Seminars and Interview Sessions

How to become a Chartered Secretary? A Virtual Admissions Talk in Corporate Governance by University of Law

Seminar Theme

Often when people mention the role of company secretary, the first associations that come to mind are secretaries and personal assistants of bosses or other senior management people. That’s normal, as other employees can act as the company secretary in average registered companies. In listed companies, however, the role of the company secretary must be filled with a member of the Hong Kong Chartered Governance Institute (HKCGI) (or a lawyer or an accountant), to fulfill the regulatory requirements of the Exchange!

The compnay secretary of large corporates and listed companies need to have good knowledge of company law, finance, corporate governance, taxation and many business areas, so that they can advise the board of directors and CEO, to make sure companies are running within regulations. That role is so important that sometimes investors take the sudden departure of a company secretary as a signal of corporate governance issues!

Studying a master’s in corporate governance is the most direct way to obtain the Chartered Secretary status. It’s a popular choice for many business, law and accounting graduates. These programmes, however, usually accept students from other disciplines who have a strong interest in corporate governance too.

Seminar Content

Dona Chung

Head of Student Recruitment & Marketing (Hong Kong), The University of Law

In the Admissions Talk, admission representative from the University of Law will provide an overview of the professional qualification frameworks of both Hong Kong and the UK, and introduce their LLM Corporate Governance GradCG. The Admissions Talk is therefore suitable for students and graduates of business studies, law, accounting and other disciplines.

Getting to Know the Chartered Secretaries: What do they do? How does the career prospect look like?

The company secretary of corporates and listed companies need to have good knowledge of company law, finance, corporate governance, taxation and many other business areas, so that they can advise the board of directors and CEO, to make sure companies are running within regulations. In corporates and listed companies, trainee company secretaries can earn up to HK$360,000 or £35,000 a year, while more experienced ones can earn a salary as high as HK$600,000 or £83,000 a year – in top listed companies it could be even higher! How is the market actually like in Hong Kong and in the UK now? As countries around the world tighten rules and regulations in corporate governance, what implications would it have for Chartered Secretary?

How to Become a Chartered Secretary?

When it’s first established, the Hong Kong Chartered Governance Institute (HKCGI, formerly known as HKICS) was a society of Hong Kong members under the Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland (CGI, formerly known as ICSA), before it’s officially established as a branch of the CGI in 1990s. With such connection, the professional qualification frameworks of Hong Kong and the UK are very simliar. Graduates can obtain Chartered Secretary status, by completing a recognized master’s degree and obtaining three years of relevant work experience.

Bachelor’s Degree

3 Years

Gradutes from any academic disciplines can obtain Chartered Secretary status by completing a recognized master’s degree, or by passing the qualifying exams by HKCGI or CGI.

LLM Corporate Governance GradCG

1 Year

The qualifying exams consist of seven papers and graduates of the LLM Corporate Governance GradCG would get full exemption for these. Obtaining the status by studying, you can pass the exams while obtaining a master’s degree!

Work Experience

3 Years

Upon completion of the master’s degree, students will obtain the GradCG status. With three years of experience, students can then apply to CGI to become a Chartered Secretary.

Qualify as UK Chartered Secretary

Transfer of Membership

As a Chartered Secretary of GCI, students can apply to transfer their membership, so that they can work as a Chartered Secretary (FCG/ACG) in Hong Kong, as an Internationally Qualified Member of HKCGI.

Membership Transfer Test (MTT)

1-2 Papers

Students can pursue to become a Hong Kong Chartered Secretary (FCS/ACS) and an Ordinary Member of HKCGI, by passing the Membership Transfer Test (MTT).

Qualify as HK Chartered Secretary

The professional qualification of Chartered Secretary is an internationally transferable, where it’s recognized in the UK and eight other countries and regions (including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mainland China and Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, etc) – it could be very useful for people who have relocation plans in the future.

Course Introduction: LLM Corporate Governance GradCG

Admission representative from the University of Law will provide details about their LLM Corporate Governance GradCG programmes, covering areas such as course structure, entry requirements, tuition fees, study locations and the steps it takes to qualify as a Chartered Secretary.

University Profile: The University of Law

Founded in 1876, the University of Law has an excellent and unique reputation in professional legal training in the UK. In its early years, it was the lawyer training school of the Law Society of England and Wales, and later became the first private university that was granted degree-awarding power by the UK government! Today, the University of Law is one of the most established law schools in the UK and an education partner of the leading global law firm Linklaters, providing a bespoke master’s degree for Linklaters.

Key Postgraduate & Undergraduate Programmes (designed for the SQE framework)

With the implementation of the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) in the 2021/22 academic year, the solicitor qualifying framework in the UK is replaced by a more examination-based regime. Graduates who would like to qualify as a solicitor will now need to pass the SQE, and obtain two years of Qualifying Work Experience (QWE):

Under the new system, requirements of Qualifying Work Experience (QWE) are sligtly relaxed, which can now include time spent on placement during a law degree, working as a paralegal and a few other circumstances. Such a change means that, for paralegals with some experience, upgrading themselves as a solicitor is now much less difficult. For prospective law students – especially those who might hesitate for the uncertainties of securing a Training Contract – a dead-end in their pursuit to become a lawyer has also become less likely!

Professional Exam Preparation Courses

In addition to year-long academic programmes, The University of Law also offers a range of professional exam preparation courses, to help students prepare for the SQE and the PCLL Conversion Examinations.

Postgraduate Programmes (designed for the old qualification framework)

In the initial years of the implementation of the SQE, a transitional arrangement is open to students who have started their law degrees on or before the 2021/22 academic year, under which they are eligible for both new and existing training routes:

A Global Alumni Network: The Postgraduate Training Choice of Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London

After obtaining their bachelor’s degrees in Law from a traditional university, many students would continue their postgraduate training in the University of Law. The alumni network of the University of Law now comprises over 80,000 graduates from around the world, including many from Asian regions such as Hong Kong and Malaysia. In the UK, they include Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, who completed his LPC in the University of Law before embarking on his journey as a human rights lawyer and later a successful career in politics.

Campus-based Study Locations

The University of Law has campuses in major cities in the UK, such as London, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Manchester and Nottingham. In recent years, the University of Law has also formed partnership with University of Sheffield, Newcastle University, University of Reading, University of Exeter, University of Liverpool and University of East Anglia, to deliver its GDL and LPC on-campus, and in the next year SQE preparation courses and other new courese will also be introduced, so that students can enjoy the the range of campus facilities and campus life in a traditional university campus. The Hong Kong campus also officially opened in the 2019/20 academic year.

You are registering for: