Voluntary Residence (Jul – Dec 2024) – Madam S H Ho Residence for Medical Students

last updated: Mar 27, 2024

Terms and Conditions

Madam S H Ho Residence for Medical Students (RMS) and Patrick Manson Student Residence (PMR) are designated to accommodate clinical MBBS students who have residential needs to stay near the vicinity of Queen Mary Hospital.

Voluntary Residence (Jul – Dec 2024) in RMS and PMR will be open through online application form. Before submitting the application, applicants must read through the following terms and conditions carefully.

Eligibility

All MBBS students under HKU LKS Faculty of Medicine are eligible to apply for “Voluntary Residence (Jul – Dec 2024)”. However, students who have other accommodation offer in HKU are NOT eligible. Applicants are responsible to update the Hall Management for any changes of on-campus residence status that would affect their eligibility.

Students who have applied for Optional Residence (M25 – Specialty Clerkship 2024-2025) are also eligible to apply. If Voluntary Residence is accepted and covered the residential period of Optional Residence, Optional Residence during the overlapping period will be cancelled automatically.

In view of limited bedspace availability, priority will be given to final year students, students undertaking Specialty Clerkship and those with essential residential needs. Junior and non-clinical year students and those with less residential needs should expect a slim chance to be admitted.

Application Period

The application period will be Apr 3 – Apr 21, 2024. Online application submitted after 23:59 on Apr 21, 2024 will NOT be considered.

Application Period	Voluntary Residence Period Applying for
Apr 3 – Apr 21, 2024	July – December 2024
Oct 2024 (to be open)	January – June 2025

Application Method

The online application form will be available HERE (opens on 3 Apr) during the application periods.

Only online application is accepted. Applicant should fill in all required fields, attach a capture of distance score from CEDARS’s distance score simulator and provide recent address proof and other relevant supporting documents in .pdf format for submission.

Upon submission, a confirmation email will be automatically sent to applicant. If no confirmation email is received, the online application may be unsuccessful, or the confirmation email may be filtered to junk mail. Please check your junk mail box before contacting the Hall Management Office for verification.

To update any information after application submission, please fill in and submit the online form again. The Hall Management Office will consider the latest submission as final.

Supporting Documents

Address / Address Proof

Applicants should provide their residential address in Hong Kong (excluding HKU hall/college/residence address) unless they have nowhere to stay locally. For applicants whose home do not base in Hong Kong, address proof of a foreign country is acceptable.

The address proof could be a rental agreement, water/ electricity/ gas bill, bank statement (not showing bank details) or other official document which has stated the applicant’s name and address. These supporting documents must be dated in/after January 2024. Applicant must provide such document in pdf format in order to complete the online form; and may be asked to provide a true copy of letters/ proof of residential address upon request.

Distance Score

Applicants should use their residential address at CEDARS’s Distance Score Simulator to generate a distance score. The generated score should be filled out on the online application form and the screen capture must be uploaded as a supporting document. If you encounter any technical problem while using the simulator, please contact CEDARS through email (cedars.housing@hku.hk) for assistance.

Residence Period

The residential period start-date is fixed on June 30, 2024 (for continue resident) and Jul 4, 2024 (for new residents), while the residential end-date is fixed on Dec 31, 2024 for all.

Unless with particular special needs (i.e.: medical needs or termination of study) and the prior approval of the Hall Management, shortening of residence period is not entertained. However, early check-in and late check-out may be accommodated subject to bedspace availability at additional lodging charge.

Applicants may mark such request in the “Remarks made by applicant” column on the online form but note that the request may not be guaranteed. For early check-in, prior cleaning of the room is not guaranteed should there be manpower limitation.

Final year students are allowed to check-out before Dec 31, 2024 provided that they have indicated this at the time of application.

The Hall Management Office also reserves the right to shorten or withdraw any Voluntary Residence bedspaces in case of unexpected needs caused by Optional Residence for Specialty Clerkship and/or other unforeseen circumstances. In such cases, the Hall Management Office will provide at least 2 weeks notice in advance, and arrange lodging fee refund of the shortened period.

Lodging Fee

Lodging fee is calculated on a daily basis according to the ENTIRE OFFERED RESIDENTIAL PERIOD. The current daily rates are at HK$76-* (for RMS) and HK$70-* (for PMR) respectively.

However, please expect upward fee adjustment annually, which will be decided at the Committee of Madam S H Ho Residence for Medical Students/Patrick Mason Residence. Payment invoice of the offered residence period will be billed via Student Information System (SIS). Residents will receive individual notification email and instruction from Finance and Enterprises Office (FEO) to settle the payment.

All committed or paid lodging fee will not be refunded, unless with particular special needs which results in shortened residential period (such as, medical needs or termination of study etc) and with the prior approval of the Hall Management Office.

