Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is a public research university in Sai Kung District, New Territories, Hong Kong. Founded in 1991, it was the territory's third institution to be granted university status, and the first university without any precursory existence upon its formation. It occupies a seaside site in Tai Po Tsai, Clear Water Bay Peninsula.

The university is organised into five academic schools: School of Engineering, School of Business and Management, School of Science, School of Humanities and Social Science, and the Academy of Interdisciplinary Studies. In the 2023–24 academic year, it enrolled around 10,000 undergraduates and 6,800 postgraduates, and employed 835 academic staff.

History

In the late 1980s, the Hong Kong Government anticipated a strong demand for university graduates to fuel an economy increasingly based on services. Sir Sze-Yuen Chung and the territory's governor, Sir Edward Youde, conceived the idea of establishing a third university, in addition to the pre-existing University of Hong Kong and Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Planning for the "Third University", as the university was known provisionally, began in 1986. On 8 November 1989, Charles, Prince of Wales (now King Charles III) laid the foundation stone of the campus, which was constructed at the Kohima Barracks site in Tai Po Tsai on the Clear Water Bay Peninsula. The site was earmarked for the construction of a new British Army garrison to house the 2nd King Edward VII's Own and 7th Duke of Edinburgh's Own Gurkha Rifles, but plans for its construction were shelved after the 1984 signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration resulted in the downsizing of army presence in Hong Kong.

Originally scheduled to finish in 1994, the planning committee for the university decided in 1987 that the new institution should open its doors three years early, in keeping with the community's need and in fulfilment of the wishes of Youde, who died in 1986. The university was officially opened by Youde's successor as governor, Sir David Wilson, on 10 October 1991. Several leading scientists and researchers took up positions at the university in its early years, including physicist Leroy Chang who arrived in 1993 as Dean of Science and went on to become vice-president for academic affairs. Thomas E. Stelson was also a founding member of the administration.

The project was criticised for surpassing the budget set forth by the Hong Kong Government and the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club. However, under the fund-raising efforts of its president, Woo Chia-wei, the first students enrolled in October 1991. By 1992, the second phase of HKUST's campus was completed, expanding laboratories, student and staff accommodation, and athletic facilities to support about 7,000 students.

Several more expansion projects such as the construction of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Enterprise Center have since been completed. The library extension building, Lee Shau Kee Business Building (LSK), Lo Ka Chung Building, South Bus Station, Undergraduate Halls VIII and IX, Cheng Yu Tung Building (CYT) and the Conference Lodge, are the latest additions to the campus.

"30 for 30" Campaign

In February 2023, to coincide with its 30th anniversary, HKUST announced "30 for 30" talent acquisition campaign, a global hunt for 30 leading academics to drive innovation in Hong Kong with 30 major research projects designed to have maximum social impact. The campaign focused on six areas: biomedicine, material science and future energy, artificial intelligence, fintech, green technology, and art technology.

Governance

Established in 1991 under Chapter 1141 of the laws of Hong Kong (''The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Ordinance''), HKUST is one of the eight statutory universities in Hong Kong. It is an institution funded by the University Grants Committee (UGC).

As with all other statutory universities in Hong Kong, the chief executive of HKSAR acts as the chancellor of HKUST. Prior to the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong, this was a ceremonial title bestowed upon the governor of Hong Kong.

Council

The supreme governing body of the university is its Council, formed by a total of 27 members. Council members include university administrators, the chairperson of the alumni Convocation, an elected staff member, an elected full-time student representative, as well as 17 "lay members" not being employees or students at the university. Under the ''HKUST Ordinance'', the chief executive of Hong Kong possesses the power of directly appointing the chairman and vice-chairman of the council, the treasurer of the university, and not more than 9 of the lay members.

The University is also a founding member of the Digital Education Council.

Senate

The Senate acts as the university's supreme academic body, responsible for making and reviewing the academic policies of the university. It is composed mostly of academic staff members but also includes the Students' Union president, an elected representative of the undergraduates as well as an elected representative of the postgraduates.

Court

Being the supreme advisory body of the university, the court is responsible for promoting the university's interests and to raise funds.

