Undergraduate Education
Degrees Offered
The Faculty offers the following full-time degree programmes:
Bachelor of Science (Hons)
Majors available under the Bachelor of Science (Hons) Programme include:
- Chemistry
– Specialisation in Chemical Research
– Specialisation in Sustainable Chemistry
– Specialisation in Medicinal Chemistry - Data Science and Analytics
– Specialisation in Operations Research
– Specialisation in Statistical Methodology - Food Science and Technology*
– Specialisation in Food Science and Technology Research and Innovation
– Specialisation in Food Science and Technology Industrial Applications - Life Sciences
– Specialisation in Biomedical Science
– Specialisation in Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity - Mathematics
– Specialisation in Operations Research and Data Analytics
– Specialisation in Pure Mathematics - Pharmaceutical Science*
- Physics
– Specialisation in Astrophysics
– Specialisation in Nanophysics
– Specialisation in Quantum Technologies - Quantitative Finance
- Statistics
– Specialisation in Data Science
– Specialisation in Finance and Business Statistics - Data Science and Economics* (cross-disciplinary programme)
Professional Degree:
11. Bachelor of Pharmacy / Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours)*
Multidisciplinary Degree:
12. Bachelor of Environmental Studies (Honours) (cross-disciplinary programme) [jointly offered with FASS]*
Note:
- All programmes are offered under the College of Humanities and Sciences (CHS) except for the Bachelor of Pharmacy / Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours) programme
- All programmes offered under CHS are strictly four-year Honours programmes
- *Admission into the Data Science and Economics, Environmental Studies, Food Science and Technology, Pharmaceutical Science and Pharmacy programmes is by direct application. Students enrolled in CHS who wish to be considered for transfer to Data Science and Economics, Environmental Studies, Food Science and Technology and Pharmaceutical Science can apply for mid-stream admission. More information on the mid-stream admission can be found here.
Curriculum Structure & Degree Requirements
Bachelor of Science (Hons) Degree Requirements
To be awarded a Bachelor of Science (Hons) Degree, students must have:
- Satisfied the CHS Common Curriculum
- Satisfied one set of major requirements
- Accumulated a minimum of 160 Units* (of which no more than 60 Units may come from Level-1000 courses; Polytechnic Diploma holders who are granted advanced placement credits should refer to the section on Advanced Placement/Exemptions, for more details);
- Obtained a grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.00;
- Passed the requisite English Skills course(s) by the fourth semester (only applicable to students who fail to meet the exemption criteria based on the Qualifying English Test (QET) results);
- Any other requirements as stipulated by each major for graduation; and
- Fulfilled all the above within a maximum candidature of five years (applicable to students completing single and double majors) where semesters spent on Leave of Absence (LOA) would be excluded from the period of candidature.
|
Summary of Requirements for BSc(Hons) |
Units |
|
CHS Common Curriculum |
52 |
|
Major requirements |
60 |
|
Unrestricted Electives |
48 |
|
Total |
160 |
All majors are four-year programmes leading to a Bachelor of Science (Hons) degree, subject to a minimum GPA attainment. GPA computation is based on all courses completed at all levels, excluding:
- Courses for which grades obtained have no assigned grade points (for e.g. EXE, OCT, OVS, S/U, CS/CU, IC, IP); and
- ES1000 Basic English Course.
Students’ degree and Honours classification will be determined by their GPA as follows:
BSc (Hons)
|
Classification |
GPA cut-offs |
|
Honours (Highest Distinction) |
4.50 & above |
|
Honours (Distinction) |
4.00 – 4.49 |
|
Honours (Merit) |
3.50 – 3.99 |
|
Honours |
3.00 – 3.49 |
|
Pass (BSc) |
2.00 – 2.99 |
|
Fail |
Below 2.00 |
Major Requirements
Majors Offered Under BSc (Hons)
- Chemistry
- Data Science and Analytics
- Food Science and Technology
- Life Sciences
- Mathematics
- Pharmaceutical Science
- Physics
- Quantitative Finance
- Statistics
- Data Science and Economics (cross-disciplinary programme)
Multidisciplinary Programme
Major Prerequisites
All students are expected to read one major in fulfilment of their degree requirements and will declare their major at the beginning of their first year of study.
They should meet the prerequisites (as stated in the table below) before choosing a particular major. Criteria are set to ensure that students have the necessary base knowledge to pursue studies in their selected major as well as to register for the relevant courses.
