What will I learn?

The Department currently has three main existing research groups, namely, Applied Optimisation and Operations Research, Applied Statistics and Financial Mathematics, and Engineering and Computational Mathematics. Meanwhile, the Department is rapidly developing two new groups, namely, Data Science and Machine Learning, and Mathematical Science, in particular Partial Differential Equations.

The Department offers both MPhil and PhD research programmes in the following five major areas:

Applied Optimisation and Optimal Control
Applied Statistics
Engineering and Computational Mathematics
Financial Mathematics
Data Science

Engineering and Computational Mathematics

Mathematical biology and epidemiology
Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations
Numerical linear algebra
Numerical methods for differential equations
Numerical Software

Course Structure:

Three years (for students admitted on the basis of a Master's degree with a significant research component);
Four years (for students admitted on the basis of a Master's degree or a Bachelor's degree)

Which department am I in?

Faculty of Science

Study options

Full Time (3 Years)

Tuition fees

HK$84,200.00 (9,13,668) per year

Annual tuition fee: HK $42,100 (UGC-funded students); HK $84,200 (Non-UGC-funded students)

*Price shown is for indicative purposes, please

Start date

September 2025

Venue

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

ST305, 3/F, Ng Wing Hong Building,

Hung Hom,

Kowloon City, Hong Kong, Kowloon

Entry requirements

For international students

3-year full-time PhD programme

Normally hold an MPhil or equivalent (a research postgraduate degree with a dissertation as an award requirement) conferred by a recognised university.

4-year full-time PhD programme

Normally hold:

A Master鈥檚 degree; OR
A Bachelor鈥檚 degree with First Class Honours (or equivalent qualification), conferred by a recognised university.

PolyU may accept other equivalent qualifications. The decision is made on an individual basis.

English Language Requirements

The requirements for those who do not have a degree for which English was the language of instruction at a recognized university are:

An overall score of at least 6.5 in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS); OR

A Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) score of 80 or above for the Internet-based test or 550 or above for the paper-based test.

All English language test scores are considered valid for two years after the date of the test.

*There may be different IELTS requirements depending on your chosen course.