University of Hong Kong

"HKU" redirects here. For other uses, see HKU (disambiguation).

The University of Hong Kong
香港大學
Motto	Sapientia et Virtus 明德格物
Motto in English	Wisdom and Virtue
Established	11 March 1912 (1912-03-11)
Type	Statutory
Chairman	Leong Che Hung Chairman of the Council
Chancellor	Leung Chun-ying
President	Lap-Chee Tsui
Vice-president	Chow Shew-Ping Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (University Relations) Paul Tam Kwong Hang Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Research) Amy Tsui Bik May Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Teaching & Learning)
Provost	Roland T. Chin Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost
Vice-Chancellor	Lap-Chee Tsui
Academic staff	6,105
Admin. staff	3,516
Students	23,033
Undergraduates	11,490
Postgraduates	11,543
Location	Pokfulam, Hong Kong 22°17′03″N 114°08′16″E
Campus	Urban 53.1 hectares (0.531 km2)
Colours	Kelly Green
Mascot	Lion
Affiliations	ASAIHL, Universitas 21, ACU, JUPAS, AACSB, EQUIS, APRU, UGC, Heads of Universities Committee, Joint Quality Review Committee
Website	www.hku.hk

University of Hong Kong
Traditional Chinese	香港大學
Simplified Chinese	香港大学
Transcriptions Hakka - Romanization Hiông-kóng Thai-ho̍k Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Xiānggāng Dàxué - Yale Romanization Syānggāng Dàsywé Cantonese (Yue) - Jyutping hoeng1gong2 daai6hok6 - Yale Romanization Heūnggóng Daaihhohk

The University of Hong Kong (Abbreviation: HKU, informally known as Hong Kong University, Chinese: 香港大學) is the oldest tertiary institute in Hong Kong, established starting from 1910 and officially opened in 1912. Its medical faculty is evolved from the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese founded in 1887. The university's motto is "Sapientia et Virtus" in Latin, meaning "wisdom and virtue", and "明德格物" in Chinese.

With 10 faculties, it is a comprehensive research-intensive university which is located in Pokfulam of Hong Kong Island. The medium of instruction in most classes is English.

HKU is well known for scholarly research and education in humanities, legal subjects, political sciences, biological sciences and medicine. It is the first team in the world which successfully identified and announced the coronavirus, the causative agent of SARS. The university also enjoys a high evaluation in various university rankings, many of which have consistently placed it among the best in both Greater China and Asia.

History

Origins

The main building in 1912

The Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese (香港華人西醫書院) was founded in 1887 by the London Missionary Society, with its first graduate (in 1892) being Sun Yat-sen (孫中山). Sun later led the Chinese Revolution (1911), which changed China from an empire to a republic. The Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese was the forerunner of the School of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong, which began in 1911.

The University of Hong Kong was founded in 1912 when Governor Sir Frederick Lugard proposed to establish a university in Hong Kong to compete with the other Great Powers opening universities in China, most notably Prussia, which had just opened Tongji University in Shanghai. The colonial Hong Kongers shared British values and allowed Britain to expand its influence in southern China and consolidate its rule in Hong Kong.

HKU Sir Hormusjee Naorojee Mody

Indian businessman Sir Hormusjee Naorojee Mody learned of Lugard's plan and pledged to donate HK$150,000 towards the construction and HK$30,000 towards other costs. The Hong Kong Government and the business sector in southern China, which were both equally eager to learn "secrets of the West's success" (referring to technological advances made since the Industrial Revolution), also gave their support. The Swire Group also contributed funds, partly wishing to bolster its corporate image following the death of a passenger on board one of its ships, Fatshan, and the subsequent unrest stirred by the Self-Government Society. Along with other donors including the United Kingdom government and companies such as HSBC, Lugard finally had enough to build the university.

Lugard laid the foundation stone of the main building on 16 March 1910 and hoped that the university would educate more Chinese people in British "imperial values", as opposed to those of other Western powers.

