BASc in Financial Technology
Curriculum
The BASc(FinTech) degree is designed to nurture financial technologists and entrepreneurs with essential knowledge in both finance and technology, so they can take leading roles in innovation and applications of financial technology.
An emerging interdisciplinary area with very high impact on the economy of every society, this programme combines computing, finance, and policies and regulations to give students a thorough grounding in FinTech.
The programme consists of foundation courses in mathematics, statistics, finance, computing and law, as well as courses in:
- FinTech (distributed ledger and blockchain technology, big data and data mining, computational finance and algorithmic trading, e-payment and crypto-currency, financial programming and databases, and mathematical finance etc.); and
- Arts and social sciences (training students to have a broader mindset and allowing them to apply their knowledge and skills adaptively and creatively in this fastgrowing discipline). This programme prepares graduates with knowledge in both finance and technology, allowing them to have a broad career pathway as they could take up positions in FinTech industry, finance and IT industries.
Summary of Curriculum Structure
The curriculum comprises 240 credits of courses as follows:
|
Course Categories |
No. of credits |
|---|---|
|
UG5 Requirements |
42 |
|
BASc Requirements |
18 |
|
Discipline Core Course |
54 |
|
Discipline Elective Courses |
30 |
|
Capstone Experience |
12 |
|
Electives |
84 |
|
Total |
240 |
A Discipline Core course is a compulsory course which a candidate must pass in the manner provided for in the Regulations.
A Discipline Elective course refers to any course offered by the Faculty of Engineering or the Faculty of Business and Economics for the fulfillment of the curriculum requirements of the degree of BASc in Financial Technology that are not classified as discipline core course.
University Requirements (42 credits)
| Course code | Course | No. of credits |
|---|---|---|
| CAES1001 | Academic Communication in English | 0 |
| CAES9542 | Technical English for Computer Science | 6 |
| Chinese language enhancement course specified for the degree curriculum | 6 | |
| Common Core | 24 | |
| Artificial Intelligence Literacy courses | 6 | |
| Non-credit bearing course in national education and national security education, and any other non-credit bearing courses as may be required from time to time | 0 | |
| Total | 42 | |
BASc Core Courses (18 credits)
| Course code | Course | No. of credits |
|---|---|---|
| BASC9001 | Approaching Interdisciplinarity: Knowledge Beyond Disciplines | 6 |
| BASC9002 | Interdisciplinary Leadership and Sustainable Development | 6 |
| SDST1016 | Data Science 101 | 6 |
Discipline Core Courses (54 credits)
| Course code | Course | No. of credits |
|---|---|---|
| COMP1117 | Computer programming | 6 |
| FITE1010 | Introduction to financial technologies | 6 |
| FITE2000 | Foundations of FinTech Programming | 6 |
| FITE2010 | Distributed ledger and blockchain | 6 |
| MATH1853 | Linear algebra, probability and statistics** | 6 |
| ACCT1101 | Introduction to financial accounting | 6 |
| ECON1210 | Introductory microeconomics | 6 |
| FINA1310 | Corporate finance | 6 |
| LLAW3069 | Regulation of financial markets | 6 |
** For candidates without taking Extended Module 1 or 2 in the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education examinations, or equivalent, they have to take “MATH1011 University mathematics I” (6 credits) in the first semester of their first year of studies.
Discipline Elective Courses (30 credits)
6 credits of courses to be chosen from the following list:
| Course code | Course | No. of credits |
|---|---|---|
| LLAW3150 | Introduction to information technology law | 6 |
| LLAW3244 | Alternative Finance | 6 |
| LLAW3254 | Law, Innovation, Technology, Entrepreneurship: Tech Startup Law | 6 |
| LLAW3255 | LITE Lab: Emerging Technology and Business Models (Undergraduate) | 6 |
24 credits of courses to be chosen from the following list:
| Course code | Course | No. of credits |
|---|---|---|
| COMP3278 | Introduction to database management systems | 6 |
| COMP3314 / ELEC4544 | Introduction to machine learning / Artificial intelligence and deep learning | 6 |
| COMP3320 | Electronic commerce technology | 6 |
| COMP3322 | Modern technologies on World Wide Web | 6 |
| COMP3340 | Introduction to deep learning | 6 |
| COMP3355 | Cyber security | 6 |
| COMP3362 | Hands-on AI: experimentation and applications | 6 |
| FINA2320 | Investments and portfolio analysis | 6 |
| FINA2322 | Derivatives | 6 |
| FINA3350 | Mathematical finance | 6 |
| FINA3353 | Regulatory, operational and valuation issues in finance institutions | 6 |
| FINA2350 | Text analytics and natural language processing in finance and fintech | 6 |
| FITE3010 | Big data and data mining | 6 |
| FITE3012 | E-payment and crypto-currency | 6 |
| FITE3013 | Financial computing | 6 |
| ENGL1015 | Introduction to English linguistics | 6 |
| ENGL2050 | English corpus linguistics | 6 |
Capstone Experience (12 credits)
| Course code | Course | No. of credits |
|---|---|---|
| FITE4801 | Project | 12 |
Electives (84 credits)
Any courses except Common Core Courses.
Elective Postgraduate Courses
Students may take up to three 6-credit postgraduate courses as elective courses, subject to the approval of the Programme Director of BASc(FinTech).
Degree Classification
The degree of Bachelor of Arts and Sciences in Financial Technology shall be awarded in five divisions in accordance with FITE 15 of the Regulations for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts and Sciences in Financial Technology and UG 9 of the Regulations for First Degree Curricula.
Note 1 Students have to complete 24 credits of courses in the Common Core Curriculum, comprising at least one course from each Area of Inquiry.
Note 2 For candidates without taking Extended Module 1 or 2 in the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education examinations, or equivalent, they have to take “MATH1011 University mathematics I” (6 credits) in the first semester of their first year of studies.