City University of Hong Kong (Abbreviation: CityU; Chinese: 香港城市大學) is a public research university located in Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1984 as City Polytechnic of Hong Kong and became a fully accredited university in 1994. CityU offers over 50 bachelor's degree programmes through its constituent colleges and schools. Postgraduate degree programmes are offered by the Chow Yei Ching School of Graduate Studies.
Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Campus
2.1 Academic 1
2.2 Academic 2
2.3 Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre (CMC)
2.4 Academic 3
3 Academic organisations
3.1 Colleges and schools
3.2 Research institute/centres
4 Facilities and services
4.1 Computer Services Centre
4.2 Library
4.3 Sports facilities
4.4 Canteen and food services
5 Student life
5.1 Students' Union
5.2 Recruitment Day
5.2.1 Promotion strategy
5.2.2 Hall Tour
5.3 Sport teams
5.4 Proposed off-campus student hostel
6 Reputation and rankings
7 Alumni
8 See also
9 References
10 External links
History[edit]
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."[4] District administrators from Tuen Mun and Tsuen Wan lobbied the government to build the new institution in their respective new towns.[4] 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.[5]
The new polytechnic opened on 8 October 1984, welcoming 480 full-time and 680 part-time students.[6] Founding director Dr. David Johns stated that the unique modular structure of the coursework offered "absolute parity of academic standards between full-time and part time students" and that provision for part-time students contributed to a huge demand for student places, with the quota being filled almost immediately.[6] The polytechnic's planning committee sought to accommodate a student population of 8,000 by the end of the 1980s, and construction of the permanent campus in nearby Kowloon Tong began shortly thereafter.[7]
The architectural contract to design the new campus was won by Percy Thomas Partnership in association with Alan Fitch and W.N. Chung.[8] It was originally slated to open by October 1988.[9] The first phase was officially opened by Governor Wilson on 15 January 1990, and boasted 14 lecture theatres and 1,500 computers.[10] By 1991, the school had over 8,000 full-time students and approximately 3,000 part-time students.[11] The second phase of the permanent campus opened 1993.[8] The school achieved university status in 1994 and the name was changed accordingly.[12]
Campus[edit]
City University of Hong Kong is located on Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon. It is near the MTR Kowloon Tong Station of the East Rail Line and Kwun Tong Line, Shek Kip Mei Park, Nam Shan Estate and the Festival Walk shopping centre. The main campus covers around 15.6 hectares. Principal buildings include Academic 1, Academic 2, Academic 3, Amenities Building, Mong Man-wai Building, Fong Yun-wah Building, Cheng Yick-chi Building, Academic Exchange Building, To Yuen Building, Hu Fa Kuang Sports Centre, two senior staff quarters (Nam Shan Yuen, Tak Chee Yuen), Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre and the student residential halls.
Academic 1[edit]
The original buildings for CityU comprising Academic 1 were designed by Percy Thomas Partnership with Fitch and Chung, who won an international design competition. The first phase of construction was completed in 1990 and the second phase (increasing capacity to 20,000 students) in 1993. The total floor area is about 63,000 m², including 116 laboratories, 18 lecture halls, classrooms, as well as school canteens. The buildings had to be low-rise because of airport height restrictions.[13] The school colours are drawn from the interior colours of the first phase of Academic 1.
Academic 2[edit]
Opened in 2011, Academic 2 is a combined academic, administrative and amenities building covering 20,900m2, located near the Amenities Building and Hu Fa Kuang Sports Centre. It is a 9-storey building comprising 12 lecture theatres, 45 classrooms, 11 computer rooms, a canteen with a capacity of 800, staff offices, a number of multi-function rooms, and plenty of learning resources and common areas.
Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre (CMC)[edit]
In November 2010 the new Creative Media Centre was completed, designed by Studio Daniel Libeskind with Leigh & Orange Architects. The distinctive design includes a range of spaces, lighting and materials to inspire students. The building was designed to house the School of Creative Media, the Centre for Media Technology and the Department of Computer Engineering and Information Technology.[14] The building was also selected by CNN as one of the world's 10 most spectacular university buildings.[15]
Academic 3[edit]
Academic 3 is a new combined academic, amenities, and administrative building with 20,500m2 of net operational area which consists of facilities such as classrooms, lecture theatres (including one holding up to 600 people), teaching and research laboratories, multi-function rooms, a canteen, common areas, administrative offices and a roof garden. The 12-storey building was built in light of the student influx anticipated to result from the 334 Scheme. The designer and architect for Academic 3 was Ronald Lu & Partners.[16][17]
Academic organisations[edit]
Colleges and schools[edit]
The three colleges: Business, Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, Science and Engineering, and the School of Law and School of Creative Media offer bachelor's degrees and postgraduate programmes. The School of Energy and Environment currently offers postgraduate degree programmes and the new School of Veterinary Medicine is now in operation. The Division of Building Science and Technology and the Community College of City University (CCCU) runs government-funded and self-funded associate degree programmes respectively.
The School of Continuing and Professional Education (SCOPE) helps fulfil the University's role as a centre for lifelong education by providing continuing educational opportunities for the community through diplomas, certificate and short programmes.
The overall academic organisation structure is set out below:
College of Business College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences College of Science and Engineering Community College of City University (CCCU)
Department of Accountancy
Department of Economics and Finance
Department of Information Systems
Department of Management
Department of Management Sciences
Department of Marketing
Department of Applied Social Sciences
Department of Asian and International Studies
Department of Chinese and History
Department of English
Department of Linguistics and Translation
Department of Media and Communication
Department of Public Policy
Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering
Department of Biology and Chemistry
Department of Biomedical Sciences
Department of Computer Science
Department of Electronic Engineering
Department of Mathematics
Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering
Department of Physics and Materials Science
Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management
Division of Building Science and Technology
Division of Applied Science and Technology
Division of Business
Division of Languages and Communication
Division of Social Sciences
Centre for International Language Proficiency Tests
School of Creative Media School of Energy and Environment School of Law School of Veterinary Medicine
Chow Yei Ching School of Graduate Studies School of Continuing and Professional Education (SCOPE)
Research institute/centres[edit]
State Key Laboratories
State Key Laboratory of Millimetre Waves
State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution
University Research Centres
Centre for Prognostics and System Health Management
Centre of Super-Diamond and Advanced Films
Liu Bie Ju Centre for Mathematical Sciences
College/School Research Centres
Centre for Applied Computing and Interactive Media
Centre for Chaos and Complex Networks
Centre for Chinese and Comparative Law
Centre for Communication Research
Centre for Functional Photonics
Governance in Asia Research Centre
Guy Carpenter Asia-Pacific Climate Impact Centre
The Halliday Centre for Intelligent Applications of Language Studies
Southeast Asia Research Centre
Applied Strategic Development Centres
Centre for Electronic Packaging and Assemblies, Failure Analysis and Reliability Engineering
Centre for Innovative Applications of Internet and Multimedia Technologies
Centre for Power Electronics
Hong Kong Centre for Maritime and Transportation Law
Shenzhen Applied R&D Centres
Biotechnology and Health Centre
Futian-CityU Mangrove R&D Centre
Future Networking Centre
Information and Communication Technologies Centre
Facilities and services[edit]
Computer Services Centre[edit]
The Computing Services Centre (CSC) is responsible for the provision of central computing facilities and technical services to support various aspects of computing and networking within the University. Andy Chun, the chief information officer, is currently the line manager of CSC.
Library[edit]
Run Run Shaw Library
The Run Run Shaw Library was established in 1984. In 1989, the Library moved to its current location in Academic 1 on the university campus in Kowloon Tong and the following year it was renamed Run Run Shaw Library in recognition of a generous donation by Sir Run Run Shaw.
Located on Level 3 of Academic 1, the library occupies a central location which is easily accessible to users. It has a total area of 11,550m2. The library has around 2,200 seats available during term time and 2,700 during the Revision and Examination Periods.