|
Major |
Prerequisites |
|
1. Chemistry 2. Chemistry (with specialisation in Chemical Research) 3. Chemistry (with specialisation in Sustainable Chemistry) 4. Chemistry (with specialisation in Medicinal Chemistry) |
Good H2 pass (or equivalent) in Chemistry Students without the above pre-requisite are required to read the bridging course in Chemistry (ie CM1417 or CM1417X) |
|
5. Data Science and Analytics 6. Data Science and Analytics (with specialisation in Operations Research) 7. Data Science and Analytics (with specialisation in Statistical Methodology) |
Very good H2 pass (or equivalent) in Mathematics/Further Mathematics Students without H2 pass (or equivalent) in Mathematics/Further Mathematics are to read the bridging course in Mathematics (ie MA1301 or MA1301X) |
|
8. Data Science and Economics+ |
A very good pass in H2 Mathematics. |
|
9. Environmental Studies*+ |
Good H2 pass (or equivalent) in Biology. |
|
10. Food Science & Technology+ 11. Food Science & Technology (with specialisation in Food Science and Technology Research and Innovation)+ 12. Food Science & Technology (with specialisation in Food Science and Technology Industrial Applications)+ |
Any two H2 passes (or equivalent) in Chemistry or Biology or Physics or Computing or Mathematics/Further Mathematics |
|
13. Life Sciences 14. Life Sciences (with specialisation in Biomedical Science) 15. Life Sciences (with specialisation in Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity) |
Good H2 passes (or equivalent) in Biology and Chemistry Students without these prerequisites are required to read the bridging courses in Biology/Chemistry (LSM1301/CM1417 or CM1417X) |
|
16. Mathematics 17. Mathematics (with specialisation in Operations Research and Data Analytics) 18. Mathematics (with specialisation in Pure Mathematics) |
Good H2 pass (or equivalent) in Mathematics/Further Mathematics Students without these prerequisites are required to read the bridging course in Mathematics (MA1301 or MA1301X) |
|
19. Pharmaceutical Science+ |
Very good H2 pass (or equivalent) in Chemistry and a very good H2 pass (or equivalent) in Biology or Physics or Mathematics/Further Mathematics |
|
20. Physics 21. Physics (with specialisation in Astrophysics) 22. Physics (with specialisation in Nanophysics 23. Physics (with specialisation in Quantum Technologies) |
Good H2 pass (or equivalent) in Mathematics/Further Mathematics Students without these prerequisites are required to read the bridging course in Mathematics (MA1301 or MA1301X) |
|
24. Quantitative Finance |
Good H2 pass (or equivalent) in Mathematics/Further Mathematics Students without these prerequisites are required to read the bridging course in Mathematics (MA1301 or MA1301X) |
|
25. Statistics 26. Statistics (with specialisation in Data Science) 27. Statistics (with specialisation in Finance and Business Statistics) |
Good H2 pass (or equivalent) in Mathematics/Further Mathematics Students without these prerequisites are required to read the bridging course in Mathematics (MA1301 or MA1301X) |
*Bachelor of Environmental Studies (Hons) degree
+ Admission into the Data Science and Economics, Environmental Studies, Food Science and Technology and Pharmaceutical Science programmes is by direct application.
Bachelor of Pharmacy / Bachelor of Pharmacy (Hons) Programme
Admission Requirements
Very Good Pass in H2 Chemistry and Very Good Pass in H2 Biology or H2 Physics or H2 Mathematics or H2 Further Mathematics
*Admission into the Pharmacy programme is by direct application.
Graduation Requirements
To be awarded a BPharm or BPharm (Hons), candidates must satisfy the following:
|
Summary of Requirement |
BPharm/BPharm (Hons) |
|
Common Curriculum for Healthcare Professionals |
20 Units |
|
Major Requirement |
116 Units |
|
Unrestricted Electives |
24 Units |
|
Total |
160 Units |
Pharmacy is a four-year programme leading to either a Bachelor of Pharmacy or Bachelor of Pharmacy (Hons) degree, subject to a minimum GPA attainment.
GPA computation is based on all courses completed at all levels, excluding:
- Courses for which grades obtained have no assigned grade points (for e.g. EXE, OCT, OVS, S/U, CS/CU, IC, IP); and
- ES1000 Basic English Course.
Students’ degree and Honours classification will be determined by their GPA as follows:
BPharm (Hons)
|
Classification |
GPA cut-offs |
|
Honours (Highest Distinction) |
4.50 & above |
|
Honours (Distinction) |
4.00 – 4.49 |
|
Honours (Merit) |
3.50 – 3.99 |
|
Honours |
3.00 – 3.49 |
|
Pass (BPharm) |
2.00 – 2.99 |
|
Fail |
Below 2.00 |
Note:
Curricular content and graduation requirements may be subject to changes.
For more details, please visit the department website here.
English Skills (ES) Requirements
Based on the Qualifying English Test (QET) results, students will be required to read either one or both of these English courses:
(1) ES1000 or ES1000FC Basic English Course
(2) ES1103 English for Academic Purposes
Students who obtain Band 1 will have to take ES1000 or ES1000FC followed by ES1103.
Students who obtain Band 2 will have to take ES1103.
Students who obtain Band 3 are exempted from an English course.
ES1000 is not counted towards Units and GPA. However, it is counted as part of the workload for every semester.
ES1103 is worth 4 Units and letter-graded (with the option to convert to S/U grade). ES1103 is excluded from the limit on Level 1000 courses.
Students who need to clear ES requirements for graduation are strongly encouraged to do so by their second semester at the latest.
Internship/Special Programmes
The Undergraduate Professional Internship Programme (UPIP) aims to provide Science undergraduates* with the opportunity to perform structured internship in an organisation during their undergraduate study.
Internship helps students craft a fulfilling university journey through meaningful work experience. This programme allows students to engage in career preparation and job seeking experiences, and also hone their interpersonal, communications and other soft skills as they actively partake in the day-to-day business operations in an organisation. Students are presented with opportunities to apply their discipline-related knowledge and professionalism in an actual work setting, thus allowing them to gain experiential learning that complements their course activity.
Upon successful completion of UPIP, students will be awarded Units that would count towards the Unrestricted Elective component of their graduation requirements.
Please refer here for more information on UPIP.
*with the exception of Pharmacy major
The Special Programme in Science (SPS) was established in 1996 to nurture enthusiastic students to pursue their passion for science. SPS brings together students from the different disciplines of the Faculty of Science into a tightly-knit community.
SPS broadens the experience of students to disciplines outside their major and offers opportunities to do independent research with access to staff and student mentors. SPS also teaches transferable scientific, computational and communication skills essential for the 21st-century workplace. In years three and four, after completing the six SPS courses, students can choose to mentor their juniors, thereby enjoying opportunities to refine their leadership and mentoring skills.
For more information on SPS, please refer here.