To simulate active research interest and creativity of undergraduate students.
To provide an opportunity for students to support academic staff in their research.
To provide an opportunity for undergraduate students to develop their practical skills and to apply knowledge acquired in class.
To provide an opportunity for undergraduate students to present their research findings internally and externally, and to develop their presentation skills.
To boost the reputation of XJTLU’s students and student research in the region.
Student Eligibility
Undergraduate students that are in Years 1, 2 or 3 of study at XJTLU
The main applicants of a SURF project must be students currently registered at XJTLU on an undergraduate degree programme. Students whose enrolment status is suspension are not eligible to apply. Applications across disciplines are allowed. Staff can select students from other academic units.
All SURF students must attend the SURF Poster Fair; failure to do so will result in the removal of the wording “and poster competition” from the participating certificate.
Requirements for projects
This is an extracurricular non-credit bearing project. The project cannot be a substitute for or count towards a Final Year Project.
SURF can, in certain cases, be used to fulfill programme-level Work Placement requirements. It is the responsibility of the student to work separately with his/her academic unit to obtain the appropriate approvals and complete all relevant requirements.
The project must be innovative, have clear objectives, detailed content, operable methods, and a reasonable budget.
Project proposals are encouraged to involve local industry and the local environment.
The duration of a project is typically 10 weeks, although projects as short as five weeks will be considered. The project should be undertaken from after final exams to late August. No stipend will be paid for research done after the end of August.
For each project, a Principal Supervisor must be identified, particularly when more than one supervisor is named on a project.
i. For project using XJTLU internal SURF fund, the Principal Supervisor should be an XJTLU academic staff member with sufficient background in the relevant field.
Ii. For project using non-XJTLU funds, the Principal Supervisor can be industrial supervisor or external mentor of XJTLU.
Principal Supervisors must be on-site to supervise the project or make appropriate arrangements for student supervision. Principal Supervisors will be required to sign a declaration ensuring student supervision.
Academic staff can be a Principal Supervisor on only one project.
There can be no more than six research students per project.
For project using XJTLU internal SURF fund, results/products from the projects are the property of XJTLU and can be utilised in other areas of learning, teaching and research as seen appropriate by XJTLU. For project cooperating with external partners, results/products from the projects can be jointly owned by both parties.
Reporting
All students are required to present results at a University-organised event in Semester 1 following the summer.
After the successful completion of their research activity and the presentations of their findings, students will be given a certificate of participation.
There will be cluster winners, an academic-rated winner, and a student-nominated winner from the SURF Poster Fair.
Students who withdraw from or fail to complete a project of which they have received a stipend must return the total value of their stipend. The Academic Services Office will provide instructions to students to facilitate the process of returning the stipend, in consultation with the Principal Supervisor. Under such circumstance, no certificate will be awarded.
For students who withdraw from or fail to complete a project of which they have not received their stipend, no certificate will be awarded.
Funding
The SURF Team administers the budget to support the SURF programme which is set on an annual basis.
Budget Control
The Principal Supervisor is responsible for managing the allocated project budget and controlling costs assigned to the project.
Objectives
Student Eligibility
Requirements for projects
i. For project using XJTLU internal SURF fund, the Principal Supervisor should be an XJTLU academic staff member with sufficient background in the relevant field.
Ii. For project using non-XJTLU funds, the Principal Supervisor can be industrial supervisor or external mentor of XJTLU.
Reporting
Funding
The SURF Team administers the budget to support the SURF programme which is set on an annual basis.
Budget Control
The Principal Supervisor is responsible for managing the allocated project budget and controlling costs assigned to the project.