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The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is a public university in Pokfulam, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese by the London Missionary Society and formally established as the University of Hong Kong in 1911. It is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong.

The university was established and proposed by Governor Sir Frederick Lugard in an effort to compete with the other Great Powers opening universities in China. The university's governance consists of three bodies: the Court, the council, and the Senate. These three bodies all have their own separate roles. The Court acts as the overseeing and legislative body of the university, the Council acts as governing body of the university, and the Senate as the principal academic authority of the university.

The university currently has ten academic faculties and 20 residential halls and colleges for its students, with English being its main medium of instruction and assessment.

The university has educated many notable alumni in many fields. Among them is Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic of China, a graduate of the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, the predecessor of HKU. Notable alumni in the field of politics include Anson Chan, Carrie Lam, Jasper Tsang and Regina Ip.

History

Founding

The origins of the University of Hong Kong can be traced back to the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, founded in 1887 by Ho Kai (later known as Sir Kai Ho Kai). It was renamed the Hong Kong College of Medicine in 1907. The college was later incorporated as HKU's medical school in 1911.

The University of Hong Kong was founded in 1911. The colony's governor, Sir Frederick Lugard (1858–1945), first proposed in January 1908 during a graduation ceremony at St Stephen's College to establish a university in Hong Kong to compete with the other Great Powers opening universities in China, most notably Germany, which had just opened the Tongji German Medical School in Shanghai. Sir Lugard saw the establishment of the university as an opportunity to promote British culture to China and the Chinese people through education, in turn enhancing Britain's influence in the Far East. He quoted saying, "We must either now take those opportunities or leave them for others to take...". Sir Hormusjee Naorojee Mody, an Indian Parsi businessman in Hong Kong, 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 Government contributed a site at West Point. Swire Group contributed £40,000 to endow a chair in Engineering, in addition to thousands of dollars in equipment (its aim was partly to bolster its corporate image following the death of a passenger on board one of its ships, SS Fatshan, and the subsequent unrest stirred by the Self-Government Society). Along with donations from other donors including the British government and companies such as HSBC, Lugard finally had enough to fund the building of the university.

Charles Eliot was appointed the university's first vice-chancellor. As Governor of Hong Kong, Lugard laid the foundation stone of the Main Building on 16 March 1910. The university was incorporated in Hong Kong as a self-governing body of scholars on 30 March 1911 and had its official opening ceremony on 11 March 1912. It was founded as an all-male institution; women were admitted for the first time ten years later.

The school opened with three founding faculties: Arts, Engineering, and Medicine. The Faculty of Medicine was previously founded as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese by the London Missionary Society in 1887. Of the college's early alumni, the most renowned was Sun Yat-sen, who led the 1911 Revolution, which transformed China from an empire (Qing dynasty) to a republic (Republic of China). In December 1916, the university held its first convocation, with 23 graduates and five honorary graduates.

Campuses

The university's main campus covers 177,000 square metres (1,910,000 sq ft) of land on Pokfulam Road and Bonham Road in Pokfulam and on Lung Fu Shan of Central and Western District, Hong Kong Island. The university also has a few buildings in Sandy Bay Gap in Southern District. Buildings of the university are some of the few remaining examples of British Colonial architecture in Hong Kong. The university lends its name to HKU MTR station, the main public transport access to the campus which had opened on 28 December 2014.

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 Pokfulam. 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 Centre, which occupies 95,000 square metres (1,020,000 sq ft) of land in the New Territories, and the Swire Institute of Marine Science at the southern tip of Cape D'Aguilar on Hong Kong Island.

Main building

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

Swire building

Around 1980, the Swire Group sponsored the building of a new residential hall in the eastern end of the campus. The new student residence was named Swire Building in honour of this sponsorship. The building was officially opened by Mr John Anthony Swire on 11 November 1980. In 1983, the colour orange was chosen to be the hall colour in the second Annual General Meeting since the colour was used as the background colour during the first open day of Swire Hall and no other halls were using orange as their hall colour.

In 1983, Mrs J. Lau (Director of Centre Media Resources) provided a design for the hall logo. The Swire Hall Students' Association, HKUSU, then made some amendments to that design. The logo shows the words 'S' and 'H'. The design of the word 'S' looks like two hands holding each other, signifying that all hall-mates should co-operate with each other, and promoting the hall motto 'Unity and Sincerity'.

Academics

Admission

Admission to HKU is highly competitive. In 2016, the university received around 40,000 applications for undergraduate studies, over 16,000 of which were from outside the Hong Kong schools' system. For Mainland China applicants, the enrollment rate was 1 student for every 21 applications.

Undergraduate candidates are selected according to their relative merit in the local public examination (HKDSE) and apply online via JUPAS. Other applicants, including overseas students or ones taking other examinations, are classified as non-JUPAS applicants who are required to apply via the official website, where postgraduate applications may also be made.

Teaching and learning

Most undergraduate courses are 4-year degrees while the medical and nursing programmes require two and one more year(s) of studies respectively. English is the main medium of instruction, and the university's Senate has endorsed English as the campus lingua franca. Starting from 2012, local students are required to take Academic English courses and Chinese language enhancement courses; however, students who are native-speakers of languages other than Chinese, and students who have not studied Chinese language in their secondary curriculum can be exempted from the Chinese course requirement. Cantonese credit-courses for mainland Chinese and Taiwan students, and ab initio Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese credit-courses for international and exchange students are offered by the Chinese Language Centre, School of Chinese.

Research

The university is a founding member of Universitas 21, an international consortium of research-led universities, and a member of the Association for Pacific Rim Universities, the Association of Commonwealth Universities, Washington University in St. Louis's McDonnell International Scholars Academy, and many others. HKU benefits from a large operating budget supplied by high levels of government funding compared to many Western countries. In 2018/19, the Research Grants Council (RGC) granted HKU a total research funding of HK$12,127 million (41.3% of overall RGC funding), which was the highest among all universities in Hong Kong. HKU professors were among the highest paid in the world as well, having salaries far exceeding those of their US counterparts in private universities.

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. The university has 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. In 2025, about 434 HKU scholars are listed in Stanford University's latest 2025 Top 2% Scientists for the “Single recent year” category, while another 376 made it to the “Career Long” category. Among these scholars, Xiang Zhang (HKU President) and Guochun Zhao are both ranked the top 10 globally in their respective areas.

Reputation and rankings

Overall ranking

HKU was ranked #11 worldwide and #1 in Asia in QS World University Rankings 2027, #33 worldwide in Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2026, #62 worldwide in Academic Ranking of World Universities 2026, and #40 worldwide in U.S. News 2026–2027.

The Aggregate Ranking of Top Universities (ARTU), which sorts universities based on their aggregate performance across Times Higher Education World University Rankings, QS World University Rankings, and Academic Ranking of World Universities, found that HKU was the 42nd best-ranked university worldwide in 2023.

HKU is ranked 49th in the THE World Reputation Rankings 2025.

HKU is ranked as the most international university in the world in 2023 by Times Higher Education.

QS subject rankings

In the QS World University Rankings Top Global Subject Ranks 2026:

THE subject rankings

In the Times Higher Education World University Rankings by subject 2026:

Graduate Employability Ranking

HKU graduates ranked 47th worldwide in the Times Higher Education's Global University Employability Ranking 2022, and 10th worldwide in the QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2022. HKU ranked 11th globally and 1st in Asia in QS World University Rankings 2026.

Student life

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, students activities, financial support and more, and the University Health Service, which provides health care, referrals, and preventive services.

Demographics

The student population of the university was 39,166 in the 2023–2024 academic year, comprising 18,491 undergraduates, 16,541 taught postgraduates and 4,134 research postgraduates. The university has become a popular choice for mainland and international students, with 19,145 non-local students (excluding exchange students) on campus in 2023, comprising 47.2% of the total students.

Halls and colleges

There are 20 residential halls and colleges for undergraduates, postgraduates and visitors.

The residential halls include:

Main Campus – Swire Hall and Simon K. Y. Lee Hall, mainly for undergraduates. Graduate House and Robert Black College, primarily for postgraduates and visitors respectively.

Sassoon Road Campus – Lee Hysan Hall, Richard Charles Lee Hall, Wei Lun Hall and Madam S. H. Ho Hall Residence for Medical Students.

Jockey Club Student Village I (founded in 2001) – Lady Ho Tung Hall and Starr Hall.

Jockey Club Student Village II (founded in 2005) – Morrison Hall, Lee Shau Kee Hall and Suen Chi Sun Hall.

Jockey Club Student Village III (founded in 2012) – made up of four residential colleges, Shun Hing College, Chi Sun College, Lap-Chee College and New College. They provide a total of 1,800 beds for students of whom 67% are non-local students.

Jockey Club Student Village IV – made up of four residential colleges. They provide a total of 1,238 hostel places for students.

Other historical student residences include St. John's College, Ricci Hall and University Hall.

Moreover, there are two non-residential halls:

Hornell Hall (male only)

Lee Chi Hung Hall (co-educational)

Student organisations

Two officially recognised student bodies, formerly three, provide opportunities for postgraduate students to participate in extracurricular activities. The two being the Postgraduate Student Association (PGSA) and the HKU Business School Postgraduate Student Association (HKUBSPA). Undergraduate students participate in student societies registered with the university's Co-Curricular Support Office (CCSO).

The Hong Kong University Students' Union (HKUSU), which represented both undergraduate and postgraduate students, existed as an officially recognised student body from 1912 to 2021, with a majority of its members being undergraduate students. The union ceased to be officially recognised by the university after passing a motion in memorial to a deceased assailant who stabbed a police officer in the wake of the protests in 2021. Prior to the withdrawal of recognition by the university, HKUSU was the parent body of more than a hundred student societies. Student societies are now registered with the university's CCSO.

Organisation and administration

Chancellor

Prior to Hong Kong's handover, the colony's governor was the de jure chancellor of the university. That role was assumed by the chief executive following the handover. The chancellor is officially the chief officer of the university and president of the Court, the duties and functions of the role are however delegated to the pro-chancellor, a person appointed by the chancellor.

The chief executive's role as the university's chancellor is enshrined in the University of Hong Kong Ordinance.

In the absence of the chief executive, the person for the time being assumes the duties of the chief executive is simultaneously appointed as the acting chancellor and has all powers and duties of the chancellor.

Эх сурвалж: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)