City University of Hong Kong

History

City University's origins lie in the calls for a "second polytechnic" in the years following the 1972 establishment of the Hong Kong Polytechnic. In 1982, Executive Council member Chung Sze-yuen spoke of a general consensus that "a second polytechnic of similar size to the first should be built as soon as possible." District administrators from Tuen Mun and Tsuen Wan lobbied the government to build the new institution in their respective new towns. The government instead purchased temporary premises at the new Argyle Centre Tower II in Mong Kok, a property developed by the Mass Transit Railway Corporation in concert with the then-Argyle Station. The new school was called City Polytechnic of Hong Kong, a name chosen among nearly 300 suggestions made by members of the public.

The new polytechnic opened on 8 October 1984, welcoming 480 full-time and 680 part-time students. Founding director Dr. David Johns stated that the unique modular structure of the coursework offered "absolute parity of academic standards between full-time and part time students" and that provision for part-time students contributed to a huge demand for student places, with the quota being filled almost immediately. The polytechnic's planning committee sought to accommodate a student population of 8,000 by the end of the 1980s, and construction of the permanent campus in nearby Kowloon Tong began shortly thereafter.

The architectural contract to design the new campus was won by Percy Thomas Partnership in association with Alan Fitch and W.N. Chung. It was originally slated to open by October 1988. The first phase was officially opened by Governor Wilson on 15 January 1990, and boasted 14 lecture theatres and 1,500 computers. By 1991, the school had over 8,000 full-time students and approximately 3,000 part-time students. The second phase of the permanent campus opened 1993. The school achieved university status in 1994 and the name was changed accordingly.

In April 2015 the university abruptly and controversially shut down its MFA programme in creative writing. Students and alumni launched a petition against the decision, while the faculty and noted international writers issued an open letter questioning the reasoning behind the closure. Acclaimed Canadian novelist and faculty member Madeleine Thien, writing in The Guardian, was among those who attributed the decision to censorship and diminishing freedom of expression in Hong Kong.

Campus

City University of Hong Kong is located on Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon. It is near the MTR Kowloon Tong Station of the East Rail Line and Kwun Tong Line, Shek Kip Mei Park, Nam Shan Estate and the Festival Walk shopping centre. The main campus covers around 15.6 hectares. Principal buildings include Academic 1, Li Dak Sum Yip Yio Chin Academic Building, Lau Ming Wai Academic Building, Amenities Building, Mong Man-wai Building, Fong Yun-wah Building, Cheng Yick-chi Building, Academic Exchange Building, To Yuen Building, Hu Fa Kuang Sports Centre, two senior staff quarters (Nam Shan Yuen, Tak Chee Yuen), Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre and the student residential halls.

Academic 1

The original buildings for CityU comprising Academic 1 were designed by Percy Thomas Partnership with Fitch and Chung, who won an international design competition. The first phase of construction was completed in 1990 and the second phase (increasing capacity to 20,000 students) in 1993. The total floor area is about 63,000 m², including 116 laboratories, 18 lecture halls, classrooms, as well as school canteens. The buildings had to be low-rise because of airport height restrictions back then. The school colours are drawn from the interior colours of the first phase of Academic 1.

Li Dak Sum Yip Yio Chin Academic Building

Opened in 2011, Li Dak Sum Yip Yio Chin Academic Building is a combined academic, administrative and amenities building covering 20,900m², located near the Amenities Building and Hu Fa Kuang Sports Centre. It is a 9-storey building comprising 12 lecture theatres, 45 classrooms, 11 computer rooms, a canteen with a capacity of 800, staff offices, a number of multi-function rooms, and plenty of learning resources and common areas.

Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre (CMC)

In November 2010 the new Creative Media Centre was completed, designed by Studio Daniel Libeskind with Leigh & Orange Architects. The distinctive design includes a range of spaces, lighting and materials to inspire students, faculty, and staff. The building was designed to house the School of Creative Media, the Department of English and the Department of Media and Communication under the College of Liberal Arts and Social Science and the Department of Computer Engineering and Information Technology. The building was also selected by CNN as one of the world's 10 most spectacular university buildings.

Lau Ming Wai Academic Building

Lau Ming Wai Academic Building is a new combined academic, amenities, and administrative building with 20,500m² of net operational area which consists of facilities such as classrooms, lecture theatres (including one holding up to 600 people), teaching and research laboratories, multi-function rooms, a canteen, common areas, administrative offices and a roof garden. The 20-storey building was built in light of the student influx anticipated to result from the 334 Scheme. The designer and architect for Academic 3 was Ronald Lu and Partners.