*There may be upward adjustment w.e.f September 1, 2024 (subject to approval). The increment amount to be determined by the Committee of Madam S H Ho Residence for Medical Students/Patrick Manson Residence. Compulsory High Table Dinner Fee: All Voluntary Residence residents are required to attend a compulsory High Table Dinner during the residence period, the dinner is organized by the Hall Management Office and the Residence Committee. Regardless of attendance, a High Table Dinner Fee (ranging from HK$250 to $450) will be charged via SIS in due course. The actual fee will depend on the venue availability of the dinner, and will be announced to residents in due course.

Admission Criteria

Priority will be given to final year students, students undertaking Specialty Clerkship, and those with higher “Application Score”, which is composed based on the referencing items listed below:

Referencing Items	Score Scale
Distance from home	0-40
Special travel need	0-5
Home environmental issue	0-10
Seniority in study	0-20
Threat of discontinuation / remedial	0-10
Financial difficulty	0-10
Residential need other than the above-mentioned items	0-10
Recommendation by Faculty Review Committee for Residence	0-20
Master’s discretionary condition	0-10
Maximum Total Application Score:	135

Residence Allocation

Successful applicants will be allocated according to their admission score, rank, and preferred residence/chosen residence option on the application. Detail of facilities provision at each residence is available on our website: RMS | PMR

Results Announcement

Main Round Offer will be released on May 7, 2024 by individual notification email. The results with University ID no. and residence name will be posted on our website accordingly. Any available bedspaces after the Main Round offer will be assigned to applicants on the Waiting List, according to their score, rank, residence option and gender. Applicants on Waiting List should check their email from time to time to receive updates.

Offer Acceptance

Successful applicants will receive individual notification email and are required to accept or decline the offer via ONLINE SUBMISSION within 5 calendar days, i.e. on or before May 12, 2024.

By accepting the offer, the applicant is committed to taking up the assigned bedspace for the entire offered residential period and settling the incurred lodging fee accordingly. No change of residence will be entertained after acceptance.

If no submission is received by the stipulated deadline, the nil reply will be deemed as declining of offer, and the offered bedspace will be allocated to the next applicant on the waiting list. Successful applicants who decline the offer will not be re-assigned any bedspace again within the offered period.

Waiting List

Applicants without a Main Round Offer will be put on the Waiting List, which will be available for viewing on our website. When there is a vacant bedspace in the future, the bedspace will be assigned to those on the Waiting List.

Appeal

To appeal against the results, please write an email with sound justification and supporting documents (if any) to the Hall Management Office at shhorms@hku.hk no later than May 12, 2024. Appeal applications will be considered by the Hall Management Office on a case-by-case basis.

Important Dates

When?	What happen?	What to note?
Apr 3, 2024	Application Open (link)	Only online application is accepted. To complete the application, you MUST fill in all required fields and upload residential address proof in pdf format (< 1MB).
Apr 21, 2024	Application Close	Submission after 23:59 on the deadline will NOT be considered.
By May 7, 2024	Release of Main Round residence offer results	Applicants with residence offer will receive email notification. The results will be put on our website.
By May 12, 2024	Deadline to accept or decline Main Round residence offer	Applicants with an offer must either accept or decline via ONLINE SUBMISSION within 5 calendar days. If there is no submission received by us, it will be considered as declining an offer.
By May 12, 2024	Deadline to appeal Main Round results	To appeal, sound justifications with supporting documents (if any) should be emailed to the Hall Management Office.
By May 27, 2024	Results of appeal cases	Appeal applicants will receive email notification of the appeal results.
Jun 30 – Jul 4, 2024	Earliest check-in date	Each resident may have different residence start date which will be indicated on their offer email.
Oct 2024	Open application for Voluntary Residence (Jan 2025 – Jun 2025)	All MBBS students will receive email invitation with details in due course.
Dec 31, 2024 by noon	Latest check-out date	All residents will have the same residence end date on Dec 31, 2024 and are required to check-out by noon, unless with continued residence period offered afterwards.

Collection of Personal Information

Information provided by the applicants will be used for Voluntary Residence admission exercise only. Personal data will be kept confidential and handled by the University’s staff members. The University may transfer some of the data to an agent or other persons directly involved in or appointed to undertake some of its academic and administrative functions. Under the provisions of Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance, applicants have the right to request the University to ascertain whether it holds your personal data, to be given a copy, and to apply for correction of the data, if deemed incorrect. For assistance, please contact the Hall Management Office.

Enquiry

For enquiry about the “Voluntary Residence” admission exercise, please contact the Hall Management at shhorms@hku.hk, or contact Matthew Tsoi at 3910 2630.