MASTER OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

POLS 7070 INDEPENDENT PROJECT

HONG KONG BAPTIST UNIVERSTIY

NOV 2023
 CONTENTS

Page No.

I. INTRODUCTION 1

II. SCHEDULE 3

III. PROJECT SUPERVISION 4

IV. PROJECT AREAS 6

V. PREPARING THE PROJECT OUTLINE AND PROPOSAL 8

VI. PROJECT SUBMISSION 9

VII. FORMAT OF PROJECT TOPIC AND PROPOSAL 10

VIII. PROJECT FORMAT 11-13

IX. SAMPLE TITLE PAGE IN ENGLISH 14

Appendix I Sample on Use of Project for Research Purpose 15

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I. INTRODUCTION

The Project offers an important opportunity for students to integrate and consolidate

learning through planning and carrying out an independent scholarly pursuit under the

guidance of a supervisor. It can be an empirical study or a critical literature review depending

on the topic chosen from an aspect of public administration.

The expected length of the Project is about 10,000 - 15,000 words in English, excluding

table of contents, appendices, footnotes and bibliography. The amount of effort put into the

preparation should be roughly equivalent to 6 credit units of coursework. The style of the

Project has been introduced by the lecturer of POLS 7060 Research Methods for Public

Administration Practitioners.

II. Students should note that proper acknowledgement of sources of information or

ideas is extremely important. They should cite a source when they quote,
paraphrase, or summarize another person’s original idea. Any use of reference
materials without proper acknowledgement of sources is a serious breach of ethics.
Students are reminded to observe the standards of conduct as stated in the
Guidelines for Students on Academic Integrity in the University Student Handbook
and “Avoiding Plagiarism” distributed during the registration and also available from
the Academic Registry’s website. (https://ar.hkbu.edu.hk/quality-
assurance/university-policy-and-guidelines/academic-integrity/section-2-plagiarism)

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 SCHEDULE

Students, who intend to graduate in 2024, are expected to complete the Project before

the end of Semester 2 (for full-time students) or Semester 2 of Year II (for part-time student).

A schedule for preparing the Project is suggested below.

Completed by Task

1 Dec 2023 Submission of Project topic and outline

(Friday)

8 Jan 2024 Announcement of supervisor and consultation with

(Monday) the supervisor

16 Feb 2024 Submission of Project Proposal

(Friday)

26 April 2024 Submission of Project

(Friday)

Students should discuss the progress schedule with their supervisors so as to ensure

timely completion of the Project. If students encounter difficulty in submitting their Projects

on time, they have to consult with their supervisors in advance.

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III. PROJECT SUPERVISION

A supervisor who is an academic staff member will be assigned by the departments

concerned to work with the student on his/her project. The following guidelines on project

supervision are set up so as to maximize students’ learning in the process. These serve to

clarify the roles of students and supervisors, as well as to enforce standards and ensure

fairness across supervision situations.

First, a facilitator model is adopted for project supervision. Under this model, the

major role of the supervisor is to provide guidance for students in preparing the project.

Students are expected to take full responsibility in all aspects of the process and writing up the

project. The supervisor is not expected to engage in direct teaching of skills nor providing

linguistic assistance such as correcting errors in grammar.

Second, the project is considered an independent scholarly pursuit of the student in

which he/she integrates and consolidates learning acquired in the degree. In such regards,

students should be allowed the autonomy to develop research topics or an empirical study of

their own interest.

Third, students are suggested to have the first supervision meeting held soon after the

announcement of supervisors. Students are expected to take the initiative of approaching

your supervisor for project consultation and full responsibility in maintaining active contact

with their supervisors throughout the entire project process. They should meet their

supervisors regularly to report progress, review work completed and finalize written report.

The meeting schedule should be discussed between the student and supervisor themselves.