December 1916: first congregation

The university was formally established in 1911 and had its opening ceremony in 1912. As Lugard felt that the Chinese society at the time was not suited to ideals such as communism, the university originally emulated the University of Manchester in emphasising the sciences over the humanities. It opened with only a Faculty of Medicine, which had evolved from the Hong Kong College of Medicine. However, within a year the Faculties of Engineering and Arts (which then did not offer sociology and philosophy degrees) were established. In December 1916, the university held its first congregation, with 23 graduates and five honorary graduates.

Move towards Chinese cultural education, and WW2

Student residences in 1946, with damage from WWII visible

After the 1925–26 Canton-Hong Kong strikes, the government moved towards greater integration of Eastern culture, increasing the number of Chinese courses. In 1927, a degree in Chinese was created. Donations from wealthy businessmen Tang Chi Ngong and Fung Ping Shan – for whom campus buildings are named after – triggered an emphasis on Chinese cultural education. In 1941, the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong led to the damage of university buildings, and the university closed until 1945.

The university was founded as an all-male institution. Women students were admitted for the first time only ten years later. In 1937, the Queen Mary Hospital opened and has served as the university's teaching hospital ever since.

Post-WW2

After World War II, the university reopened and underwent structural developments as post-war reconstruction efforts began in earnest, requiring more investment in law and social sciences. The Faculty of Social Sciences was established in 1967 and the Law Department in 1969. The student population in 1961 was 2,000, four times more than in 1941.

In 1982, the Faculty of Dentistry, based at the Prince Philip Dental Hospital, was established. It remains to this day Hong Kong's only faculty training dental professionals. In 1984, both the School of Architecture and School of Education became fully-fledged faculties, and in the same year a separate Faculty of Law was created. The Faculty of Business and Economics was established in 2001 as the university's tenth and youngest faculty.

After 1989, the Hong Kong government began emphasizing local tertiary education, retaining many local students who would have studied abroad in the United Kingdom. In preparation for the 1997 handover, it also greatly increased student places and course variety. Consequently, the 2001 student population had grown to 14,300 and degree courses on offer numbered over a hundred.

HKU has nurtured the largest number of research postgraduate students in Hong Kong, making up approximately 10% of the total student population. All ten faculties and departments provide teaching and supervision for research (MPhil and PhD) students with administration undertaken by the Graduate School.

2001: 90th anniversary

The year 2001 marked the 90th Anniversary of HKU. Growing with Hong Kong: HKU and its Graduates – The First 90 Years was published by the University Press in 2002 as an impact study on HKU's graduates in different fields of Hong Kong.

2006: renaming of Faculty of Medicine

In January 2006, despite protest from some students and various alumni, the Faculty of Medicine was renamed as the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine "as a recognition of the generosity" of Mr. Li Ka Shing and his Foundation, who pledged HK$1 billion in support of the university "general development as well as research and academic activities in medicine".

2011: 818 incident

On 16 August 2011 Communist Party of China Vice Premier Li Keqiang began a three-day visit to promote development between Hong Kong and mainland China. The school was locked down and mishandled by the local police force causing the Hong Kong 818 incident.

In a statement to the HKU community, the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Lap-chee Tsui, admitted that the security arrangements could have been better planned and organised, and apologised to the university’s students and alumni for not having been able to prevent the unhappy incident. He assured them that "the University campus belongs to students and teachers, and that it will always remain a place for freedom of expression".

On 30 August 2011, the university’s Council resolved to set up a panel to review issues arising from the State leader’s visit, in order to improve arrangements and establish appropriate mechanisms and policies for university events in the future in a manner that would be consistent with its commitment to freedom of expression.

Reputation and rankings

University rankings
Global
ARWU	151-200
Times	35
QS	23
Asia
ARWU	11-19
Times	3
QS (World version) QS (Asian version)	1 3

HKU has been constantly ranked among the best universities in the city as well as Asia by various university rankings.

