The Chinese University of Hong Kong — Essential Facts and Key Figures at a Glance

Names, founding, scale, faculties and colleges, leadership and every core figure, compressed into a single verifiable one-page reference card. Everything here describes CUHK's Shatin main campus (excluding The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen); each figure or year carries an official source in place, and any inconsistency between statistical bases is flagged in the table itself. In the context of university governance, the incumbent Vice-Chancellor and all serving office-holders below that rank are referred to by title only ("the incumbent Vice-Chancellor", "the Chairman of the Council"), while past Vice-Chancellors who have left office are named as recorded (see Governance and Past Vice-Chancellors).

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# 1. Identity and Name

CUHK is the second university in Hong Kong to receive statutory status (after The University of Hong Kong in 1911). According to the CUHK Newsletter, "The Chinese University of Hong Kong Ordinance, 1963"^※, the University held its inauguration ceremony on 17 October 1963 at City Hall, presided over by the then Governor of Hong Kong and University Chancellor, Sir Robert Black. For the pre-founding history and the merger of the three colleges, see Historical Development.

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# 2. Positioning: Chinese and Western, Bilingual and Bicultural

According to the CUHK website, "Introducing CUHK"^※, the University's founding mission is "to combine tradition with modernity, and to bring together China and the West"; its educational character rests on four pillars: "a flexible credit unit system, a college system, bilingualism and multiculturalism". This self-definition — bilingual, bicultural, bridging China and the West — follows directly from the name "The Chinese University of Hong Kong": at its founding Hong Kong already had an English-medium university in HKU, and CUHK was given the mission of prioritising Chinese and preserving and advancing Chinese culture.

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# 3. Scale at a Glance (UGC-funded programmes basis, as at 30 September 2024)

The student figures below are on the University Grants Committee (UGC) funded-programmes basis, as at 30 September 2024^※; CUHK also runs a large number of self-financed taught master's programmes not counted in this basis, so the all-inclusive student total is significantly higher (around 30,000; see Section 7 for the basis notes).

Both campus-area figures appear on different pages of the official site (137.3 on the campus page, 138.4 on the intro page); this is a minor inconsistency between official pages, presented side by side here without adjudication. On the staff-student ratio, CUHK has not published a single "staff-student ratio" figure in recent years; the official HRO overview page gives only "Full time Staff: 8000+", and any "staff-student ratio of about 1:X" is an estimate and should not be cited.

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# 4. The Eight Faculties

According to F&F 2024/25^※, CUHK has eight faculties (plus a Graduate School coordinating postgraduate programmes); for the founding year and structure of each faculty, see Overview of the Eight Faculties.

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# 5. The Nine Colleges (with founding years)

CUHK operates a college system. The nine colleges, ordered by year of foundation/establishment, are as follows, according to F&F 2024/25, "Our Colleges"^※:

The tenth college: According to the CUHK 2026–2030 plan released in August 2026, CUHK will establish its first postgraduate college in Area 39, Pak Shek Kok, bringing the total number of colleges to ten; the year of establishment and scale have not yet been announced. See The Strategic Plan Examined.

For an in-depth feature on the college system, see the Colleges module; for the pre-history of the three founding colleges — Chung Chi (1951), New Asia (1949) and United (1956) — see Historical Development.

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# 6. Leadership and Symbols (the Vice-Chancellor referred to by title; the incumbent named neutrally)

According to the CUHK website, "Governance"^※ and The Chinese University of Hong Kong Ordinance (Cap. 1109)^※, the three pillars of university governance are:

The incumbent (ninth) Vice-Chancellor took office on 8 January 2025 according to the CUHK Communications and Public Relations Office announcement^※, and was formally installed on 20 May 2025^※, for a five-year term. For the list of past Vice-Chancellors and the governance structure, see Governance and Past Vice-Chancellors.

The motto, emblem and colours in one line each: the motto is 博文約禮^※ ("Through learning and temperance to virtue", from the Analects); the emblem is a phoenix looking backwards (feng regardant), granted by the College of Arms in London in 1967^※; the colours are purple and gold^※ (purple for loyalty, gold for steadfastness). For the full account, see the Symbols feature.

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# 7. Statistical Bases (essential reading before any cross-institutional comparison)

CUHK statistics are scattered across several bodies with substantially differing bases:

Key trap: the official "Facts & Figures" postgraduate headcount of only about 4,000–4,650 looks low because it counts only UGC-funded postgraduates; CUHK's actual postgraduate population (including large numbers of self-financed taught master's students) is far higher, and the all-inclusive total including self-financed students is around 30,000. At postgraduate level, non-local students (2,951) outnumber local students (1,699), reflecting the fact that research MPhil/PhD students are predominantly from mainland China.

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# 8. Student Composition and Local/Non-local Over Time (UGC-funded basis)

Long-term trend: CUHK's undergraduate intake has long been stable at 17,000–18,500; UGC-funded postgraduates number about 3,900–4,650. Growth comes mainly from self-financed taught master's programmes (not shown in this table).

According to Legislative Council LCQ4 (2024-11-20)^※ (UGC-funded programmes, 2023/24 academic year), non-local undergraduates across Hong Kong's eight universities account for about 19.9% of local places, roughly 14,800 students; the non-local share of research postgraduates is far higher, predominantly from mainland China. CUHK's own figures (F&F 2024/25): 2,696 non-local undergraduates (about 14.6% of undergraduates) and 2,951 non-local postgraduates (about 63% of UGC-funded postgraduates). For historical reference (2019, CUHK strategic plan page^※, including self-financed students, all-inclusive basis): of 30,794 students across the University, 8,542 were non-local (27.7%).

Policy background: from the 2024/25 academic year^※, Hong Kong raised the non-local admission cap for UGC-funded programmes from 20% to 40%; according to Hong Kong's 2025 Policy Address^※, it will rise further to 50% from the 2026/27 academic year. The 2026 Policy Address^※ further announced that UGC-funded research postgraduate places across Hong Kong will increase gradually from about 7,200 to 9,600 by the 2030/31 academic year. On gender ratio, CUHK's official "Facts & Figures" has not disclosed an overall male-female breakdown in recent years, so no official precise figure is available here and none is invented.

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# 9. Admission Quality (2024 and 2026 entry)

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# 10. Alumni, Exchange and Library Holdings (reference dates as noted)

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# 11. Research (2023–24, F&F 2024/25)

Degrees awarded (2022, F&F 2022^※): 4,007 bachelor's, 6,149 master's, 525 doctoral. The number of taught master's degrees awarded (about 6,000+) far exceeds the UGC-funded enrolment figure, confirming that the bulk of CUHK's taught master's programmes are self-financed. Among the main industries of bachelor's degree graduates, teaching accounts for the highest share, at 16.8% (F&F 2024/25^※, as at 2024-07), followed by healthcare and nursing, information technology, banking and finance, and others.

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# 12. World Rankings (latest tables, as at 2026-09)

The THE 2027 world table is expected in October 2026, when this table will be updated. Rankings change year to year and each table uses different bases; for the latest and historical trends, see the Rankings module. QS 2027's 18th in the world and U.S. News 2026–2027's 28th globally are both record highs.

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Compiled 2026-07-01; updated 2026-09-28 with the 2026 results release, the THE Asia table, ARWU 2026 and the strategic plan. Figures change as official data is updated; check the latest "Facts & Figures" and UGC datasets before citing. For "firsts and superlatives", see Firsts and Superlatives; for quick answers to common questions, see FAQ.