Finally, in case of students encounter any difficulties and have the intention to request a
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change of supervisor, the completed application with the agreement of original and proposed

supervisors (if applicable) and endorsement from Department Head concerned (if applicable)

should be sent to the Programme Office for consideration on or before 12 January 2024

(Friday). Please note that approval for the change of supervisor is granted on a case-by-case

basis. The application form is obtainable from the Programme Office. Late application will

not be considered.

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IV. PROJECT AREAS

In order to have a better arrangement on assigning supervisors for students by the

departments concerned, the expertise of supervisors by the department has been identified

for students’ consideration. Each student should choose one expertise listed below which

he/she is interested in and prepare a more specific project topic and outline in the area of

public administration accordingly. After reviewing the draft proposals, each student will be

assigned to one supervisor.

Areas of Expertise:

- British Politics
- China’s Foreign and Security Policies
- China’s Labor Issues
- China-Hong Kong Relations
- Chinese Foreign Policies
- Chinese Politics
- Chinese Politics, Government and Administration
- Chinese, Hong Kong and Malaysian Politics
- Civil Society
- Civil Society in China
- Consumer Behavior
- Contemporary Political Philosophy
- Contentious Politics
- Democratization
- East Asian Politics
- Ethics and Public Policy
- Europea Integration
- Event Management
- Foreign Policy Making and International Relations
- German Politics
- Governance of sport associations
- Health education
- Hong Kong Politics
- Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan Politics
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- Non-Democratic Regimes and Their Transition
- Obesity Management
- Olympic studies
- Online Media and Politics
- Peace and Reconciliation Processes: Europe and East Asia
- Politics of Cultural Heritage
- Public Administration & Policy Issues in Hong Kong: Education & Curriculum, Labour
and The Youth
- Public Policy Issues in Hong Kong
- Relations across the Taiwan Strait
- Religion and Politics
- Social Justice
- Social Movements and Contentious Politics
- Sport Marketing,
- Sport policy
- State-Society Relation in Non-Democracies
- Support to elite athletes
- Taiwan Politics and Administration
- Transitional Justice
- Urban Governance
- Others:__________

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V. PREPARING THE PROJECT OUTLINE AND PROPOSAL

Project topic and outline

Students are required to submit their project topic and outline in no more than 2 pages

to the Programme Office by 1 Dec 2023 (Friday). This submission should consist of:

1. A tentative title of the project

Research objectives, major research questions/hypotheses and research design (for a
research project) or project objectives and contents (for an empirical study)

See Section VII for the format to be used for the project outline/topic.

Approval given to the topic and outline proposal constitutes an agreement on the topic

and research plan/study plan among the student and the supervisor. If major revisions to

the project plan are deemed necessary after the proposal has been approved, students have

to consult with their supervisors.

Project Proposal
Students are required to submit their Project Proposal on 16 Feb 2024 (Friday). This

Proposal should consist of:

1. Research background
2. Rationale
3. Detailed Methodology
4. References
5. Word Limit: 1500 words

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VI. PROJECT SUBMISSION

The deadline for submitting the project proposal is 16 Feb 2024 (Friday). Please submit

the proposal to your supervisor by email and send a copy to the programme office

(mpa_pg@hkbu.edu.hk).

The deadline for submitting the final project is 26 April 2024. One hard copy of the

project should be submitted to the Programme Office by 5:00 p.m. on that day and an official

receipt will be issued. Please also send the final project to your supervisor and send a copy to

the programme office by email. The Project submitted to the Programme Office is regarded as

the final work, no amendment or re-writing is allowed after the final submission. The hard

copy should be spiral-bound with clear front and back plastic covers. In addition, an

agreement (See Appendix I for the sample) on the release of Project to other MPA students

for study or research reference should be submitted on the same day.

