Curriculum structure
Pattern of study
Students are required to complete 72 credits of courses selected from the syllabus which must include capstone experience.
Study period
Part-time: 2 years
Full-time: 1 year
Enrolment mode
Students can study in one of the following enrolment modes:
(a) Course (60 credits)^ + Case Study Project (12 credits)
i.e. 10 Courses + Case Study Project
OR
(b) Courses (48 credits)^ + Dissertation (24 credits)
i.e. 8 Courses + Dissertation
^ Each course normally carries 6 credits.
Selection of Courses
Our curriculum has been developed to meet the emerging needs of businesses in a rapidly changing global market.
Students have to complete at least 4 courses (total 24 credits) from the following list of fundamental courses.
| Fundamental Discipline Courses | |
| ECOM6004 | Legal aspects of IT and e-commerce |
| ECOM6008 | Supply chain and e-logistics management |
| ECOM6013 | E-commerce technologies |
| ECOM7127 | Digital transformation: strategy and people |
| ICOM6012 | Internet infrastructure technologies |
| ICOM6034 | Website engineering |
| ICOM6045 | Fundamentals of e-commerce security |
| ICOM6046 | Semantic data architecture |
Students can select any courses in MSc(ECom&IComp) discipline, including both fundamental courses in the above table and the courses listed below, to fulfill the credits requirement of courses. These can be a mixture of courses from ECOM and/or ICOM subject area(s) and some selected COMP/FITE courses.
| Discipline Courses | |
| ECOM6014 | E-marketing |
| ECOM6016 | Electronic payment systems |
| ECOM6022 | Topics in electronic commerce |
| ECOM6023 | E-financial services |
| ECOM7121 | Dynamic digital capabilities |
| ECOM7122 | Entrepreneurship development and ventures in Asia |
| ECOM7123 | Building smart cities: an information system approach |
| ECOM7124 | Mobile and IoT computing services and applications |
| ECOM7126 | Machine learning for business and e-commerce |
| ICOM6027 | E-crimes: digital crime scenes and legal sanctions |
| ICOM6044 | Data science for business |
| ICOM7125 | Digital forensics |
| COMP7311 | Legal issues in artificial intelligence and data science |
| COMP7404 | Computational intelligence and machine learning |
| COMP7412 | Banking in Web 3.0 – Metaverse, DeFi, NFTs and beyond |
| COMP7802 | Introduction to financial computing |
| COMP7901 | Legal protection of digital property |
| FITE7407 | Securities transaction banking |
| FITE7409 | Blockchain and cryptocurrency |
| FITE7410 | Financial fraud analytics |
| FITE7411 | RegTech in finance |
Details of the courses can be found in the course descriptions section.
The courses, both in terms of range and syllabus, are not only updated and revised continuously. The list of courses is also subject to change because occasionally we may decide not to offer a particular course in one year or to add some new ones, based on the findings of the annual curriculum review. Some courses are offered in alternate year.
For those of you who wish to cover technology in more depth, you may enrol in two non-discipline courses (at most 12 credits in total), which are Taught Postgraduate level courses offered by the Departments in Faculty of Engineering, as electives. The MSc(CompSc) programme, also managed by us, has 30 courses for your selection. Details can be found at: https://www.msc-cs.hku.hk. In this way, you can customize a personal portfolio to meet your particular needs, interest and career goals.
# subject to the availability of the class quotas, and subject to approval by the Programme Directors/Course Co-ordinators/Heads of departments concerned.
Capstone experience: Dissertations and Case Study Projects
There are two choices for the capstone experience:
(i) Case study project (12 credits); or
(ii) Dissertation (24 credits)
The Dissertations and Case study projects are to provide an opportunity for students (i) to dive in depth into either a business case and/or a technology development in the e-commerce and Internet computing, and apply their body of knowledge learned in the programme to implement the business plan and/or the relevant technology to demonstrate its feasibility in a real or simulated business environment and (ii) to undertake a significant independent piece of research work under the supervision of academics in The University of Hong Kong.
Students also have to participate in some supplementary workshops.