City University of Hong Kong


City University of Hong Kong is a public research university in Kowloon, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1984 as City Polytechnic of Hong Kong and became a fully accredited university in 1994. It is one of eight government-funded degree-granting tertiary institutions.
The university has five colleges and four schools: the College of Business, College of Engineering, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, College of Science, Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences, and the School of Creative Media, School of Data Science, School of Energy and Environment and School of Law.
As of 2020, CityU ranks 19th in Asia by THE, 5th in young universities, and 48th internationally by QS.

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. The provision for part-time students contributed to high enrolment, with the quota being filled almost immediately.
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.
In 2017 City University was accused of falsifying student data for a better ranking. City University said they would submit the case to external audit firm to verify the data.

Campus

City University of Hong Kong is located on Tat Chee Avenue, Sham Shui Po District, Kowloon. It is near Kowloon Tong Station, which serves the East Rail Line and Kwun Tong Line of Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway system. It is also adjacent to Shek Kip Mei Park, Nam Shan Estate and the Festival Walk shopping centre. The main campus covers around 15.6 hectares.
The Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre is an academic building on the campus, which was completed in 2011. It was designed by Daniel Libeskind cooperating with Leigh and Orange Ltd., and received several awards on its design. It was funded with a donation of HK$100 million from the Shaw Foundation and is named after Run Run Shaw. The building houses the university's School of Creative Media, the Centre for Applied Computing and Interactive Media and the computer science, media and communication, and English departments.
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. 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 just completed for two months suddenly collapsed, injuring three people.

Governance

The governing 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.

Gallery

Alumni

QS Ranking Dispute

City University of Hong Kong has been accused of providing misleading information to Quacquarelli Symonds to boost its university rankings. Review of the QS university rankings over the past three years showed that City University of Hong Kong has shrunk its student population by 14.7 percent from 2015 and 27.4 percent from 2016. However, the spokesperson of City University of Hong Kong denied that the student count was made during summer, adding that the QS employs independent firms to verify the data submitted by universities. Kuo Way, the President of City University of Hong Kong, has also asked an independent firm to review the CityU figures.

Intervention of students' academic autonomy

In October 2019, Prof Tan Yong Chin who was teaching a digital marketing course sent an email to the students, which warned the students not to deliver any political messages in class presentations or they will be given zero marks. The e-mail caused dissatisfaction among the students. Some of them thought that their presentation were solely integrating the related course content with the recent social issues, while they did not call slogans in the classroom or affect the classroom order. They questioned Tan for creating white terror.