About the Major
The Majors in Physics and Physics (Intensive) aim to provide students with a solid foundation in the subject. The curricula cover a wide range of core courses which forms the blocks of fundamental knowledge to allow for specialization in specific areas of the subject. A large selection of elective courses is provided for students to build expertise in themes including astrophysics, computational physics, experimental physics and theoretical physics. Students attain professional knowledge in physics, research experience and the training of analytical thinking and quantitative reasoning during their studies.
The Major in Physics provides large flexibility in curriculum for students to pursue academic and professional profiles that best fit their interests, abilities and career aspiration. The Major in Physics (Intensive) provides a comprehensive training in physics, which is particularly suitable for students who want to pursue further studies in multiple science and technology disciplines and to work in their specialised areas.
Summer Internship Programme
The Summer Internship Programme offered by the Department of Physics is designed for undergraduate students taking the Physics Major. It aims to provide opportunities for students to gain experience in applying the academic knowledge they acquired, and to widen their vision and scope of knowledge through participation in a practical working environment. During the 8-week programme, students work full-time with a supervisor at a related institution, such as world-renowned universities abroad, local secondary schools, or government institutions specialising in a particular area. This is a valuable learning opportunity for participating students who found that they have gained much more than just knowledge and practical experience. Through the programme, students have become more confident, independent, and have developed a deeper understanding in science which helps them identify the road to pursue in their future studies or career.
Career Prospects
- Physics graduates are professionally qualified scientists who have also acquired extensive generic skills in problem-solving, experimentation, technical writing, creative thinking, research concepts, application of IT technologies, analytical thinking and many others;
- Such skills are highly sought after in many employment domains especially those that are IT or technology-based and not just as scientific officers in industry or Government laboratories;
- Graduates can pursue postgraduate studies in physics or other computational/ scientific/ technical disciplines, or enter the education sectors as school teachers in physics or STEM-related subjects.
Student Sharing
Sharing learning experiences by UG students | Sharing from alumni |
CHAN Kai Hei
2021 BSc graduate (double major in Astronomy and Physics)
Participant of Overseas Research Fellowship Programme at Queen Mary University of London, 2019-2020
Dean's Honours List, 2017-2018 & 2019-2020
Lee Shau Kee Scholarships for Student Enrichment, 2018-2019
Currently a Master of Philosophy student at CUHK
"The physics programme in HKU is very comprehensive and condensed. From small scale particle physics to large scale cosmology, you can always find courses made you impressed. During the four years of study, I have been trained with lots of Maths and Physics problems. With a flexible structure of the Faculty of Science, I was able to choose the courses which I was more interested in. Students can also choose courses which are most beneficial to their own development or their future career.
Apart from the all-around physics courses in 6901, there are many extracurricular activity opportunities in HKU, namely the exchange programme and the oversea summer research programme I have joined. These kinds of experience provide precious chances in my life to explore the world and to gain the taste of research. More importantly, an oversea research experience allowed me to participate in a big international observational astronomy project - HERA, which guided me to have a MPhil degree afterwards to pursue to research career, focusing on observational astronomy.
In short, HKU provides a comprehensive tertiary education in Physics to students, with freedom to choose the course and with tremendous exchange and research opportunities. If you want to explore the physics world, stay proactive, and you can find unlimited chances in HKU."
TANG Ho Cheong Michael
2021 BSc graduate (major in Physics, minor in German)
Participant of Fintech Career Accelerator Scheme, 2019-2020
Dean's Honours List, 2016-2018
Exchange at University of California, Los Angeles, Semester 1, 2018-2019
Participant of Undergraduate Overseas/ Mainland Experiential Learning Activities at RIKEN in summer, 2018
Young Scientist Scheme Entrance Scholarship
Currently working in the fintech industry as a full-stack software developer
"Physics is all about using the right tools for the right job. The approach of the BSc programme in HKU is that this essence should transcend our field of study to the world at large.
The programme allows us to explore our interests with flexible course choices and common core courses and places a great emphasis on expanding and developing our toolset - from problem-solving skills in introductory courses up to computational techniques in modern research projects.
