Information Engineering is the hottest engineering programme focusing on "information" - its principles, technologies, services, and applications. It is a relatively new discipline that leads the world into the information age, of which we are particularly more interested in understanding how information can be stored and represented, how information can be transmitted through networks in means of multimedia, and how information can be processed for various services and applications. Information Engineering is becoming more and more important as industries are adopting information technologies as their strategy assets to enhance their productivity, to create new businesses, and to offer better services to their customers.

The CUHK engineering programmes focus on computer sciences, electronics, communications, etc. These are all state-of-the-art high-tech engineering disciplines. The IE departments, along with other departments in the faculty of Engineering, form a strong faculty leading in the fields of electronics, computer, and communications engineering, contributing to the development of the high-tech industries of Hong Kong and Mainland China.

CS and CE focus on the software and the hardware aspects of computers. EE focuses on devices, circuits and electronic systems. IE focuses on computer networks and telecommunications. It covers information transmission (e.g., optical communications, wireless communications, telecommunications) and network technologies (e.g., computer networks, network security), and information services and applications (e.g., multimedia systems, electronic commerce).

Information engineering involves the fundamental principles of various kinds of technologies. Analytical problem solving techniques, with the help of mathematics and other related theories, are applied to engineering design problems. Information technology focuses more on the application side. Thus, information engineering is a highly challenging area including studies from fundamental theories all the way up to applications.

The IE programme is carefully designed to provide a balance between theory, practical knowledge, hardware, and software skills. Hardware skills are learnt through the state-of-the-art computer-aided-design tools. Software skills focus on the design and the development of computer network systems, which are essential for supporting information-intensive applications. We believe that university education is more than vocational training, so we emphasize on analytical and problem solving capabilities as well. Finally, students can tailor their programmes according to their interests through elective courses, optional courses, and their final year projects.

Certainly. IE is accredited by the IEE, so IE graduates are exempted from the IEE examinations. After accumulating several years of experience, an IE graduate can apply for membership in IEE or HKIE, and consequent, become a chartered engineer. The chartered membership can be of significant use in the Government, as well as in some big corporations.

No. Despite the relatively high admission grades (median) in the past few years, in most cases, we admit applicants having most of the AL subjects with credits (grade C or above) and a pass in the AS language subjects (Chinese Language & Culture and Use of English).

For the curriculum, we will offer a new course "Information Engineering in Society" for all first year undergraduate students, starting from 2002/03. This course serves as an introduction to the most important aspects in information engineering and discusses how the technology relates to the industry and the society. Moreover, in each summer, we organize workshops to let students gain hands-on experience in practical networking skills such as internet webpage development, network security, etc. Throughout the whole 3-year programme, we also organize industrial visits and seminars held by international experts in various areas in communications and networking. Therefore, students can have more exposure to knowledge outside the textbooks.

Apart from the lectures, the professors are always glad to talk with students about the coursework or other personal issues. We have a student advisory programme in which every professor is assigned with a small batch of students. They will have activities for a few times together throughout the academic year. This promotes a closer professor-student relationship that enables the professors to know about the difficulties faced by the students during their course of studies.