Bachelor of Social Sciences (Honours) in European Studies

Programme Director: Prof AWAN-SCULLY, Roger

European civilization is among the most influential in the world. To understand Europe is to understand one of the main sources of modernity. The European Union has emerged as a major actor in world politics and economics; its growth and development are of vital global importance.

Within European Studies, Political Science provides the disciplinary core, underpinned by history and (cultural) area studies, business/economics or communication courses. Students also undergo rigorous training in either German or French up to levels of academic and professional fluency. The aim is to give students a firm knowledge of the basic features of the European world and the communicative skills necessary for a future professional or academic career in the fields of European-Asian relations. Knowledge of Europe is deepened by the Honours Project in the final year, based on first-hand research into a particular subject related to Europe. Successful graduates also possess the skills requisite for immediate entry to postgraduate programmes both locally and in Europe.

The objectives of the programme are:

1. To provide students with a general and up-to-date knowledge of contemporary Europe, firmly grounded in the social sciences, with an emphasis on the European Union and its member states;
2. To enable students to grasp the significance of Europe to world history, politics and economics and to train them to become skilled and knowledgeable communicators between Hong Kong/mainland China and Europe;
3. To assist students in acquiring high, professionally relevant proficiency in one major European language (other than English);
4. To provide orientation and intellectual stimulus for students to understand and appreciate their own and other cultures/societies in an increasingly multi-polar and multi-cultural world; and
5. In these ways to contribute to Hong Kong’s role as a major international commercial and cultural crossroads.

European Studies consists of two years of full-time study in Hong Kong, a third year spent in Europe, followed by a fourth year in Hong Kong. The third year is designed as an integral part of the overall programme. It consists of academic study at a European university and possibly a placement with European companies/institutions. Students should gain the benefits of on-the-spot academic training and linguistic immersion as well as first-hand experience of work in a European environment. Please visit the following websites for the partner universities of the French and German Streams respectively:

- French Stream: https://europe.hkbu.edu.hk/french/partner_institutions.html

- German Stream: https://europe.hkbu.edu.hk/germanstream/partner-institutopns.html 

Bachelor of Social Sciences in European Studies (French) Combined Degree Programme with Sciences Po Lyon (SPL) and Sciences Po Bordeaux (SPB)

Students who have met the required qualifications in the first two years, may opt for a combined degree pathway with either Sciences Po Lyon (from 2019-2020 onwards) or with Sciences Po Bordeaux (from 2020-2021 onwards) — two elite higher education institutions in France  that provide rigorous training in social sciences at large, and contemporary world affairs in particular. Eventually, the students who fulfil the requirements will graduate with two degrees: the BSocSc (Hons) in European Studies at the end of the fourth year from HKBU and Sciences Po's master degree (Diplôme de Sciences Po) at the end of the fifth year. For more details, please visit: https://gis.hkbu.edu.hk/study/section/405/ (for SPL) and https://gis.hkbu.edu.hk/study/section/409/ (for SPB).

The structure of the curriculum is as follows:

Requirements