@eduhk.hk

  • Non-local applicants are advised to apply for Doctor of Education (EdD) programme (Full-time).
  • Local applicants can either apply for both Doctor of Education (EdD) programme (Full-time) & (Part-time).

* For definition of local and non-local applicants, please click here. Please check with the Immigration Department of HKSAR if there are any conditions / restrictions on your study in Hong Kong.

Probity Requirements: Other than the application fee, applicants are not required to pay any additional fees during the application process. Please be reminded not to offer any advantage to any EdUHK staff, officer, employee, and/or any person involved in the admission process at EdUHK in connection with any application. Otherwise, you may commit serious criminal offences under Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (Cap. 201 of the laws of Hong Kong), which is punishable by imprisonment.

EdUHK, has not collaborated with any agency in Mainland China or Hong Kong on admission, and does not encourage students to entrust their applications to any third-party agents and we always contact applicants directly on updates regarding the applications. You must complete and submit your own application via the EdUHK online admissions system and provide your own personal and contact details. Please refer to the official EdUHK channels, such as programme websites and the admissions system, for the required information to complete your application.

programme Mission

The EdD programme aims:

To enhance professional expertise, preparing participants for leadership roles and addressing complex educational challenges;

To equip practitioners with skills to translate research findings into actionable solutions, driving meaningful change;

To promote international learning, empowering graduates with the ability to apply knowledge transfer across cultural and professional contexts;

To foster an entrepreneurial spirit, encouraging impactful social and commercial contributions through innovative approaches.

 

Upon the completion of the Programme, students should be able to:

Demonstrate an expert knowledge, understanding and competence in the Specialized Area and in the larger educational context;

Generate appropriate theoretical frameworks to address, analyse and propose innovative approaches to a broad range of educational issues;

Develop insights into research trends in the Specialized Area and demonstrate readiness to contribute to the professional literature in that field;

Analyse educational policies, processes or practices from different perspectives critically;

Effectively communicate concepts and theories within the Specialized Area to an audience of peers both locally and internationally; and

Demonstrate a thorough understanding of ethical practices within the Specialized Area.

Student Support

Development of Research Skills

The Graduate School (GS) is committed to provide students with opportunities to develop and enhance their research skills. The following workshops and programmes are organized for research students:

  • Postgraduate Students Library Workshops
  • Research Supervision Training Workshops
  • Statistical Consulting Services
  • Academic Writing Workshops

Award Schemes

Postgraduate Students Publication Award
To cultivate a research and outcome-oriented environment, the Postgraduate Students Publication Award is to reward students who produce quality research output in the form of journal articles.

Conference Award
To build and strengthen research capacity of students, the Conference Award is to reward students who present their work at international/national/local conference.

Programme Duration & Structure

The EdD programme comprises 72 credit points (cps) which normally takes 3 years of full-time and 4 years of part-time studies to complete. Students are required to attend face-to-face classes on weekday evenings, weekends, and/or during long holidays. Classes in the same or different semester(s) may be scheduled at the Tai Po Campus / Tseung Kwan O Study Centre / North Point Study Centre / Kowloon Tong Satellite Study Centre and/or other locations as decided by the University. Depending on enrollment numbers, courses may be delivered in directed study mode. Different modes of delivery, teaching and learning activities as well as assessment methods could be adopted as deemed appropriate.

                                  Normative Length of Programme  Maximum Period of Study
Full - time    3 years  5 years
Part - time  4 years  7 years
  Courses Credit Points
Taught Core Courses   Conceptualising Research  3
Research Methods I 3
Research Methods II 3
2 Specialised Courses 6
2 Elective Courses 6
Seminars for Thesis Writing and Knowledge Transfer 3
Development of Thesis Proposal 6
Thesis 42
Total: 72

Specialised Areas

Each applicant can only choose ONE of the following Specialised Areas for their application :