The QS World University Rankings (2012) placed it at 23rd worldwide, making it the best of all tertiary institutes in Asia and Hong Kong. The independent regional QS Asian University Rankings of the same year considered it the third in Asia and second in the city.

Meanwhile, the university was at 35th in the world and 3rd in Asia in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (2012–13), and 36th in its World Reputation Rankings, both of which regarded it as the first in Hong Kong.

Moreover, the ARWU (2012) listed it at a position among 151-200th globally and 1st-2nd in Hong Kong ,along with the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

In fact, it has been particularly considered by the QS World University Rankings to be the best university in Asia for three consecutive years (2010,2011 and 2012).

Apart from the above overall rankings, the institutions have also provided university rankings by disciplines. Here are some major subject rankings:

Besides those global and regional rankings, there are some rankings for some specific fields of tertiary education.

In 2008, the University of Hong Kong was ranked in the Top 50 worldwide by the Human Resources & Labor Review, one of the only three Chinese universities in the list.

Further, there are some rankings for tertiary business and economic educations, including the Finance Times EMBA Rankings where HKU's HKU-Fudan IMBA program was placed 54th worldwide and the third in Hong Kong, and the Global MBA Rankings (2013) in which its MBA program was 31st in the world and 5th in Asia which was also the third in Hong Kong. Its MBA program was even considered the best in Asia by the Economist's 2012 ranking, being 41st globally.

Shield, motto and coat of arms

HKU's Shield & Motti , granted in 1913

HKU's full Coat of Arms, granted in 1984

The design of the university's Shield was proposed to the College of Arms by the university in October 1912. On 14 May 1913, the Shield, along with 2 motti (1 in Latin, 1 in Chinese) were granted by the College of Arms. The field resembles the lions on the Coat of arms of England, whereas the book on the shield is a common reference to university's role in learning and knowledge.

The Latin motto Sapientia et Virtus translated into English as "Wisdom and Virtue". The Chinese motto on the pages of the opened book, written from right to left, top to bottom in accandance with traditional Chinese writing direction, contains 2 phrases: 明德 (ming tak) and 格物 (kak mat), meaning "illustrious virtue" and "the investigation of things" respectively. The first phrase ming tak makes homage to the opening sentence of classic Confucian Classical Chinese literature the Great Learning, in which the author discusses the 3 great duties of a ruler – illustrious virtue, the renewal of the people, and repose in the highest good. The second phrase kak mat is a reference to the writing of Confucian scholar Zhu Xi 致知在格物 (lit. exhausting by examination the principles of things and affairs) The phrase occurs in discussion regarding how wise rulers set about cultivating wisdom and virtue. If one desires to rectify his hearts, he must first sought to be sincere in their thoughts. Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, he must first extended to the utmost their knowledge. Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things.

In 1981, the year of the university's 70th anniversary, an application was made to the College of Arms for a full coat of arms, which was granted in 1984, comprising the original shield and motti with the addition of a crest, supporters, a helmet and compartment.

The supporters of the coat of arms are a Chinese dragon and a lion representing Britain, indicating the university's aspiration to blend East and West, from the foundation by British people in Hong Kong and the later development of the university's research and studies in both west and east culture and technology, whereas the compartment is an allusion to Hong Kong Island, where the university is located.

Campus

HKU Main Building seen from the courtyard

The East Gate

The West Gate

Eliot Hall and Meng Wah Complex

Sun Yat-Sen statue in the Lily Pond

The university's main campus covers 160,000 square metres of land on Bonham Road and Pok Fu Lam Road in the Mid-levels of Hong Kong Island. HKU buildings are some of the few remaining examples of British Colonial architecture in Hong Kong.

The Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine is situated 4.5 km southwest of the main campus, in the Southern District near Sandy Bay and Pok Fu Lam. The medical campus includes Queen Mary Hospital, the William M.W. Mong Building and research facilities. The Faculty of Dentistry is situated in the Prince Philip Dental Hospital, Sai Ying Pun.

The university also operates the Kadoorie Agricultural Research Center, which occupies 95,000 square metres of land in the New Territories, and the Swire Institute of Marine Science at the southern tip of the d'Aguilar Peninsula on Hong Kong Island.

Main building

Main building corridor

The oldest structure in the University of Hong Kong was sponsored by Sir Hormusjee Naorojee Mody and designed by Architect Messrs Leigh & Orange. Constructed between 1910 and 1912, it comprised two courtyards in the post-renaissance style built with red brick and granite. The main elevation is articulated by four turrets with a central clock tower (a gift from Sir Paul Chater in 1930). Two courtyards were added in the south in 1952 and one floor in the end block in 1958. It was originally used as classrooms and laboratories for the Faculty of Medicine and Engineering and is now the home of departments within the Faculty of Arts. The central Great Hall (Loke Yew Hall) is named after Mr. Loke Yew, a benefactor of the university in its early years. It became a declared monument in 1984.

Swire Building

In around 1980, the Swire Group sponsored the building of a new residential hall in the eastern extremity of the campus. Because of the sponsorship, the new student residence was named Swire Building. The building was officially opened by Mr. John Anthony Swire, C.B.E. on 11 November 1980. In the first open day of Swire Hall, orange was used as the background colour. Luckily, no other halls used orange as their hall colour. Hence, in 1983, orange was chosen to be the hall colour of Swire Hall in the second Annual General Meeting. In 1983, Mrs. J. Lau (Director of Centre Media Resources) provided a design of hall logo. The Swire Hall Students’ Association, HKUSU, then made some amendments to that design. The logo shows the words ‘S’ and ‘H’, which is the abbreviation of Swire Hall at that time. The design of the word ‘S’ looks like two hands holding together, signifying that all hall-mates should cooperate with each others. This promotes the hall motto ‘Unity and Sincerity’.

Hung Hing Ying Building

Hui Oi-Chow Science Building (Office for Faculty of Education)

Financed by Sir Paul Chater, Professor G. P. Jordan and others, it was opened in 1919 by the Governor of Hong Kong Sir Reginald Stubbs and housed the student union. After World War II, the building was used temporarily for administrative purposes. The East Wing was added in 1960. The building was converted into the Senior Common Room in 1974. It was named in honour of Mr Hung Hing Ying in 1986 for his family's donations to the university. The building was subsequently used again for administrative purposes, and now houses the Department of Music. The two-storey Edwardian style structure is characterised by a central dome and the use of red brick to emulate the main building opposite. The building was declared a monument in 1995.

Tang Chi Ngong Building

The idea to establish a school of Chinese was proposed between the two World Wars. Construction of the premises began in 1929 with a donation from Mr Tang Chi-ngong, father of the philanthropist Sir Tang Shiu-kin, after whom the building was named. It was opened by Governor of Hong Kong Sir William Peel in 1931 and since then further donations have been received for the endowment of teaching Chinese language and literature. The building has been used for other purposes since the 1970s but the name remained unchanged. At present, it houses the Centre of Asian Studies. This three-storey flat-roofed structure is surfaced with Shanghai plaster and was declared a monument in 1995.

University Museum and Art Gallery

Main article: University Museum and Art Gallery

The Fung Ping Shan Museum

The three-storey Fung Ping Shan Museum was erected in 1932 as a library for Chinese books. Named after its donor, the building consists of masonry on the ground level surmounted by a two-storey red-brick structure with applied ornamental columns topped by a pediment over its entrance. Since 1962, the Chinese books collection, now known as the Fung Ping Shan Library, was transferred to the University's new Main Library and the whole building was converted into a museum for Chinese art and archaeology. Among its collections are ceramics, pottery and bronzes. In 1996, the lowest three floors of the new T. T. Tsui Building were added to the old building to form the University Museum and Art Gallery.

