Lingnan University (Hong Kong)

Overview

Lingnan University has 3 faculties, 16 departments and 19 undergraduate degree programmes of a broad range of disciplines in humanities, social sciences and business administrations. All undergraduates are required to take take 33 credits of Core Curriculum courses, 18 credits of Chinese and English language courses, 48 credits of major courses and 21 credits of free elective courses. Lingnan also offers a great variety of taught masters, research masters and PhD programmes, and there are over 3,000 students in total studying in the small liberal arts university.

At Lingnan University, liberal arts education is achieved through the following ：

UGC Research Assessment Exercise 2014

The 2014 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) published by University Grants Committee in Hong Kong shows that:

UGC General Research Fund (GRF) Results 2015/16

LU's overall success rate of 36.1% ranks second among the institutions and is above the sector-wide 34.9%.

UGC Early Career Scheme (ECS) Results 2015/16

LU's success rate of 71.4% is the highest among the institutions while the sector average is 39.9%.

Canton Period

Lingnan University was founded as Canton Christian College in Guangzhou, China as a Non-Denominational Christian university by the American Presbyterians (North) Council in 1889.

The school changed location several times over the years. In 1900, the school was relocated to Macau due to the Boxer Rebellion. The school moved back to Guangzhou and built a permanent campus at the Haizhu District in 1904.

The university moved to Hong Kong for the first time in 1938 after Guangzhou fell to the Japanese military. The university stayed in Hong Kong for 4 years before moving to Shaoguan after Hong Kong's capitulation to the Japanese forces.

After World War II concluded, Lingnan University moved back to its permanent campus at Haizhu.

Lingnan School

After the communist revolution in Mainland China, the university remained in Guangzhou, and was merged into Sun Yat-sen University in 1952.

In 1967, the Lingnan Secondary School board of directors, along with the Lingnan University Hong Kong Alumnus Club and Lingnan Club founded the Lingnan Education Expansion Council, and began to organise the Lingnan School in Hong Kong. In the formative years, the school only provided preparatory form (Sixth Form) education and non-degree programmes.

During the 1970s, Lingnan School began to offer diploma programmes in such subjects as liberal arts, commerce, and social science.

Lingnan College

At the end of 1978, the colonial government in Hong Kong issued a White Paper on post-secondary education. Lingnan accepted the government's suggestions, and abolished the 4-year system that is used in other universities around the world in favour of the "2-2-1" regimen (2 years of preparatory courses, 2 years of study for higher diplomas, 1 more year for an honours diploma). At the same time, the school was registered as an Approved Post Secondary College, and changed its name to Lingnan College.

During the 1980s, the school began to focus its resources on Social Science, Commerce, and Literature programmes, and shut down its other programmes, such as Music and Science, to conserve funding. In 1985, an interdisciplinary degree programme was established.

Lingnan's speed of development increased as the 80s drew to an end, due to the colonial Hong Kong government's policy of expanding higher education. At the same time, the preparatory courses that were first mandated by the government in 1978 were steadily abolished.

Lingnan University

In 1991, the Lingnan College received funding from the Hong Kong government directly after it passed an academic accreditation review from the Hong Kong Council for Academic Accreditation (HKCAA).

During the 1990s, the University's development as a Liberal Arts university was confirmed by the school's board, and the school moved to its permanent location in Tuen Mun in 1995, the former site of Bowring Camp, a British Forces barracks. The school began to receive authorisation to open bachelor courses in 1992, then master courses in 1996, eventually receiving self-accreditation status and full recognition as a university by the government in 1998, and renaming the institution as Lingnan University on 30 July 1999.

In 2007 Professor Edward Chen retired after his 12 years as president. Professor Yuk-Shee Chan, ex-vice-president of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology become the new president. Lingnan University is now preparing the new "334" system which is planned for introduction in 2012; in the new system, a new 120-credit programme will be divided into parts, e.g. General Education, Ethics. In addition, to prepare for the four-year university system, construction of Lingnan University's new academic building, Simon and Eleanor Kwok Building, has been completed, providing more teaching and learning facilities for the Faculty of Business. Located adjacent to the existing campus and near Fu Tai Estate, the Simon and Eleanor Kwok Building is built on a 4,674-square metre site and has a gross floor area of 5,178 square metres.

Faculty of Arts

Faculty of Social Sciences

Faculty of Business

Business Administration Society

Students' Residence

Lingnan considers "hostel life" (life in college dormitories) a form of informal education. As a result, all full-time undergraduate students are required to stay at student hostels on campus for at least one academic year while at the university. A majority of students stay for two academic years. Newly admitted four-year students are required to be residents of student hostels for at least two years, and are guaranteed full residence throughout their stay should they agree upon it.

In addition to another new student hostel building under construction, there are currently eight blocks of student hostels in Lingnan University; each hostel holds an estimated amount 250 people. They are divided into three zones:

Southern hostels

Northern hostels

The lower floors of hostels are for male residents and the upper floors for female residents. All student rooms are double occupancy.

In the 2012 academic year, a new hostel near Fu Tai would start to cope with the increasing number of students under the "334" system. The new hostel is expected to carry about 500 students. The building fee is donated by Sir Christopher A. Bayly.

New Student Hostels

The two new student hostels are connected with a corridor located on the third floor. The two buildings also share a common passage of entrance; the left is connected to the upper floors of the WJY Hall, why the right is connected to the upper floors of the WHC Hall.

Arts

Business

Social Sciences