School management

President

* Nancy Ip (2022–)
* Wei Shyy (2018–2022)
* Tony Fan Cheong Chan (2009–2018)
* Paul Ching Wu Chu (2001–2009)
* Chia Wei Woo (1991–2001)

Provost

* Guo Yike (2022–)
* Lionel Ni (2019–2022)
* Wei Shyy (2010–2018)

Vice-President for Administration and Business

* Kar Yan Tam

Vice-President for Research and Development

* Tim Kwang Ting Cheng

Vice-President for Institutional Advancement

* (Vacant)

Campus

The university is largely a campus university, occupying a 60-hectare site at the northern part of Clear Water Bay Peninsula in Sai Kung District, New Territories, Hong Kong, overlooking Port Shelter in Tai Po Tsai. The campus layout and architecture is based on a master plan submitted jointly by Simon Kwan & Associates and Percy Thomas Partnership, the runner-up entry in an architectural competition held before the university was founded.

As the campus has a sloped terrain, buildings and facilities are built on separate terraces carved out of the hillside, with the academic facilities occupying the top-level terraces, and undergraduate halls of residence and sporting facilities at the seafront. The terraces are connected by motor roads as well as a network of footbridges and elevators known as Bridge Link.

The countryside setting of the university contributed to the fact that HKUST was once the only public university in Hong Kong not being directly served by an MTR station, prior to the re-titling of the Education University of Hong Kong. The university is connected to the metro network through public bus routes including 91, 91M, 91P, 291P and 792M, complemented by a handful of minibus services, with Choi Hung and Hang Hau stations being the major feeder points.

Academic complexes

Academic activities are mainly conducted in the Academic Building, which contains 10 lecture theatres (A–H, J–K), a multitude of classrooms, laboratories and administrative offices. The lecture theatres can accommodate classes of up to 450 students and offer audiovisual equipment. In addition, an information center and a souvenir shop can be found at the Piazza.

Prior to 2013, offices and classrooms of all of the four schools were grouped under the same roof in the Academic Building. With the completion of the Lee Shau Kee Business Building (LSK) in 2013, most facilities for the School of Business and Management have relocated from the Academic Building. Opened in 2015, the Cheng Yu Tung Building (CYT) afforded the other schools with a lecture theatre (L), additional classrooms and laboratories.

Located at the southern tip of the campus, the Lo Ka Chung Building houses the HKUST Jockey Club Institute of Advanced Study (IAS). The adjacent Conference Lodge, managed by the hotel-operating arm of Chinachem Group offers on-campus accommodations for conference attendees and official guests of the university.

Student halls and staff housing

A total of nine undergraduate halls are located at the seafront and mid-rise terraces of the university campus. Also, the university provides 404 Senior Staff Quarters flats and 40 University Apartments flats to its eligible senior staff.

Lee Shau Kee Library

The HKUST Lee Shau Kee Library, part of the Hong Kong Academic Library Link (HKALL), occupies a central location of the campus. Connected to the Academic Building, it is accessible directly from the Hong Kong Jockey Club Atrium. It spans five floors with over 12,350 sq m of floor space, providing more than 3,674 seats as well as computing facilities. It offers a wide array of information resources, both local and remote. In addition to over 720,000 print and electronic volumes and a large collection of media resources, it provides access to more than 47,000 periodical titles, a large number of e-books, databases, and other digital information resources.

The library owns a collection of old maps of China and the rest of Asia, produced by Chinese and Western cartographers over the last 500 years. A selection of these maps, providing an insight into the history of international geographic knowledge, was published by the library in a limited-edition (1000 copies) volume in 2003.

Shaw Auditorium

Donated by Shaw Foundation, Shaw Auditorium is a 4-storey multi-purpose auditorium designed for concerts, lectures, musicals and visual productions. The building consists of three superimposed elliptic rings surrounding a sculptural core. The rings that blend into the architecture provide shade and rain protection around the building. The auditorium is equipped with modular seating that can be adapted to allow for multiple arrangements, ranging from 850 to up to 1300 seats. Its curved walls can function as a 360-degree projection screen, enabling audio-visual experiences.

HKUST opened Shaw Auditorium on 17 November 2021, as part of a celebration of the university's 30th anniversary.

Ancillary services

The campus boasts 18 catering outlets including fast food restaurants, a Chinese restaurant as well as a restaurant serving international cuisine; other ancillary facilities in the academic complexes include three banks,
supermarket
clinics (consisting of a medical clinic providing free outpatient service to all full-time students and staff, a student dental clinic, and a staff dental clinic) and Students' Union offices.