Centennial Campus

To prepare for the new four-year undergraduate curriculum, HKU is developing a Centennial Campus on the west of the main campus. The construction of the campus started in late 2009, and was completed in 2012, the first year of the introduction of the new academic structure in Hong Kong. In 2012, the Faculty of Arts, the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Social Science will be moved into the Centennial Campus.

The TT Tsui Building

Robert Black College

The Kadoorie Biological Sciences Building and Pillar of Shame

Administration

The University's Chancellor is the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Leung Chun-ying. The Pro-Chancellor is David Li. The Chairman of the University Council is Dr. Leong Che Hung. The Vice-Chancellor and President is Professor Lap-Chee Tsui. The Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost is Professor Roland T. H. Chin, and the Pro-Vice-Chancellors and Vice-Presidents are Professors S. P. Chow, J. G. Malpas, Paul K. H. Tam and Amy B. M. Tsui. The academic staff population is over 800.

Professor Ian Davies was the Vice-Chancellor for two years before a worldwide search culminated in the selection of Professor Lap-Chee Tsui as the new head of the University in 2002.

The business school (now the Faculty of Business and Economics) was founded by Gordon Redding.

Research and endowment

The university is a founding member of Universitas 21, an international consortium of research-led universities. HKU benefits from a large operating budget supplied by high levels of government funding compared to many Western countries. Since 1991, the Research Grants Council (RGC) has granted the University of Hong Kong a total of HK$893 million, which is second highest after Chinese University of Hong Kong. HKU professors were among the highest paid in the world as well, having salaries far exceeding those of their U.S. counterparts in private universities. However, with the reduction of salaries in recent years, this is no longer the case.

HKU research output, researchers, projects, patents and theses are profiled and made publicly available in the HKU Scholars Hub. 100 members of academic staff (>10% of professoriate staff) from HKU are ranked among the world's top 1% of scientists by the Thomson Reuters' Essential Science Indicators, by means of the citations recorded on their publications.

Demographics

According to the latest profile indicators [2], the student population of the University was 21,652 in 2008–2009, comprising 11,962 undergraduates, 7,326 taught postgraduates and 2,364 research postgraduates. There were 2,068 non-local students (2008–2009) studying at the university.

HKU attracts some of the best students from the world in Hong Kong. For the last five years, the university has admitted less than 50% of all the Hong Kong A-level Grade-A students. It accepts most of its undergraduate students from Form 7 graduates of local secondary schools through the Joint University Programmes Admissions System (JUPAS). The University also operates an Early Admissions Scheme (EAS) which allows Form 6 students with at least 6 Grade A in the HKCEE (local schools) or at least 6 A* in GCSE or IGCSE (international schools) results to join the university without sitting the Hong Kong A-Level Examination. In 2009, over 50% of all Early Admissions Scheme applicants put HKU as their first choice.

Academic Organisations

The university comprises 10 faculties and a number of non-faculty academic units, which provide study programmes and courses for students.

