Principal's Nomination and Multiple Intake Routes: CityU's Non-Score Dimensions of Local Admissions

Not every student admitted to CityU competes on weighted DSE scores. A provincial-standard swimmer, a secondary-school student who has won territory-wide maths Olympiad awards three years running, and a student council president whose principal vouches for "outstanding leadership" — each holds a ticket that bypasses the overall score race. CityU offers four such non-score admission routes for 2026 Entry: JUPAS School Principal's Nominations (SPN)^※ recognise achievements in sports, music and leadership, and can yield conditional offers before DSE results are released; SNDAS^※, coordinated by the Education Bureau, issues direct Firm Offers to Form 6 students with special talents — CityU is participating with 54 programmes in 2026; athletes can enter through CityU's own SAAS or the UGC's SALSA route on sporting merit, with no minimum academic threshold, across 40+ programmes; and OEA^※ lets every JUPAS applicant submit up to 10 additional competition or activity records for supplementary consideration.

The figures in this article follow the 2026 Entry cycle. For standard JUPAS score calculation, see undergraduate-admissions.md; for mainland China and international routes, see nonlocal-mainland-international.md.

# What distinguishes the four routes? An overview

All four routes are formal arrangements operating within the JUPAS framework or recognised by the Education Bureau; successful admittees are excluded from JUPAS regular weighted-score statistics (per the footnote to CityU's official scoring document^※).

# SPN: which students get nominated by their principal?

The JUPAS School Principal's Nominations (SPN) scheme^※ operates uniformly across all nine UGC-funded universities in Hong Kong (including CityU), and aims to "recognise students with outstanding performance in non-academic areas". The recognised categories span sports, music, creative activities, other cultural activities, social service, and leadership (per the JUPAS official description). Both current and past candidates are eligible; past candidates must contact the principal of their former secondary school for nomination.

The key SPN timeline for 2026 Entry (per the official JUPAS SPN page^※): nomination deadline is 5:00 pm, 11 May 2026; each university considers applicants against their current Band A programme choices (as at 5:00 pm, 27 May 2026); feedback is issued on 10 July 2026; final results are released together with the main JUPAS offer round on 5 August 2026. CityU assesses each nominated student's Band A choices individually, and the outcome may be: a conditional offer (Firm Offer or with conditions), a score incentive, or no special consideration — nomination in itself does not guarantee admission (per JUPAS official notes). One caveat: if a student moves their Band A choices down, or fails to meet the stated conditions, the SPN conditional offer may be withdrawn.

# SNDAS: how the Firm Offer and two quotas per school work

The School Nominations Direct Admission Scheme (SNDAS)^※, coordinated by the Education Bureau, was launched in the 2022/23 academic year to recognise student talents "which cannot be fully assessed by the HKDSE alone". All eight UGC-funded universities participate, offering over 300 UGC-funded undergraduate programmes in total. For 2026 Entry, CityU has 54 programmes participating in SNDAS^※ (per CityU's admissions office website, 2026 cycle).

The SNDAS nomination structure works as follows: each local secondary school gets two nomination quotas, and its principal can nominate one Form 6 student per quota for exceptional talent and interest in a specific discipline or area; each nominated student may apply to only one designated UGC-funded undergraduate programme. Successful applicants receive a Firm Offer in June, before DSE results are released — a substantive offer of admission not conditional on DSE scores (per the Education Bureau's official SNDAS page^※). Actual figures from the 2025 Entry round (the fourth year): 420 schools submitted 814 valid nominations territory-wide, of which 342 students received Firm Offers and 335 ultimately accepted^※ (Government News, July 2025).

The nomination window for the fifth round (2026 Entry) ran from 9 October to 3 December 2025. Another new element is the "Multi-talent Development Scholarship": funded by the Board of Management of the Chinese Permanent Cemeteries, it selects SNDAS admittees from all universities who stand out in arts, sports and/or community service, with each recipient receiving HK$10,000 per year for four years^※ (per the Youth Development Commission website).

What disciplines do CityU's 54 SNDAS programmes cover? For 2026 Entry, CityU has 54 programmes in SNDAS^※ (per the CityU admissions office), spanning seven faculties and covering science, technology, business, humanities, law, creative media, veterinary medicine and more. SNDAS assesses "exceptional talent and interest in a specific discipline or area" — which means different programmes value different talents: creative media programmes emphasise creative potential, engineering programmes may weigh maths olympiad or science competition results, and arts/humanities programmes look for cultural and creative achievements. Students should consult CityU's admissions office about specific programme requirements, or refer to the programme list on the Education Bureau's SNDAS page.