Sustainable Smart Campus as a Living Lab initiative

In 2019, HKUST launched the Sustainable Smart Campus as a Living Lab initiative. The initiative aims to transform the campus into a testing ground for learning, experimenting, and advancing smart and innovative ideas to address real-life challenges. Wei Shyy, the former President of HKUST, said the initiative is to ''"nurture a new generation who can produce original solutions with a sustainability mindset."'' As of 2021, around 30 sustainability-related projects have been launched. HKUST launched "Blockcerts" platform in 2020 which is a blockchain-based degree authentication system to verify the documents such as graduation diplomas and academic transcripts. HKUST is the first university in Hong Kong to launch a similar system.

HKUST (Guangzhou)

In 2018, HKUST signed collaboration agreements with Guangzhou Government and Guangzhou University to establish The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) (HKUST(GZ)) in Nansha, Guangzhou. On 29 June 2022, Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China approved the establishment of HKUST(GZ), which is the third university co-managed by mainland China and Hong Kong. HKUST(GZ) officially opened on 1 September 2022.

Reputation and rankings

Overall Rankings

Globally, HKUST is #47 in QSWUR 2025, #64 in THE 2024, #19 in THE's Impact Rankings 2024, and #2 in THE's Most International Universities in the World 2025.

HKUST was ranked 23rd worldwide in the latest Nature Index's normalized leading academic institutions ranking published in 2019.

HKUST has previously been ranked Asia's No.1 by the independent regional ''QS University Rankings: Asia'' for three consecutive years between 2011 and 2013. HKUST was ranked 27th in the world and second in Hong Kong by QS 2021.

The ''THEs '' World Reputation Rankings'' of 2018 considered it the second reputable in the territory, while it was first in the ''HKU Public Opinion Programme'' survey (2016).

Young University Rankings

One of the world's fastest growing institutions, HKUST ranked 1st in '' Times Higher Education Young University Rankings'' in 2019 and 2nd by '' QS world's under-50 universities'' in 2020.

Most International University Rankings

HKUST ranked 2nd in Times Higher Education Most International Univerity Rankings in 2025.

Subject Rankings

QS World University Rankings by Broad Subject Area 2023:

THE rankings by subjects 2023:

2022 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) by ShanghaiRanking:

Graduate Employability Rankings

According to THE's ''Global University Employability Ranking'' 2018, the university's graduates have the highest employment rate among universities in Greater China for 6 years in a row, ranked 16th worldwide.

MBA Ranking

According to Bloomberg Businessweek Best Business School Ranking, HKUST's MBA program is #1 in Asia-Pacific.

Academic organisation

School of Science

Within the School of Science are the Division of Life Science, the Department of Chemistry, the Department of Mathematics, the Department of Physics, and the Department of Ocean Science. The School of Science emphasises the whole-person development and international exposure of students. Its undergraduate exchange program provides science students with international learning opportunities throughout their studies. The school has teamed up with over 60 exchange partners from regions including Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Mainland China, and Japan.

School of Engineering

The School of Engineering (SENG) is the largest of the 4 Schools within HKUST. It has 7 departments / divisions: Chemical and Biological Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Electronic and Computer Engineering, Industrial Engineering and Decision Analytics, and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, It is the only education provider on chemical engineering in Hong Kong. The school provides more than 40 degree programs at the bachelor's, master's and doctoral levels.

In 2019, Times Higher Education World University Rankings in Engineering and Technology placed HKUST Engineering No.23 globally, the best ever position achieved by any local university since the establishment of this league table in 2010. QS World University Rankings by Subject 2019 – Engineering and Technology ranked HKUST No.18 globally which made SENG No. 1 in Hong Kong for nine consecutive years. SENG has over 100 exchange partner universities in 28 countries/regions in the world.

Centre for Global & Community Engagement

The Centre for Global & Community Engagement (GCE) is established as co-curricular program under the School of Engineering, engaging students to make contributions to the community and to broaden their international exposure. GCE supports individuals and student teams such as the HKUST Robotics Team to participate in international competitions.

School of Business and Management

HKUST's School of Business and Management (SBM) is branded the HKUST Business School.

There are over 140 faculty personnel. The school offers degree programs– undergraduate, MBA, EMBA, MSc and PhD – and a range of executive education. 7 research centres are assigned to areas from business case studies and investing to Asian Financial Markets and China Business & Management. A new purpose-built campus is in place to enable the school to develop further.

