College GE and High Table Dinners: How Nine Colleges Each Educate Their Students

For an overview of the nine colleges, their sizes and founding histories, see The College System and Its Nine Member Colleges: An Overview; for the origins of the four-year reform at the five new colleges, see From Four Colleges to Nine: The Four-Year Reform and the Birth of Five New Colleges.

The short version: Each of The Chinese University of Hong Kong's (CUHK) nine member colleges runs its own 6-credit College General Education programme^※ (College GE; from the 2025/26 academic year, new students must include at least one service-learning course). Beyond the classroom, colleges deliver their pastoral and formative mission through three institutional mechanisms — assembly attendance, High Table Dinners, or compulsory full residence with communal dining. Morningside, S.H. Ho and CW Chu require all students to live in for four years and dine together three evenings a week; the other six colleges set attendance at 2–4 assemblies or round-table events per semester as the assessment bar.

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# What is "College GE" and how does it differ from University GE?

The CUHK General Education curriculum^※ totals 19 credits: 13 credits belong to University GE, centrally designed and delivered by the Office of University General Education, and the remaining 6 credits belong to College GE, designed and run independently by each member college. The content, course codes and assessment methods for those 6 credits vary from college to college — an expression of each college's own interpretation of what "whole-person education" should mean.

College GE does not duplicate the "four areas of learning" framework of University GE. Instead it focuses on each college's own traditions, motto and student-development priorities. The official CUHK General Education overview^※ notes that, in addition to credit-bearing College GE courses, the colleges organise non-credit activities — assemblies, overseas exchanges, and assorted co-curricular programmes — which together form the ecosystem of college education.

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# How do the nine colleges' mottos set their respective tones?

Each college's motto reflects the values on which it was founded, and directly shapes the thematic orientation of its GE curriculum. Below are the mottos and their educational emphases:

All nine mottos draw on Confucian classics or Western collegiate tradition, but their embodiment in actual courses diverges sharply — the sections below take each type in turn.

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# How do the three "fully residential" colleges replace the classroom with shared meals?

Morningside, S.H. Ho and CW Chu^※ form a distinct category within CUHK's college system, known as the "fully residential and communal dining colleges". Every undergraduate must live in residence for the entirety of their degree (four years in the four-year curriculum, roughly eight semesters) and take part in communal dining three evenings a week.

For the philanthropic families behind the naming of the five new colleges (S.H. Ho, Morningside, CW Chu, Wu Yee Sun, Lee Woo Sing), see The Charitable Families Behind the Named Colleges: From S.H. Ho to the Morningside Foundation. Morningside College is the smallest of the nine — just 300 students^※ (2025 figures) — fewer than any other CUHK college. Its founding Master was Nobel laureate in economics Sir James Mirrlees. The college's 6-credit College GE is taken in two stages: in Year 1, students take GEMC1001 "Current Dilemmas and Their Histories"^※ (first semester, 3 credits), in which college Fellows introduce perennial questions of the human condition, with small-group discussion led by Junior Fellows; in Years 2 and 3, students take GEMC3001 "Service Learning/Civic Engagement" (3 credits), requiring substantive community service paired with reflective journals. The college also runs its three-nights-a-week communal dining — non-credit but mandatory — which the college describes explicitly as "the core of the Morningside experience".

S.H. Ho College is the largest of the three fully residential colleges, with all 600 students^※ in residence. Its GE curriculum is known for its "bookend" structure: in Year 1, students take GESH1010 "Orientation and Outreach"^※ (3 credits), an orientation course using outdoor team activities, workshops and service projects to build a positive mindset in new students; in Year 4, they take GESH4010 "Work and Productive Life" (3 credits), a capstone course reflecting on how university education connects to their working lives. The college also offers two elective service-learning courses, GESH2011/2012. On High Table Dinners, S.H. Ho holds 3–4 per semester, with an attendance requirement of 80%^※ (e.g. 2 of 3 dinners in the first semester; 3 of 4 in the second). Attendance is recorded on transcripts as "PP/FF", and students who fall short must explain themselves to the Dean of Students.

CW Chu College follows a similar pattern of full residence to Morningside and S.H. Ho. Its 6-credit College GE is split into two credit-bearing courses: in Year 1, GECW1010 "University and Society"^※ (3 credits); in Year 4, GECW4021/4022 "College Project" or "College Project (Service)" (3 credits). There is also a four-year non-credit sequence, GECW1000–4000 "Non-formal Learning I–IV", requiring attendance at 5 college activities per semester^※ (students exempted from communal dining must attend 8). High Table Dinners are held twice per semester (the college fee for 2025/26 includes two High Table charges per semester), with communal dining three evenings a week (Tuesday to Thursday)^※. Accommodation and meals are billed together; the 2026/27 hostel fee is HK$9,154 per semester (double room)^※.

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# What exactly is a High Table Dinner, and do all colleges run it the same way?