Faculties and Other Teaching Units

Faculty of Architecture	Faculty of Arts	Faculty of Business and Economics	Faculty of Dentistry	Faculty of Education
Department of Architecture Department of Real Estate and Construction Department of Urban Planning and Design Division of Landscape Architecture	School of Chinese School of English School of Humanities Department of Comparative Literature Department of Fine Arts Department of History Department of Linguistics Department of Music Department of Philosophy School of Modern Languages and Cultures Centre for Applied English Studies	School of Business School of Economics and Finance		Division of Information and Technology Studies Division of Chinese Language and Literature Division of English Language Education Division of Learning, Development and Diversity Division of Policy, Administration and Social Sciences Education Division of Science, Mathematics and Computing Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences
Faculty of Engineering	Faculty of Law	Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine	Faculty of Science	Faculty of Social Sciences
Department of Civil Engineering Department of Computer Science Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Department of Mechanical Engineering	Department of Law Department of Professional Legal Education	Department of Anaesthesiology Department of Anatomy Department of Biochemistry School of Chinese Medicine Department of Clinical Oncology Department of Diagnostic Radiology Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care Department of Medicine Department of Microbiology School of Nursing Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department of Ophthalmology Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine Department of Pathology Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy Department of Physiology Department of Psychiatry School of Public Health Department of Surgery	School of Biological Sciences Department of Chemistry Department of Earth Sciences Department of Mathematics Department of Physics Department of Statistics & Actuarial Science	Department of Geography Journalism and Media Studies Centre Department of Politics and Public Administration Department of Psychology Department of Social Work and Social Administration Department of Sociology
Graduate School	HKU School of Professional and Continuing Education (HKU SPACE)
	College of Business and Finance College of Humanities and Law College of Life Sciences and Technology HKU SPACE Community College HKU SPACE Po Leung Kuk Community College Centre for International Degree Programmes

Affiliated Institutions

HKU School of Professional and Continuing Education (SPACE)

HKU SPACE Admiralty Learning Centre

HKU SPACE was established in 1956 as the Department of Extramural Studies, with its name changed to the current one in 1992. It aims at providing continuing education on a wide range of subjects, for instance, Japanese language courses and Mandarin language courses. It also runs programmes without subsidy from the Hong Kong Government and has set up community college-type institution, somewhat similar to community colleges in the US. HKU SPACE Community College, as one of them, was established in March 2000. It mainly provides sub-degree programmes for Form 5 or Form 7 graduates to further their studies. There are three main streams of programmes provided, they are Higher Diploma Programmes (2-year and 3-year full-time), Pre-Associate Degree (1-year full-time) and Associate Degree (2-year full-time).

Centennial College

Centennial College is a liberal arts college established in 2012 and it is part of the HKU group. It pays tribute to the University of Hong Kong in recognising the 100 years of commitment the University has made to academic excellence. The College is continuing the efforts to encourage a lifetime of self-cultivation for today's generation of students. It provides unique, multifaceted, self-financed, 4-year bachelor degree programmes for HKALE, HKDSE and other graduates from September 2012. Academic programmes that will be offered include: a Bachelor of Professional Accounting (Honours) degree course and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree course with majors in Integrated Business, Language and Communication, China Studies and Global Studies.

Libraries

HKU Libraries (HKUL) was established in 1912 and is the oldest academic library in Hong Kong with over 2.3 million holdings. A web-based library catalogue, DRAGON, allows one to search HKUL's books, journals and other resources.

HKUL now comprises the Main Library and six specialist branch libraries, the Dental, Education, Fung Ping Shan (East Asian Language), Yu Chun Keung Medical, Lui Che Woo Law, and the Music libraries. They are located in buildings around the campus with varying opening hours.

HKUL Digital Initiatives

The HKUL Digital Initiatives, through its digitization projects, has opened up online access to local collections originally in print format. The first HKUL Digital Initiative, ExamBase, was launched in 1996 and other projects of scholarly interests were introduced. More digital projects are being developed to provide continuous access to digital content and services. It provides open access to Chinese and English academic and medical periodicals published in Hong Kong.

Student life

Student services

These include:

• Career Education and Placement Centre
• Information Technology Services
• Centre of Development and Resources for Students
• Personal Development and Counselling Centre
• Sports and Recreation Programmes/Facilities
• University Dental Service
• University Health Service
• University Museum and Art Gallery (formerly Fung Ping Shan Museum)

Student accommodation and hall education

Main article: Accommodation at the University of Hong Kong

Residential halls

Mostly male and female with shared room types unless specified.