Student residence

The Student Residence Office provides on-campus accommodation for almost 3,700 students. The student residence at Cornwall Street comprises 11 residential halls, 10 for undergraduate and 1 for postgraduate students, namely Jockey Club Humanity Hall, HSBC Prosperity Hall, Alumni Civility Hall, Jockey Club Academy Hall, Chan Sui Kau Hall, Lee Shau Kee Hall, Jockey Club Harmony Hall, Hall 8 (postgraduate hall), Sir Gordon and Lady Ivy Wu Hall, Hall 10 and Hall 11. The residence association organises activities for hall residence.

Governance

The Council comprises 23 university members. The chief executive of Hong Kong has the power to appoint 15 of the 23 council members, seven of which are named directly and eight appointed upon recommendation of the council. The chief executive can also appoint the chairman, deputy and treasurer.; the vice-chancellor is in turn appointed by the council.

Colleges and schools

The three colleges: Business, Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, Science and Engineering, and the School of Law and School of Creative Media offer bachelor's degrees and postgraduate programmes. The School of Energy and Environment currently offers postgraduate degree programmes and the new School of Veterinary Medicine is now in operation. The Division of Building Science and Technology and the Community College of City University (CCCU) runs government-funded and self-funded associate degree programmes respectively.

The School of Continuing and Professional Education (SCOPE) helps fulfil the University's role as a centre for lifelong education by providing continuing educational opportunities for the community through diplomas, certificate and short programmes.

The overall academic organisation structure is set out below:

Research institute/centres

Computer Services Centre

The Computing Services Centre (CSC) is responsible for the provision of central computing facilities and technical services to support various aspects of computing and networking within the University.

Innovation Commons

The Innovation Commons was set up after the introduction of CityU's new Discovery-enriched Curriculum (DEC) in 2012. The Innovation Commons, which is collaboratively established by the Knowledge Transfer Office, the Library, the Office of Education Development and Gateway Education, and the School of Law, is currently located at the Library. The facility is open to students and other campus users to exchange and develop their ideas.

The Innovation Commons provides co-working spaces for individuals or start-ups to get their business off the ground. There are two workstations for patent search, two workstations for group discussion and idea exchange as well as a 70” interactive eBoard Touch Screen panel for presentations. Free professional consultations with Patent Attorneys from Marks and Clerk are available to student innovators at the Innovation Commons.

Library

The Run Run Shaw Library was established in 1984. In 1989, the Library moved to its current location in Academic 1 on the university campus in Kowloon Tong and the following year it was renamed Run Run Shaw Library in recognition of a generous donation by Sir Run Run Shaw.

Located on Level 2 and Level 3 of Academic 1, the Library is centrally located within the university. It covers a total area of 17,244m2 and seats approximately 2,530.

The Library's collection includes more than 1.06 million print books and over 2.00 million electronic books. The collection also comprises about 218,000 volumes of bound periodicals and 1,700 print serial titles. The Library maintains an expanding number of electronic resources including 378 electronic databases, over 78,000 e-journals, 69,400 media resources and 127,000 online audiovisual materials.

The Library houses a special collection on English legal history. The English Law Special Collection is recognized as one of the best of its kind in Asia. Its main strength is pre-1900 English law materials but it also covers a wide range of subject areas in law in general. Amongst the valuable holdings are La novvelle natura breuiu, 1553, Henrici de Bracton de legibus & consuetudinibus Angliae libri quinq, 1569, La graunde abridgement, 1573, Commentaries on the laws of England, 1768-1769.

The Library has been a pioneer in the development and implementation of Learning Commons, which it introduced in 2007. Learning Commons bring together library, technology, and other campus services to facilitate individual study, collaborative research and social interaction. Major milestones include the establishment of the Oval, IT Help Desk, Reference Desk, Mini Theatre, Library Lounge, Leisure Corner in 2007, Humanities Academy, User Education Room and Multi-Purpose Lobby in 2009, the Library Extension with collection and quiet individual study area in 2013 and the opening of the Si Ku Quan Shu Reading Room in 2015.

In 2014, the Library began a collaboration with the School of Law, the Knowledge Transfer Office, and the Office of Education Development and Gateway Education to develop the Innovation Commons. The Innovation Commons serves as a one-stop resource center located at the Library, aiming to gather students and other campus users to express their imaginations, to communicate with others and to develop their ideas with others’ inputs.