School of Humanities and Social Science

The School of Humanities and Social Science supports interdisciplinary academic training and research in fields including anthropology, creative writing, economics, history, innovation studies, linguistics, literature, music, philosophy, political science, sociology.

Academy of Interdisciplinary Studies

The interdisciplinary programs bring together two or more different fields of study, offering a great opportunity for students with more than one interest to integrate their abilities. Programs are referenced to Hong Kong's needs and global trends to ensure relevance, with strong input from business and industry to keep training and skills in line with market demand. Research projects in partnership with industry and the community are encouraged through the Dual Degree Program in Technology and Management, Environmental Management and Technology program, Individualized Interdisciplinary Major program and Integrative Systems and Design to allow full engagement of the students with the community. Two extended majors, artificial intelligence and digital media & creative arts, are provided by its Division of Emerging Interdisciplinary Areas.

The academy offers postgraduate programs on environmental science, policy and management, atmospheric environmental science, environmental science and management, technology leadership and entrepreneurship, individualised interdisciplinary program (research area), integrative systems and design, public policy, and public management.

Research Institutes and Centres

Nansha graduate school

On 25 January 2007, the HKUST officially named its graduate school in Nansha as HKUST Fok Ying Tung Graduate School/ Guangzhou HKUST Fok Ying Tung Research Institute in a ceremony that combined the official opening of the graduate school and the ground-breaking of its Nansha campus.

Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study

The HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) at HKUST champions collaborative projects across disciplines and institutions. It forges relationships with academic, business, community, and government leaders. The inaugural lecture of the IAS organised was given by the noted physicist Prof. Stephen Hawking in June 2006.

Student life

Student body

For year 2022–23, HKUST enrolled 10,455 undergraduates and 6,810 postgraduates, with over 40% (~2,000 undergraduates & ~5,000 postgraduates) of the total enrolment being non-local (not holding Hong Kong citizenship). In terms of student population, the School of Engineering is the largest among the university's four schools, hosting 34% and 36% of HKUST's undergraduates and postgraduates respectively; this was followed by the schools of Business and Management (34%/24%), Science (21%/20%), and Humanities and Social Science (3%/8%).

A total of 2,129 local students were admitted to undergraduate programs offered by the university in 2018/19. The university saw the graduation of 2,317 undergraduate students, 506 research postgraduates and 2,224 taught postgraduates in the same academic year, amounting to a total of 5,047 degrees being conferred.

Students' residence

All full-time registered UG students and in-time full-time HKUST research postgraduate students (RPgs) of the university are eligible to apply for student housing. Under the current policy, all local UG students are guaranteed at least one semester of hall residence in their first year of study upon application, whilst their non-local counterparts are provided at least two years of residency.

The nine on-campus undergraduate halls provide a total of 146 bed places in single rooms, 3,094 in double rooms (twin + bunk) and 792 in triple rooms. Another 512 bed spaces in double rooms at the off-campus HKUST Jockey Club Hall in Tseung Kwan O New Town are also provided for undergraduates. For research postgraduates students and visiting interns, 1080 on-campus residential places in single or double rooms are available.

There are also off-campus accommodations available. 15 apartments in Tai Po Tsai Village (TPT308 and Wan's Lodge) are rented by the university to accommodate 90 TPgs.

On 27 April 2012, research postgraduate students organised a sit-down strike to raise the voice of the voiceless and reiterate the concerns of the research postgraduate students about the serious housing issue.

Students' union

Formed in 1992, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Students' Union (HKUSTSU) is an organisation independent from but recognised by the university administration. The union is governed by four independent statutory bodies, namely the executive committee, the council, the editorial board and the court. All undergraduates and postgraduates are eligible for membership in the union, although this is not compulsory.

The students' union oversees over 100 affiliated societies catering to students engaged in different academic disciplines, residential halls, sports and interests.

Notable alumni

See also

* Education in Hong Kong
* Higher education in Hong Kong
* List of universities in Hong Kong
* Hong Kong Virtual University – a collaboration project initiated by HKUST

Notes

References

External links

*

Master of Science in Global Finance
– partnership between NYU Stern School of Business and HKUST

Information Technology Service Centre (ITSC)
*
HKUST Path Advisor

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, The

Technical universities and colleges
Universities and colleges established in 1991
Tai Po Tsai
Sai Kung District
1991 establishments in Hong Kong