* = Part-Time mode is not open for application for 2025/26 intake

^ = Full-Time mode is not open for application for 2025/26 intake

Curriculum and Assessment

  • Curriculum Studies
  • Education Measurement and Assessment*

Educational Studies

  • Civic and Citizenship Education
  • Early Childhood Education
  • Leadership for Future Schools
  • International and Comparative Education
  • Special Education^

Language and Culture

  • Language Education (English)
  • Language Education (Chinese)*
  • Creative Arts Education

Policy Studies

  • Social Sciences and Policy Studies

Science and Technology

  • Information and Communication Technology in Education
  • Mathematics Education
  • Science Education and Education for Sustainability

Wellbeing and Health

  • Developmental and Educational Psychology*
  • Health Studies*
  • Life and Values Education*
  • Physical Education and Sports Science*

Admission Requirements

Basic Requirements

  1. must hold a Master's degree in a discipline within education or a cognate field relevant to their chosen Specialised Area;

  2. with four years or more of work experience are preferred.

Shortlisted applicants will be invited to attend admission interviews / tests.

English Language Requirements

Applicants are expected to demonstrate a high standard of competence in spoken and written English. Applicants whose entrance qualification is obtained from an institution in a non-English speaking system should normally fulfil one of the following minimum English proficiency requirements:

  • Overall score of IELTS 6.5# with no subtest lower than 6.0; or
  • A TOEFL# score of 80 (internet-based test); or
  • Other equivalent qualifications.*

#  The results of IELTS/TOEFL provided should be within two years (i.e., for the 2025/26 intake, the IELTS/TOEFL test must be obtained on or after 1 Jan 2023); and should be “taken in test centres” (i.e., tests taken online such as IELTS indicator/IELTS Online and TOEFL Home Editions are NOT accepted).

* The College English Test (CET) is not accepted as an equivalent qualification.


Remarks: Individual Specialised Area such as Language Education (English) may have higher requirement.

Admission Process

  • Application Period

    September 2025 Intake (Semester I, 2025/26)

    Application Deadline: 28 February 2025

    For enquiries, please send an email to edd@eduhk.hk

     

     

  • Submission of Application

    You can submit your application online at www.eduhk.hk/acadprog/online. The University doesn't accept paper applications. Application fee for local applicants is HK$150 per programme. For non-local applicants, the application fee is HK$300. Please refer to the Section of "Non-local Applicants" for details. Application fee should be paid online by using either VISA/Master credit card or UnionPay. You may refer to the "Other Payment Methods" for alternative payment methods if you are not able to pay online. Please read through the important notes contained in the “Online Application – Guided Tour” at https://banner.eduhk.hk/BannerAdmission/index.jsp before starting the online application process.

    Application fee is non-refundable and non-transferable unless the programme in question is cancelled by the University. Upon successful submission of application, applicants will receive an application acknowledgement by email.

    Choice of Programme Type and Admission Term

    To apply for Doctor of Education, please select Professional Doctorate” in the “Application Type”, and “SEMESTER 1, 2025-26” in the “Admission Term”.

     Application Type  Admission Term
     Professional Doctorate  SEMESTER 1, 2025-26

     

    Probity Requirements: Other than the application fee, applicants are not required to pay any additional fees during the application process. Please be reminded not to offer any advantage to any EdUHK staff, officer, employee, and/or any person involved in the admission process at EdUHK in connection with any application. Otherwise, you may commit serious criminal offences under Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (Cap. 201 of the laws of Hong Kong), which is punishable by imprisonment.

    Note: EdUHK, has not collaborated with any agency in Mainland China or Hong Kong on admission, and does not encourage students to entrust their applications to any third-party agents and we always contact applicants directly on updates regarding the applications. You must complete and submit your own application via the EdUHK online admissions system and provide your own personal and contact details. Please refer to the official EdUHK channels, such as programme websites and the admissions system, for the required information to complete your application.

  • Documents to be Submitted with the Application

    •  Applicants should upload their transcript(s), certificate(s), language test result(s), personal study statement, research proposal and other supporting documents direct on http://www.eduhk.hk/acadprog/online/. The application will remain incomplete until we receive all the necessary supporting materials. Due to system limitations, the maximum capacity of the upload files is 25MB in total whereas the maximum size for each file is 4MB.