In 2008, the Library also became the first in Hong Kong to collaborate with researchers in the field of radio frequency identification (RFID), to develop the EasyCheck System based on Ultra High Frequency (UHF) RFID technologies. Introduced in the Semi-closed Collection Room, EasyCheck enables users to check out and return multiple library items at any one time by themselves with convenience and flexibility. With approval and certification from Octopus, the Library developed the EasyPay System to integrate its Library system with Octopus to automate the overdue fine payment process. Both the EasyCheck System and EasyPay System were granted patents from PRC and Hong Kong.

In 2016, in support of the University's Discovery-enriched Curriculum (DEC), the Library developed a new Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) to provide students with tools for discovery and innovation for their learning and research endeavors. The CAVE is part of the Discovery Corner, a one-stop-shop for students to create and modify the 3D models and VR projects for their assignments and research. The CAVE itself is a projection-based Virtual Reality (VR) display inside a room-sized cube that multiple persons can use to share the same immersive experience. The Library's Discovery Corner is also equipped with a VR Head Mount Display (HMD) to let students experience immersion individually. Apart from CAVE, inside the Discovery Corner, 3D scanning services and desktop computers are available.

Sports facilities

Hu Fa Kuang Sports Centre is a five-storey sports centre which houses a multi-purpose hall and four practice gymnasiums for badminton, basketball, volleyball, martial arts and dance, and other activities. There is a table-tennis room, six squash courts, an indoor sport-climbing wall, two physical fitness rooms and two golf driving rooms plus a golf simulation room. In May 2016, the 1,400 square metre roof of the Chan Tai Ho multi-purpose hall at the sports centre which had been covered with a living roof completed only two months previously suddenly collapsed, injuring three people.

CityU also has a 50-metre, Olympic-size swimming pool and a full-size outdoor basketball court. The off-campus Joint Sports Centre provides a variety of outdoor sports facilities, including an international standard 8-lane all-weather running track and field facilities, an 11-a-side natural grass football pitch, four tennis courts with a 200-seat spectator stand, a multi-purpose court and two-bay golf practice area. It is jointly owned and shared by City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Canteen and food services

City Express: Amenities building, 5F
City Chinese Restaurant: Amenities building, 8F
City Top: Amenities building, 9F
Maxim’s: Academic 2, 3F
Delifrance: Academic 3, 3F
Bistro: Academic3, 7F
Garden Café (Grove Company Ltd): Academic Exchange building, GF
Homey Kitchen: Multi-purpose hall B of Student Residence
CMCafé (Grove Company Ltd): Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre, 3F

Students' Union

The CityU Students' Union, established in 1986, has a high degree of autonomy in running its own affairs. Its 19 societies, approximately 40 affiliated clubs and seven residents' associations organise regular functions throughout the year. The Students' Union was a constituent member of the Hong Kong Federation of Students.

Sport teams

CityU is "One of the Best Universities in Sports" among 11 member tertiary institutions in Hong Kong. It is the only University that has captured Double Champions for 8 times in both Men’s and Women’s Overall Championship in the USFHK Sports Competition in the years 1996–97, 2000–01, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2012–2013 and 2013-2014. CityU now has over 400 athletes in 16 sports events. The slogan of the sports team is "Be the best that we can be".

Proposed off-campus student hostel

There is a proposed student hostel to be built at Whitehead in Ma On Shan. It has a target of providing 2,168 bed places. The construction is expected to be commenced in late 2014 and completed in mid 2017.

Reputation and rankings

CityU is No. 55 in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings (2016–17) and No. 7 among the top universities in Asia in the QS Asian University Rankings (2016), which was followed by The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). In addition, it was ranked No. 4 in the QS world’s under 50 years old universities (2015).

In the Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University (2015), CityU is No. 27 in the field of Engineering/ Technology and Computer Sciences; and No. 45 in the subject of computer science and No. 22 in the subject of mathematics.

In the US News Best Global Universities for Engineering (2015), CityU is ranked Top 10 in the world and 1st in Hong Kong.

According to the QS World University Rankings by Subject, linguistics has been ranked among the top 50 universities worldwide for six consecutive years (from 2011 to 2016), and is ranked No. 29 in 2016.

The CityU College of Business is highly regarded in Hong Kong and internationally, and is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and the European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS). Furthermore, in the US News Best Global Universities for Business (2015), CityU College of Business is ranked No. 2 in Asia and No. 57 in the world. In the UTD Top 100 Business School Research Ranking, the College of Business is ranked No. 2 in Asia and No. 33 in the world.

According to the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) World University Rankings (2017), CityU is ranked at No. 119 in the world. Full list of its strength in individual disciplines can be seen via the list of subject rankings of Hong Kong tertiary institutions.

Alumni