Course registration and changes, what you can do now

As of 18 October 2026, regular Semester A add/drop is closed. For a current change use the late-change route below. For Semester B, first check unmet requirements, syllabuses and prerequisites; personal schedules are released on 3 November. Online add/drop starts tentatively on 4 January 2027, subject to your own time ticket, and ends on 18 January.

Late requests require case-by-case approval by the head of the course-offering unit. Late drop is exceptional and must be requested no later than teaching ends:28 November for Semester A2026/27. An approved late drop appears as X on the transcript. From11 October2026 the100% tuition stage applies to withdrawal, leave and late drop; credit-based students must also check the two-credit minimum rule. Stopping attendance does not drop a course.

1. 1

   Request a specific change from the course-offering unit

   Email the Course Leader/course office with term, course, CRN/section, requested add/drop/change, reasons, evidence and actual deadline. Ask for the applicable late-submission channel, approver and documents. If unsure of the office use the contacts guide or ARRO 3442 2300.

   Ask ARRO to identify the responsible office
2. 2

   Submit through the confirmed channel and check fees

   Use the form/system confirmed by the course-offering unit and keep the reference. Late drop must be requested by teaching end, 28 November 2026 this semester. The 100% tuition stage now applies; confirm fees and non-local study-load implications before submitting.

3. 3

   Await approval and verify AIMS

   Do not treat non-attendance as withdrawal. After a decision, check the official registration and applicable X record in AIMS. If missing, send the approval and reference to ARRO/course office. An informal agreement or sent email is not an updated registration.

   Verify the outcome in AIMS (opens in a new tab)

In AIMS → Study Plan → DegreeWorks, identify outstanding college, GE, major/minor requirements. Then open Course Registration → Weekly Schedule, select the term and Submit. Check pre-registered core courses and use View Detail Schedule at the bottom. Do not add an already-registered course again.

Before choosing a course, open the official catalogue → Bachelor’s Degree Programmes → the applicable academic year and course code → Detailed Course Information / syllabus. For GE, search the code in the GE course finder and open Official Course Syllabus. Record credits, teaching and assessment languages, assignment/group-project/exam weightings, exam duration and any minimum component pass marks. Compare these with your workload and degree requirements. Public assessment weightings may be indicative; check the current teaching plan and deadlines once teaching starts. If GE information conflicts with the Master Class Schedule, the latter prevails.

Use AIMS → Course Registration → Web Add/Drop → Registration Status and Time Ticket. Select the correct term and record your start/end. In semester A/B, round1 excludes GE1501 and GE; round2 includes them with GE quota controls; round3 allows waitlisting except GE English. Use your own current ticket, not a classmate’s or last term’s.

GE control in the second A/B time-ticket covers both your personal course-count limit and quota allocated to your programme/cohort. Recheck the quota one hour before the slot starts, and distinguish GE1501 from Areas 1–3. Read your personal course-count limit in your time-ticket and round-specific quota notice; do not assume every non-final-year student has the same one-course limit. Excess Area 1–3 courses are removed at the end of your slot without separate notice. Extra GE courses may be added in the third slot if seats remain; the corresponding summer slots are the first and second.

Open Portal → Academic & Research → Academic Services → Master Class Schedule, or AIMS → Univ Info → Master Class Schedule. Select year/term and subject, then Search Class. Record the course code, every required section/CRN, Section Group, dates, times and venues. Match required Lecture(C), Tutorial(T) and Lab(L) within the same group; a zero-credit component can still be compulsory.

For PE, do not treat TBA in AIMS as a usable venue. Open the PE link → Courses Details → the current PE Course Timetable, then match the course code and section to each actual date, venue, remarks and entry requirements. Some sessions use JSC or other off-campus venues; allow travel time. Semester A 2026/27 runs from 8 September to 12 November, but individual courses do not meet every week. Do not assume you may switch sections for a missed date. PE is non-credit-bearing, excluded from semester study load, and recorded as Pass or Not Completed.

Compare your academic record, programme/year and timetable. Prerequisite is mandatory; Precursor is recommended preparation. Check Only for/Not for, exclusive courses, degree/college/cohort restrictions, timetable clashes and maximum study load. An available seat does not waive restrictions; section6 explains permission requests.

Use AIMS → Course Registration → Web Add/Drop → Select Term → choose term and Submit → Add or Drop Classes. Review Current Schedule, then follow the steps below. Save the detailed schedule and verify every component, credits, dates, times and venues. Entering a CRN, clicking a button or seeing a Canvas course is not registration evidence.

Use AIMS Weekly Schedule / My Detail Schedule to verify registration. Canvas enrolment updates the next morning after a successful AIMS add/drop, and the instructor must publish the course. If content is missing, check Courses → All Courses and its Published status, then ask the instructor. The Canvas calendar shows online tasks and assessments, not your AIMS class timetable.

1. 1

   Add

   Enter all required CRNs in Add Classes Worksheet → Submit Changes → verify each section in Current Schedule.

   Open AIMS to add a course (opens in a new tab)
2. 2

   Drop

   Select Web drop in Current Schedule Action for every component of the course → Submit Changes → verify removal.

3. 3

   Change a section

   In one Submit Changes request, set the old section to Web drop and enter the new CRN below, including all required linked components. Check space and conflicts first; nearly full sections may be taken by another student. Afterwards check both the old and new section statuses. Do not assume an error makes the whole request roll back.

4. 4

   Read errors

   Registration Add Errors / Registration Update Errors mean failure. Correct the problem using section6, submit again and recheck the schedule.

Use the table below rather than repeating an unchanged request. Waitlisting starts08:45 on the first day of round3 in A/B or round2 in Summer, except GE English. Select Waitlist in the error-table Action for every component, then Submit Changes. Check position under Course Registration → Web Add/Drop → My Detail Schedule. The system checks eligibility and automatically registers successful students when a place opens, with email notification. Queues do not guarantee seats and clear after add/drop.

If no selectable course is returned, check the term, course code and whether the last registration slot has begun; some offering units do not accept requests through this form. Ordinary web-enabled GE Areas 1–3 and GE1501 use Web Add/Drop. A Pending request may be cancelled, but cancellation cannot be undone; submit a replacement to change its contents. Duplicate requests for the same course are not allowed. Read the form’s submission counter and limit before applying. An instructor’s verbal agreement does not replace approval in the form and the final schedule; resolve clashes or excess load separately.

1. 1

   Open the permission form

   AIMS → Course Registration → Application for Add/Drop of Non-Web-enabled Course & Study Load Adjustment → Add/Drop Course/Change Section(s). Requests to bypass web restrictions are submitted in the last time-ticket round.

   Open AIMS for the permission application (opens in a new tab)
2. 2

   Search and justify

   Enter the course code (e.g. AC1001, not a CRN) → Search → select the target sections. Choose one section per component type, all in the same Section Group. Select a reason, give details for Other Reasons, click Add / Drop / Change Section(s), confirm the pop-up and attach supporting documents.

3. 3

   Check decision and record

   Keep the pending reference, monitor form status and email, then verify the updated schedule. For unresolved cases contact ARRO3442 2300 / as@cityu.edu.hk with term, course, CRN, exact error, attempted steps and deadline.