     

    • If an applicant is a current final year student of a postgraduate programme, please upload a copy of the current year results when it is available. If an applicant is a graduate of the EdUHK in 1995 or after, he/she does not need to submit any copies of academic transcript(s) and certificate(s) obtained at the University. Applicant is, however, required to authorise the University to extract and use his/her records of studies at the University to process the application.

     

     

    • Applicants who obtained degrees from universities in Mainland China are required to provide both Bachelor’s / Master’s Degree Certificate (學士/碩士學位證書)and Bachelor’s / Master’s Graduation Certificate (本科/碩士畢業證書). Also, an Online Verification Report of Higher Education Qualification Certificate (教育部學歷證書電子註冊備案表) issued by the CHSI (學信網) https://www.chsi.com.cn/xlcx/bgcx.jsp is needed.

     

    • Please do not send any original documents to the University in any circumstances as the University will not be responsible for any documents mislaid. However, original documents of the qualifications stated in the application must be presented for verification at registration. Failure to do so shall lead to disqualification of the application and any offer made will be rescinded.

     

    • Applicants who have attended international university whose transcripts and/or certificates are in a language other than Chinese or English must submit those transcripts and/or certificates with certified English translations.

     

    • Two referee’s Reports are required to be submitted in support of your application. The Referee’s Report can be downloaded from here. Referees are required to return the report directly to the Graduate School by email at edd@eduhk.hk. All information given in the Referee’s Report will be treated as strictly confidential.

     

    • All supporting documents of unsuccessful applications will be destroyed at the end of the admission exercise.

     

    Making, submitting or using any false instrument (including forged documents) are serious criminal offences under the Crimes Ordinance (Cap. 200 of the laws of Hong Kong). A person committing the offences relating to forgery or false instruments is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment. The University shall consider the relevant evidence and report suspicious cases to the Hong Kong Police. The University reserves the right to take appropriate legal actions against persons who make, forge or use a false instrument for admission and any other academic purposes before, during and after the admission process.

  • Requirements of Personal Study Statement / Research Proposal

    Applicants are required to submit (i) a Personal Study Statement and (ii) a Research Proposal indicating their motivation / expectations to undertake the EdD programme:

    (i) A Personal Study Statement of 500 to 1,000 words, indicating the applicants’ motivation to undertake the EdD programme in the proposed Specialized Area and its potential contribution to their knowledge and/or improvement of practice, and describe the particular professional inputs that they could make to the programme.

    (ii) A *Research Proposal in a scholarly form in no more than 4 pages of A4 (approximately 1,200 words) in length, including:

    • A brief statement of the research problem with some reference to recent scholarly literature
    • A set of specific research questions
    • A brief account and justification of the proposed methods, including characteristics of sample and sampling procedures
    • A reference section

    *For specialized area Language Education (Chinese), the research proposal will have specific requirement, please refer to  "Language Education (Chinese)" in the session "Specialized Areas" for more details.


    Note:

    If applicants need extra guidance in writing their Research Proposal, please refer to the website at

    https://iell.web.ied.edu.hk/InternationalEducator/tablet.html

     [This website supports the following browser only: Chrome and Firefox]

     

  • Interview and Admission Results

    Shortlisted applicants will be invited to attend admission interviews / tests.

    Successful applicants will receive individual notifications by post / email. Applicants who wish to accept the admission offer will be required to indicate their acceptance of the offer directly through the Online Application System (http://www.eduhk.hk/acadprog/online/). Applicants who have not been offered admission before the commencement of the programme may assume their applications unsuccessful.  No individual notifications will be sent to unsuccessful or waitlisted applicants.

  • Credit Transfer

    Credit transfer may be granted to students in recognition of their prior learning experiences. Students may submit an application from the date of programme registration till the first two weeks of each semester in each academic year. For courses on offer in the summer semester (if any), applications should be submitted one week before the commencement of the semester. Late applications will only be considered on condition that there was enough time to complete the application process (normally 4 weeks) before the end of the courses concerned.

  • Cancellation of Specialised Area(s)

    The University reserves the right to cancel any Specialised Areas in which case all fees paid will be refunded.

     

    Cancellation of Course(s)

    The University reserves the right to cancel the offering of any courses. If a course is cancelled, students will be allowed to choose another course to which they are eligible.

  • Double Registration

    Students enrolled in any full-time award bearing programmes (lasting for one year or longer) of the University should not simultaneously register for another qualification at this University or a post-secondary qualification at another University except with prior approval of the University. Violation of this regulation may lead to discontinuation of studies from the University. In case of doubt, please seek advice from the Graduate School.

  • Right of Access to and Correction of Information

    In accordance with the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance, applicants have the right of access to and correction of the information contained in their application, and the right to request a copy of such data. If applicants wish to do so, they may submit their request in writing to the Graduate School.

  • Application Period
  • Submission of Application
  • Documents to be Submitted with the Application
  • Requirements of Personal Study Statement / Research Proposal
  • Application Status and Admission Results
  • Credit Transfer
  • Cancellation of Specialized Area(s)
  • Double Registration
  • Right of Access to and Correction of Information

Sharing of EdD Alumni

Overseas Learning Experience

International Outreach Programme

To equip students with an international vision and broaden their exposure to multicultural environment through participating in outreach activities, the Doctor of Education programme has organised the International Outreach Study Programme (IOSP). During the IOSP, EdD students participated in various intellectual and scholarly exchange activities including workshops, academic sharing and networking with international research students, tours and cultural visits, etc. In the past years, students visited universities in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Japan, Korea and Singapore.

Tuition Fees

  • The tuition fee for the 2025/26 academic year is HK$5,500 per credit, i.e: HK$396,000 for the 72-credit point of EdD programme, which is provisional and subject to adjustment. The University reserves the right to make changes to tuition fee without prior notice. Tuition fees paid are normally not refundable or transferable.
  • Extension fees will be charged to students who have to extend their studies beyond the normal duration (i.e. 3 years for full-time and 4 years for part-time).

Scholarship

Entrance Scholarship for Outstanding Non-local Students

Doctor of Education (EdD) Entrance Scholarship for Outstanding Non-local Students (the Scholarship) is established to attract outstanding non-local candidates to the Programme.

The Scholarship

The Scholarship covers the 72-cp programme tuition fees and a living allowance of HK$40,000 per year (up to three years) to cover partial living expenses.

Eligibility Criteria

The Scholarship applicant must be a full-time non-local* applicant admitted to the EdD programme

* For definition of local and non-local applicants, please click here. 

Selection Criteria

The following criteria, in no particular order, will be assessed:

  1. Academic performance - in the study of master's degree with a final GPA of 3.3 out of 4 or 3.5 out of 4.3 or above or equivalent. If the applicant is a final-year student, the Scholarship offer will remain conditional. The applicant must provide proof of a final Programme GPA upon completing the master’s study; if the final GPA requirement is not met, the Scholarship offer will be revoked.
  2. Outstanding personal development and achievement (e.g. sports, art, music, culture, etc.)
  3. Outstanding participation in social and community services (e.g. overall impact, length of services, nature of services, location, number and profile of beneficiaries, public recognition, initiation of community projects, etc. should be provided)
  4. Contribution to the internationalisation of the EdD programme

Application Procedure

Eligible applicants will be invited to submit applications for The Scholarship. Invited applicants should submit a completed application form, a Personal Statement and supporting documents (if any) to EdD by a stipulated deadline.

FAQ (For Applicant)

Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this website. Changes to any aspects of the programmes may be made from time to time as due to change of circumstances and the University reserves the right to revise any information contained in this website as it deems fit without prior notice. The University accepts no liability for any loss or damage arising from any use or misuse of or reliance on any information contained in this website.