The library's collection includes more than 955,500 print books and over 2 million electronic books. The collection also comprises around 202,900 volumes of bound periodicals and around 2,690 print serial titles. The library maintains an expanding number of electronic resources including 365 electronic databases, around 69,500 e-journals, and around 54,400 media resources.
Sports facilities[edit]
Amenities Building and swimming pool
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. There is a table-tennis room, six squash courts, an indoor sport-climbing wall, two physical fitness rooms and two golf driving rooms plus a golf simulation room. CityU also has a 50-metre, Olympic-size swimming pool and a full-size outdoor basketball court. The off-campus Joint Sports Centre provides a variety of outdoor sports facilities, including an international standard 8-lane all-weather running track and field facilities, an 11-a-side natural grass football pitch, four tennis courts with a 200-seat spectator stand, a multi-purpose court and two-bay golf practice area. It is jointly owned and shared by City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.[18]
Canteen and food services[edit]
City Express: Amenities building, 5F
City Chinese Restaurant: Amenities building, 8F
City Top: Amenities building, 9F
Maxim’s: Academic2, 3F
Delifrance: Academic3, 3F
Bistro: Academic3, 7F
Garden Café: Academic Exchange building, GF
Homey Kitchen: Multi-purpose hall B of Student Residence
Pacific Coffee Company: Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre, 3F
Student life[edit]
Students' Union[edit]
Front entrance
The CityU Students' Union, established in 1986, has a high degree of autonomy in running its own affairs. Its 19 societies, approximately 40 affiliated clubs and seven residents' associations organise regular functions throughout the year. The Students' Union is a constituent member of the Hong Kong Federation of Students.[19]
Recruitment Day[edit]
The recruitment day of societies are held by the CityU Students' Union, during the registration period for new students of CityU in mid-August. After obtaining the student identity card, newly registered students approach the purple zone of podium, located on the fourth floor of Academic 1, to join the recruitment day. Committees of each society set up a stall and introduce themselves to the new students. There are essentially three types of societies, including academic societies of colleges and departments, affiliated clubs of different interests and residents' associations of residence halls. New students are free to join any of them, as well as their orientation activities.
The area for holding recruitment day is called "Wooden Men Alley". (Chinese: 木人巷) This term comes from a movie, "Shaolin Wooden Men". In this movie, Shaolin monks have to enter the alley after their training in Shaolin Temple. It is a narrow hallway containing thirty-six Shaolin Wooden Men, which are mechanical wooden dummies that attack anyone who enters the hallway. Similarly, newly registered students who enter the "Wooden Men Alley" in CityU during the recruitment period are invited by committee members from all the societies to join them. The alley is extremely narrow and crowded. It takes at least an hour to deal with numerous invitations and to pass through just a small area. Therefore, it was named "Wooden Men Lane" to indicate the difficulty for new students to leave the area after entering the alley. It has become the highlight of CityU's registration period.
Walking through the “Wooden Men Alley” is just like walking in a crowded street at Mong Kok. Luckily, the names of the societies are large enough to be seen by everyone. New students can either extend their necks in the crowd or walk nearer to the stalls if they want to know more about the societies. At the same time, they can take a look at the stalls, which have been prepared by the societies for two or three months. For example, “Aquatic Club” uses life buoy to decorate its stall. All of the stalls are unique with their own characteristics. The committee or helpers of each society talk to every new student who approach their stalls. They also try to persuade them to join their activities including orientation camps in a period of time as soon as possible. The scale of camps that are held by these societies are ranging from large to small.
The placement of stalls in the alley is according to the scale of the societies or clubs. The first stall always belongs to Students’ Union. The next comes to the stalls of academic societies such as Liberal Arts and Social Sciences College Division Society. They are followed by affiliated clubs such as Astronomy Society and Badminton Society. Last but not least, stalls of eleven residents' associations are presented and their committee members even guide students to have a hall tour if they are interested.
Promotion strategy[edit]
Due to the intense competition in the Wooden Men Alley, the committee members need to use various means to attract more freshmen as their new members and to join their activities. Therefore various promotions are held to attract the attention of students.
The most common way to attract freshmen is by giving out souvenirs such as folders, pens and calendar cards. By giving out souvenirs, committee members have a better chance to chat with the freshmen so as to promote their societies and activities.
Student union, departments and different societies organise various functions such as orientation camp, orientation day and exchange tour for their members to join. To attract students to join more activities, they release different types of package, which students can participate in several activities at a lower price, as to attract more freshmen to be their members and to ensure the number of participants.
Apart from special offers, societies organise special activities to raise the attractiveness of their society. Some of the societies, such as the Hong Kong Award for Young People, have organised joint university orientation camps as one of their gimmicks. The dance club organises a mass dance with other universities and will also hold a performance during the year. Some societies in CityU even co-operate together to hold activities such as singing contests and concerts. These methods attract students better since they can help them make more friends from different societies or even other universities.
Hall Tour[edit]
To introduce the residence halls and attract new students to register, every residence hall provides tours for new students.
Most of the hall tour guides stand by at the end of the Wooden Men Alley. Some of them may also stand outside the alley so as to reach more students. They usually ask students whether they are interested or not in registering in halls. If they are interested, a tour guide would bring a small group of students to his hall, similar to estate agents bringing their potential customers to visit flats. They provide introduction of basic facilities of residence hall, for example the common room, bedrooms and laundry. They also mention special attractions such as a piano room, snack shop or billiards room. During the tour, if students want detailed information, they can ask the tour guide for both suggestions and comparison of different residence halls.
There is always a video playing session in the middle of the tour. It is a time for students to understand more about the hall. Therefore, representatives from the residence hall would show the most interesting activities and unforgettable experience in that short video. At the end of the tour, the tour guide usually provides a simple tutorial for new students, teaching them how to add or drop courses for their coming semester. Tips for adding or dropping courses are also one of the important elements of a hall tour. At the end of the tour, the guide brings students back to the campus.
The entire tour takes around 20 to 30 minutes.
Sport teams[edit]
CityU is “One of the Best Universities in Sports” among 11 member tertiary institutions in Hong Kong. It is the only University that has captured Double Champions for 8 times in both Men’s and Women’s Overall Championship in the USFHK Sports Competition in the years 1996–97, 2000–01, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2012–2013 and 2013-2014. CityU now has over 400 athletes in 16 sports events. The slogan of the sports team is "Be the best that we can be".[20]
Proposed off-campus student hostel[edit]
There is a proposed student hostel to be built at Whitehead in Ma On Shan. It has a target of providing 2,168 bed places. The construction is expected to be commenced in late 2014 and completed in mid 2017.[21]
Reputation and rankings[edit]
University rankings
Global
ARWU[22] 201–300
Times[23] 192
QS[24] 108
Asia
ARWU[25] 22-35
Times[26] 23
QS (Global version)[27]
QS (Regional version)[28] 18
11
CityU has been regarded by several major university rankings to be among the top four higher education institutions in Hong Kong.
The university was ranked 108th in the world and 11th in Asia by the QS World University Rankings (2014/15),[29] while the independent regional QS Asian University Rankings (2014) placed it at 11th.[30] Both ranked CityU 4th in Hong Kong. CityU was also 5th in the QS world's under-50 universities in 2013, which is based on positions in the overall world ranking.[31]
Further, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (2013–14) regarded it among 201st–225th globally and 21st–30th in Asia, being again the fourth in the city.[32] CityU has decided not to submit data to the new rankings in the Times Higher Education at this stage because the new system is only in its first year of operation and is yet untested. Meanwhile, the ARWU (2014) gave it a position among 201st–300th worldwide and 3–4th in Hong Kong.[33]
Moreover, the institutions above have also provided university rankings by disciplines. See list of subject rankings of Hong Kong tertiary institutions for a selection of major subject rankings
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