Overview of the Programme - Education Bureau

Contact Hours:	600 hours in total
Course Combination:	3 core courses + 2 complementary courses + 3 elective courses (600 hours in total) OR 3 core courses + 5 complementary courses (600 hours in total)
Core Courses:	Chinese Language (120 contact hours) English Language (120 contact hours) Mathematics (60 contact hours)
Complementary Courses*:	Career and Life Planning (60 contact hours) Digital Citizenship (60 contact hours) Interpersonal Communication and Personal Development (60 contact hours) Technological Innovation (60 contact hours) Maths Plus (60 contact hours)
Elective Courses:	Elective courses are offered in cluster, comprising three elective courses of 60 contact hours each. (i.e., three elective courses of 180 contact hours in total) A wide array of elective courses, which are mainly of practical nature, are offered to cater for different interests and aptitudes of students. The curricula for the elective courses were developed by the respective institutions.
Mode of Study:	Full-time or part-time mode
Year of Study	Full-time mode: one year Part-time mode: normally within two years
Graduation Requirement and Award of Diploma on Graduation:	All full-time and part-time students must attain an overall pass in all eight courses and achieve an attendance rate at 80% or above for each course taken, plus completion of at least 10 hours of life-wide learning activities, in order to graduate from the Programme and obtain the Diploma of Applied Education. Full-time mode: students must complete all courses at the same institution in order to obtain the Diploma. Part-time mode: Part-time students may enrol on courses offered by different institutions and obtain a transcript and certificate of completion upon completion of a course. For elective courses, a student is required to enrol on all three courses within an elective cluster offered by the same institution on the first attempt, i.e. students are not allowed to combine different elective courses under different elective clusters to form a cluster for the purpose of completion of the Programme. After completing the whole Programme, a part-time student will be awarded the Diploma by the institution at which he/she has completed the highest number of contact hours of the Programme.
Re-take Arrangement:	If a student fails in a course, he/she can re-take that particular course on a part-time basis in order to meet the graduation requirement. Nevertheless, regardless of his/her mode of study (full-time or part-time), students must complete the whole Programme within 4 years. Otherwise, they will not be awarded the Diploma.

Contact Hours:

600 hours in total

Course Combination:

3 core courses + 2 complementary courses + 3 elective courses (600 hours in total)
OR
3 core courses + 5 complementary courses (600 hours in total)

Core Courses:

Chinese Language (120 contact hours)
English Language (120 contact hours)
Mathematics (60 contact hours)

Complementary Courses*:

Career and Life Planning (60 contact hours)
Digital Citizenship (60 contact hours)
Interpersonal Communication and Personal Development (60 contact hours)
Technological Innovation (60 contact hours)
Maths Plus (60 contact hours)

Elective Courses:

Elective courses are offered in cluster, comprising three elective courses of 60 contact hours each. (i.e., three elective courses of 180 contact hours in total)
A wide array of elective courses, which are mainly of practical nature, are offered to cater for different interests and aptitudes of students. The curricula for the elective courses were developed by the respective institutions.

Mode of Study:

Full-time or part-time mode

Year of Study

Full-time mode: one year
Part-time mode: normally within two years

Graduation Requirement and Award of Diploma on Graduation:

All full-time and part-time students must attain an overall pass in all eight courses and achieve an attendance rate at 80% or above for each course taken, plus completion of at least 10 hours of life-wide learning activities, in order to graduate from the Programme and obtain the Diploma of Applied Education.

Full-time mode: students must complete all courses at the same institution in order to obtain the Diploma.
Part-time mode: Part-time students may enrol on courses offered by different institutions and obtain a transcript and certificate of completion upon completion of a course. For elective courses, a student is required to enrol on all three courses within an elective cluster offered by the same institution on the first attempt, i.e. students are not allowed to combine different elective courses under different elective clusters to form a cluster for the purpose of completion of the Programme. After completing the whole Programme, a part-time student will be awarded the Diploma by the institution at which he/she has completed the highest number of contact hours of the Programme.

Re-take Arrangement:

If a student fails in a course, he/she can re-take that particular course on a part-time basis in order to meet the graduation requirement. Nevertheless, regardless of his/her mode of study (full-time or part-time), students must complete the whole Programme within 4 years. Otherwise, they will not be awarded the Diploma.

Medium of Instruction

Except for the English Language course, the medium of instruction is Cantonese and the course materials are mainly in Chinese. For some elective courses, English is used for course materials as well as assessment.

Elective Courses

Elective Clusters of Diploma of Applied Education Programme (DAE) for 2025/26 Academic Year(Chinese version only)

Specification of Competency Standards(SCS)-based elective courses/clusters

A number of the elective courses/clusters under the Programme have adopted the Specification of Competency Standards (SCS) formulated by the relevant Industry Training Advisory Committees under the Qualifications Framework(QF) as the main basis for curriculum design, and have been accredited by the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications as SCS-based courses. DAE students who have successfully completed these SCS-based courses will be awarded a certificate on the SCS-based qualification thus obtained. Details of these SCS-based courses have been uploaded to the Qualifications Register https://www.hkqf.gov.hk/en/scs/index.html.