• St. John's College (co-ed undergraduates and postgraduates, an Anglican Foundation College, single room)
• Morrison Hall (male undergraduates and co-ed postgraduates)
• Ricci Hall (male only, run by Jesuit Fathers, single room)
• Lady Ho Tung Hall (female only)
• University Hall (male only)
• Robert Black College (named after Governor Robert Black, postgraduates and visitors only)
• Swire Hall
• Simon K. Y. Lee Hall
• Lee Hysan Hall
• R.C. Lee Hall
• Wei Lun Hall
• Madam S.H. Ho Residence for Medical Students
• Pokfield Road Residences
• Graduate House (postgraduates only)
• Starr Hall (largest residential hall in HKU)
• Patrick Manson Student Residences
• Lee Shau Kee Hall
• Suen Chi Sun Hall

Non-residential halls

• Hornell Hall (male only)
• Duchess of Kent Hall (female only)
• Lee Chi Hung Hall (co-educational)

Residential Colleges

The Residential Colleges on Lung Wah Street at Kennedy Town are 4 blocks founded in September 2012. It provides a total of 1800 beds for students of whom 67% are non-local students. Traditional functions of halls are partly kept in Residential Colleges such as high table dinner.

Student organisations

The Students' Union

There are two officially recognised student bodies, giving opportunities for students to participate in extracurricular activities.

The Hong Kong University Students' Union (HKUSU) principally serves the undergraduate students. This organization is renowned amongst student activists, having been the main driving force behind evicting a chancellor in recent years. There was controversy when the head of the Students' Union, Ayo Chan, said that some of the protesters involved in the Tiananmen Square Massacre had acted irrationally. Many students thought his remarks were offensive and he was ousted by a vote in under one week. The Postgraduate Students Association (PGSA) represents the postgraduate students.

People affiliated with HKU

See also: List of graduates of the University of Hong Kong and List of Vice-Chancellors of the University of Hong Kong

The University of Hong Kong has educated many notable people. One of them was Dr Sun Yat-sen, founding president of the Republic of China, who was a graduate of the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, the predecessor of HKU. Over 40 principal officials, permanent secretaries, and Executive Council/Legislative Council members of the Hong Kong SAR Government are HKU graduates. HKU graduates also form the senior management teams of many large organisations in the private sector.

Study abroad programme

In 2009, the Times Higher Education Supplement ranked the University of Hong Kong 24th in the world. Student welfare is served by several units, including the Centre of Development and Resources for Students (CEDARS), which provides guidance for most areas of student life including career counselling; and University Health Service, which provides health care, referrals and preventive services. This student run organization offers more than 100 clubs and associations catering to the student population.

Through the Exchange Buddy Program, students from abroad can choose to be matched with a local student whom they can correspond with prior to their departure for Hong Kong. These local students greet the visiting students upon arrival at the airport, assist with settling into student residence and offer advice and support during their stay.

More than 3,000 students have participated in the exchange programmes through universities spanning 18 countries around the world with the support of the University Grants Committee, the University of Hong Kong Foundation for Educational Development and Research, the Hongkong Bank Foundation, the UBC Alumni Association (Hong Kong), the Dr. Lee Shiu Scholarships for Hong Kong and South-East Asia Academic Exchange, Shell (Hong Kong) Limited, and the C.V. Starr Scholarship Fund and other donations.

Development

In addition to increased academic research and development, HKU aims to promote continuing education to the public, through improved links between the University and the HKU SPACE|School of Professional and Continuing Education (SPACE).

HKU is also trying to better its alumni and external network for financially sustainable development.

See also

• University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law
• Hong Kong University Students' Union
• Education in Hong Kong
• List of higher education institutions in Hong Kong
• List of buildings and structures in Hong Kong
• List of oldest universities in continuous operation

External links

• Official website
• University of Hong Kong on Blogger
• Wong & Ouyang (HK) Ltd., "More than half-a-century of architectural design experience in Hong Kong", section "Master Planning of the main campus and the centennial campus of the University of Hong Kong", pp. 44–48, September 2009