I was able to join the RIKEN Nishina School in 2018, a Nuclear Physics summer programme that sparked my interest in computational subatomic physics. This got me to work on a physics project involving the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, in which my technology skills were expanded even further beyond classes.
Thanks to various career opportunities provided by HKU, I have been able to embark on a fruitful career in Information Technology, where the skills that I have accumulated over these four years have proven time after time to be unexpectedly useful. I am truly thankful for all that HKU has given me during my undergraduate studies."
YIU To Chung Martin
2021 BSc graduate (major in Physics (Intensive), minor in Mathematics)
Exchange at The University of California, Santa Barbara, Semester 2, 2019-2020
Participant of Summer Research Fellowship Scheme, 2018-2019
Dean's Honours List, 2017-2018
Young Scientist Scheme Entrance Scholarship
Martin is going to pursue a PhD degree in Physics at The University of Hong Kong
"As Science students at HKU, we can choose our major and minor freely and flexibly. There are majors such as Physics major for students interested in Physics and Physics (Intensive) major for students who study more Physics courses and have better preparation in future career related to Physics. For me, I can even start to take some advanced courses since year 2 and have a minor from another department. It shows how flexible our bachelor degree is, we can choose to study more or fewer Physics courses as we want, depending on our own ability.
As Physics students at HKU, we have lots of chances to have a try on research. In the summer of year 2, I joined the Summer Research Fellowship organised by the Faculty. Also, I joined the final year project during year 4. These types of research experience help me to find out which aspect of research I am interested in and give me a try on different types of research. With such experience, I know whether I am interested in experimental, theoretical or computational Physics. Besides the above types of activities, students can also join the Oversea Research Fellowship, summer workshops and exchange programme, giving us more experience in research and study overseas.
Therefore, I am grateful to have my undergraduate in HKU, as I can have different types of research experience here. Even if we want to start our career after graduation, HKU is a good platform for us to connect with others and find a job we are interested in."
CAO Leonard Weihao
2019 BSc graduate (double major in Physics and Mathematics)
Participant of Overseas Research Fellowship Scheme in summer, 2018
Participant of Summer Research Fellowship Scheme in summer, 2017
Leonard is now pursuing a PhD degree in Physics at University of California, San Diego
“The BSc programme in HKU is very condensed and helpful in shaping our future careers. The flexibility in choosing majors and courses gives us enough time to explore what we are really interested in; the existence of common core courses and the opportunity to exchange broadens our visions and guides us from the ivory tower to the outer world. The numerous internship/research opportunities and the enthusiastic and helpful professors here offer us valuable experiences to participate in frontier research and understand our future fields better. The various clubs/ societies enable us to find friends with similar interests.
I joined the SRF, ORF and worked on a final year project in the last years, the activities serve as valuable opportunities and directions in my choosing to pursue PhD further, and the knowledge and logic flow are what cannot be learnt in class.
In a word, the platform offered by HKU is incomparable in giving us the freedom to learn, to experience, and to explore our inner world.”
CHONG Eric Pooi Seong
2019 BSc graduate (major in Physics)
Participant of Overseas Research Fellowship Programme at Oxford University in summer, 2018
Participant of Summer Research Fellowship Programme at HKU in summer, 2017
Eric is now pursuing a PhD degree in Physics at University of Pennsylvania
“The four years I spent being a physics major student at HKU have been a great and fulfilling one. The flexible nature of the Science program offered at HKU enabled me to learn about a variety of subjects and allow me to explore what I am truly passionate about. Besides that, the various programs offered by the university have given me the opportunities to participate in various research projects that further broaden my view and gain in depth perspective on how physics researches are conducted. The most memorable one would have to be the summer research I participated at Oxford University in the summer of 2018. There, I got involved in a neutrino research project that sparked my interest in neutrino studies. This eventually got me to pursue neutrino research for my graduate studies. Overall, the education I received in HKU has facilitated both my growth and passion for physics education and research. I am truly grateful to have received my undergraduate education from HKU.”