Project submitted after the deadline will receive an “F” grade. Extension beyond

the submission deadline may be considered for students who encounter difficulties in

completing the project because of special reasons. In such cases, students should contact

the project supervisor to discuss the possibility in advance. With special permission,

individual students may extend the project submission deadline for a period of no more than

one semester within the maximum study period of 3 years (for part-time students) or 2 years

(for full-time students). Request for extension should be submitted together with supporting

documents to the Programme Office. These requests are handled on a case-by-case basis

and the students concerned are liable for paying an extension fee.

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 VII. FORMAT OF PROJECT TOPIC AND OUTLINE

HONG KONG BAPTIST UNIVERSITY

MASTER OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION PROGRAMME

Project Title and Outline Form

1. Tentative title of the Project

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

2. Research objectives, major research questions/hypotheses and research design (for a

research project) or project objectives and contents (for an empirical study)

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

Name of student :

Student No. :

Signature : Date :

To be filled by the DEPARTMENT ONLY

Name of supervisor
Department

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VIII. PROJECT FORMAT

1. Page

The hardcopy must be on A4 white paper.

2. Type

The project body must be prepared with font size 12 OR 14. All print must be in

permanent black ink and must appear on one side OR double side of each page.

3. Style

It is recommended that the project is prepared in accordance with the style introduced

by POLS 7060 Research Methods for Public Administration Practitioners, unless prior

agreement has been made between the student and the project supervisor on the use

of other writing styles.

4. Structure

All projects must contain a title page, a table of contents, a list of tables and figures (if

applicable), and a references section. See Sections IX and X for the format to be used

for the title page in English.

5. References/Bibliography

Students should consult their own supervisor for the specific format recommended on

reference/bibliography. References in in English are alphabetized by Author’s family

name and not numbered. Footnotes or endnotes are numbered in order of

appearance in the project.

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6. Abstract

The project must include an abstract of not more than one page. The abstract has to

be double-spaced or 1½-spaced, and conform to the same margin requirements as the

body of the project.

7. Margins

Every page of the project, including all appendices, notes, and the references, must

have a LEFT margin of 1½ inches or 3.81 cm (to allow room for binding) and TOP, RIGHT,

BOTTOM margins of 1 inch or 2.54 cm. Absolutely nothing must appear in the

margins.

8. Spacing

The body of the project must be double-spaced or 1½-spaced.

- The way is as follow:

 Go to Home TabLook under the Paragraph TabClick line spacing (button with

arrows between text)  Choose 2.0 or double

 格式段落行距2 倍行高

OR

 Click line spacing (button with arrows between text)  Choose 1.5

 格式段落行距1.5 倍行高.

Long quotations, notes, and the references may be single-spaced.

 Click line spacing (button with arrows between text)  Choose 1.0 or single

 格式段落行距單行間距 /1 倍行高.

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9. Page Numbering

Every page in the body of the text must be numbered sequentially from the first page

of the text right through the reference section and appendices. Acknowledgements,

dedication, abstract, table of contents, list of tables, and list of figures are to be

arranged in this specified order before, the text body and numbered with lowercase

Roman numerals. The title page, however, must not be numbered.

10. Binding

The Project should be spiral-bound with clear front and back plastic covers.

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IX. SAMPLE OF TITLE PAGE IN ENGLISH

[Title of Project (in capital letter)]

[Full name of author (in capital letter)]

[Student Number]

MASTER OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION PROGRAMME

HONG KONG BAPTIST UNIVERSITY

[Month and Year of Submission]

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 APPENDIX I – SAMPLE ON USE OF PROJECT FOR RESEARCH PURPOSE

HONG KONG BAPTIST UNIVERSITY

MASTER OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

MPA PROJECT

I agree/do not agree* that the Programme Office may provide other MPA students with a copy
of my project for purposes of private study or research, on the understanding that any such
copy is not further reproduced or published in any form without my special written consent.

AUTHOR : ___________________________________________________
STUDENT NUMBER : ___________________________________________________
TITLE : ___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________

Date : ___________________________

Signature : ___________________________

*Please delete as appropriate

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  Note 

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