# How do athletes apply to CityU? What is the difference between SAAS and SALSA?

CityU runs two parallel admission routes for sporting elites, both coordinated by the university's Student Development Services (SDS), and neither sets a minimum academic requirement:

CityU's Student Athletes Admission Scheme (SAAS) is the university's own in-house route. It accepts recommendation letters from the Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI), recognised national sports associations (NSAs), or sports clubs; applicants must submit a CV, sporting achievement documents, academic transcripts, and their JUPAS/non-JUPAS application record. The deadline for 2026 Entry is midnight, 18 May 2026^※ (per CityU's SDS website).

The Student-Athlete Learning Support and Admission Scheme (SALSA), by contrast, is coordinated by the University Grants Committee (UGC)^※ and runs across all eight UGC-funded universities; it began in the 2022/23 academic year. SALSA's elite threshold is more clearly defined: applicants must be nominated by the Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI), or be members of a recognised NSA achieving an "Elite Vote (EV)" score of 3 or above. An EV score of 3 corresponds, for example, to: a medal at the Asian Championships, National Games, World Championships, Olympic or Paralympic Games; or 4th–8th place (where more than 24 entries) or top third of the field (where 24 or fewer entries) at an Asian Cup final, World Cup final, or Asian Games (per CityU's SALSA page^※). The UGC has allocated up to HK$150 million to SALSA for the 2025/26–2027/28 triennium^※, with each university receiving HK$1 million per year in central support funding, and individual support grants of up to HK$150,000 for each enrolled athlete student.

Athletes admitted through either scheme may apply to up to 40+ undergraduate programmes (across seven faculties). Enrolled student athletes at CityU may receive the Outstanding Student Athletes Entrance Scholarship of up to HK$100,000 per year^※, plus a hall scholarship (HK$15,900 per year) and 40-plus sporting scholarships funded by donors and departments.

Sporting admission is not a "coursework waiver" — through SALSA, CityU provides enrolled athlete students with one-stop academic support, including: a dedicated Student-Athlete Support Coordinator who follows them from admission to graduation; individual teaching assistants on an as-needed basis for academic enhancement; and flexible examination and coursework arrangements to fit competition and training schedules.

# OEA: what is worth declaring?

The JUPAS Other Experiences and Achievements (OEA)^※ channel is available to every JUPAS applicant on a purely voluntary basis. Applicants may list up to 10 OEA records (per the JUPAS official page), spanning eight categories: academic/intellectual development, arts and music, career-related experience, community/school service, leadership training, moral and civic education, religious activities, and sports and athletics. Each institution "assesses each OEA item on its own merits", and outstanding entries may lead to conditional offers. The OEA submission deadline is 5:00 pm, 2 January 2026, with no late submissions accepted (per JUPAS official notes). JUPAS's official guidance favours quality over quantity: district- or territory-level award achievements generally carry more weight than records of ordinary participation.

# Creative media programmes have a separate portfolio review — how does it relate to non-score admissions?

CREATE (Creative Arts and Technology Excellence, JUPAS code JS1040), the flagship programme of CityU's School of Creative Media (SCM), requires a portfolio review in addition to JUPAS admission scores — a clear example of CityU systematically factoring creative talent into admissions.

HKDSE applicants choosing JS1040 as a Band A or Band B choice are strongly advised to submit a creative portfolio online to the School of Creative Media between 22 January and 1 February 2026, covering content such as photography, painting, sculpture, music composition/performance, film/video, software and multimedia work, academic or creative writing, and science projects (per CityU's admissions office CREATE programme page^※). After portfolio submission, applicants may be invited to an interview or other assessments, letting the School evaluate "creative potential". CREATE can also be applied for via the SNDAS route, further reflecting CityU's "talent first, beyond a single exam" philosophy.

CREATE offers four specialisms, and its curriculum explicitly integrates art, computer science, digital technology, and cultural studies. Admitted students are considered for a flagship scholarship covering tuition, hostel fees and overseas exchange funding, valued by CityU's admissions office at up to HK$500,000.

# How to combine these routes: practical pointers

Key guidance for local applicants considering a non-score route: