General Information about the University

PAST AND PRESENT

The University of Hong Kong is the oldest tertiary education institution in Hong Kong. It was founded in 1911, and opened in 1912 with teaching programmes in medicine, engineering and arts. Since then, the University has grown substantially, and now embraces a very wide range of teaching and research programmes. In 2013-14, the student population of the University (including postgraduate students) was approximately 26,600 headcounts and the academic staff population was around 1,190 headcounts. There are ten faculties: Architecture, Arts, Business and Economics, Dentistry, Education, Engineering, Law, Medicine, Science and Social Sciences. Each faculty has a faculty office. Students needing advice on their studies and other academic matters should contact their home faculty office in the first instance.

THE CAMPUS

The University's Main Campus covers about 16 hectares of land in the Bonham Road/Pokfulam area of Hong Kong Island and accommodates five of the ten faculties, namely Architecture, Business and Economics, Education, Engineering and Science, as well as the Main Library. A major building programme which began in the 1970s has seen the construction of many modern buildings on the Main Campus. These modern buildings stand adjacent to several retained older buildings, including the original Main Building which dates from 1912, which have been preserved because of their historic and architectural merits.

The University of Hong Kong has completed a major extension, the Centennial Campus, immediately to the west of the existing Main Campus. The new campus, located against an attractive backdrop of tree-clad hillsides, will be served by a Mass Transit Railway station and provides academic buildings, recreational facilities and other modern amenities. It houses the Faculties of Arts, Social Sciences and Law, with a state-of-the-art learning commons, a lecture centre and experimental teaching/learning spaces. A large landscaped area of 4,000 square metres can be found on top of the re-provisioned service reservoirs of the Water Supplies Department.

The Sassoon Road Campus which is situated three kilometres to the southwest of the Main Campus mainly houses the departments of the LKS Faculty of Medicine. Clinical teaching facilities are based in the Queen Mary Hospital which is one of the University’s teaching hospitals, and pre-clinical teaching facilities and library services are close by. The two major buildings for the Medical Faculty, i.e. William M.W. Mong Block and the Laboratory Block, provide state-of-the-art facilities for pre-clinical and clinical research and teaching. Other teaching and/or research facilities in the vicinity include the HKU Pasteur Research Centre and the School of Chinese Medicine. The Hong Kong Jockey Club Building for Interdisciplinary Research houses multi-disciplinary research activities for the betterment of human health and welfare.

The Faculty of Dentistry has its clinical teaching facilities and library services in the Prince Philip Dental Hospital in Sai Ying Pun, a short distance to the north of the Main Campus.

Student residential accommodation is provided in a limited form on the Main Campus and the bulk of the accommodation is situated further south along Pokfulam Road and on Sassoon Road and Lung Wah Street.

Sports facilities, mainly indoors, are provided at Flora Ho and Lindsay Ride Sports Centres, with the University's major sports fields being located in the Stanley Ho Sports Field at the Sandy Bay (Sha Wan) area with provision for athletics, softball, soccer, hockey and lacrosse, etc. A 50-metre outdoor swimming pool, tennis courts and a multi-purpose sports area round off a most comprehensive facility.

Other parts of the University's estate include the Kadoorie Institute, which occupies 9.5 hectares of land in the New Territories, and the Swire Institute of Marine Sciences on the southern coast of Hong Kong Island.

The University is a smoke-free campus. There is a total smoking ban, both indoors and outdoors.

GOVERNANCE OF THE UNIVERSITY

The University of Hong Kong is incorporated under the University of Hong Kong Ordinance (Chapter 1053 of 1964). The Ordinance defines the University's powers, duties, privileges and constitution. The Ordinance provides for the making of Statutes which set out important constitutional and procedural matters. It also empowers the University's Council and Senate to make regulations ordering the conduct of the University's day-to-day affairs.

The Ordinance and Statutes also define the responsibilities of the University's Court, Council, Senate and Boards of Faculties. All of these bodies may form committees and delegate their powers as they see fit.

The Court is the University's supreme advisory body, and comprises representatives of the University and other stakeholders. The Court offers a means whereby the wider interests served by the University can be associated with the University, and it provides a public forum where members of the Court can raise any matters about the University.

The Council is the supreme governing body and is responsible for the University's finances and investments, the management of estate and buildings, staff appointments and terms and conditions of service, and drafting of Statutes. The Council comprises University members (both staff and students) and lay members (i.e. persons who are not employees of the University), and the membership is specified in the Statutes by category of appointment. The Council has a lay majority and one of the lay members assumes the position of Chairman.

The Senate is the principal academic authority of the University. The Vice-Chancellor chairs the Senate which comprises mainly academic staff and students. Decisions of the Senate on academic matters which have financial or resource implications are subject to approval by the Council. Conversely, decisions by the Council which have academic implications are subject to consultation with the Senate, which is normally the initiating body in such matters.

The Boards of Faculties are responsible to the Senate for teaching and other work of the Faculties. There are currently ten Boards, supported by their own committees which exercise powers and perform duties delegated to them by the Boards.