The "High Table Dinner" traces back to the collegiate traditions of Oxford and Cambridge — the High Table being the Fellows' table, where students and guests dine in formal dress alongside academics, creating a ritualised setting for intergenerational intellectual exchange. In the CUHK context, colleges define High Table Dinners quite differently:

Shaw College holds 1–2 High Table Dinners per semester^※, inviting speakers with distinctive life experience to share on topics such as community service, arts and culture, environmental protection and mediation. The college states explicitly that attending a High Table Dinner "counts as attending a college assembly", with attendance merged into the non-credit course GESC1000 — those who fall short receive an FF grade for the course, recorded on the transcript.

Lee Woo Sing College folds college assemblies, High Table Dinners and WS Forums into a single GEWS1000 course requirement^※: students must attend any two such events per semester. Attendance is recorded by tapping the CU Link card and completing an online assessment on Blackboard the same day — both are required. Arriving more than 15 minutes late or leaving early counts as absent. An unexcused absence from a High Table Dinner means losing the attendance record, paying a HK$200 meal charge, and being barred from registering for the next event.

Wu Yee Sun College builds its High Table Dinners into a system of Round Table Lunches/Dinners, requiring students to register for one "College Forum" or round-table event per semester^※ to satisfy GEYS1000. Round-table events give students close-up conversation with the College Head, Associate Heads and department heads; students pay a HK$100 deposit in advance, HK$60 of which is refunded on attendance. The Forum series runs Friday mornings, and records of more than a hundred sessions show speakers ranging from Olympic leaders and university professors to directors of cultural institutions.

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# How do the four traditional larger colleges use assembly attendance instead of communal dining?

Chung Chi, New Asia, United and Shaw are CUHK's founding or early colleges. They are larger and do not enforce full residence with communal dining. Instead, they rely mainly on "college assembly attendance" as the assessment mechanism for the non-credit component of College GE.

Chung Chi College splits its 6-credit College GE into a Year 1 portion (3 credits) and a senior-year portion (3 credits). Year 1 students take the compulsory GECC1130 "Idea of a University"^※ (2 credits) and GECC1132 "Learning through Serving" (1 credit); in their senior years they choose one course from options including "Exploration and Discovery", service learning, servant leadership, and senior seminars. Throughout, students take the non-credit course GECC1000 "College Assembly" — 4 assemblies per semester (2 from Part A and 2 from Part B; alternatively 3 assemblies plus 1 substitute activity)^※, with an FF recorded for those who fall short. Chung Chi is the only CUHK college with a Christian foundation, and its GE curriculum gives particular weight to the spirit of "service" and "mission".

New Asia College's motto, 「誠明」("Sincerity and Intelligence"), comes from the Doctrine of the Mean (《中庸》). Its College GE is likewise 6 credits, and from 2025/26 new students must take a service-learning course. The college uses bi-weekly assemblies and public lectures^※ as its non-credit assembly mechanism, requiring 3 events per semester, of which at least 1 must be a bi-weekly assembly — students on teaching placements or field trips of three weeks or more may be excused from two. Service-learning options include Chinese cultural-heritage projects run with the Hong Kong Archaeological Society and the Hong Kong Historical Society, reflecting New Asia's traditional core of "cultural China".

United College's motto, 「明德新民」("Illuminate Virtue, Renew the People"), directly announces the philosophy of its GE curriculum — moral formation and social renewal. Its college assembly course (GEUC1000) requires attendance at at least 3 assemblies per semester; the college holds 6–10 large assemblies each year^※ in auditorium-scale venues, plus several smaller ones. The 6-credit College GE also includes credit-bearing courses, and together with the 13 University GE credits it makes up the 19-credit GE requirement for graduation. United does not mandate full residence, but its hostel guarantee follows the norm of the larger colleges — generally one year of accommodation for new students.

Shaw College, whose motto is 「修德講學」("Cultivate virtue, pursue deeper learning"), offers a 6-credit College GE spanning the humanities, sciences, social sciences and practical skills — with courses such as "Appreciation of Cantonese Opera", "Emotion Regulation and Mental Health", and "Genetic Engineering and Its Social Implications". From 2025/26, new students must take at least one service-learning course^※, where previously two GE courses of any sort sufficed. College assemblies and High Table Dinners are counted together toward GESC1000; those who fall short receive an FF for the course.

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# Can the five new colleges house all their students?

The five colleges founded between 2006 and 2012 differ considerably in residential provision:

The small size of the three fully residential colleges (300–600 students) is a precondition of their design — only a community small enough can make "everyone at the same table" a real practice rather than a slogan. Wu Yee Sun College has an expansion plan in progress: a new hostel block is expected to be completed in 2027, adding 250 places^※.

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# Where does the "High Table" tradition come from, and what does it mean at CUHK?

The High Table Dinner form descends from the Oxford and Cambridge collegiate system. When CUHK was founded in 1963, the college system itself was shaped by British university traditions — the British advisers to the three founding colleges advocated "whole-person education", and the High Table Dinner was regarded as an educational setting in which knowledge and etiquette carry equal weight.

In CUHK practice, High Table Dinners share a common shape: formal dress (for men, shirt and tie) plus the college gown; guest speakers are usually community leaders, academics or professionals; the programme runs from pre-dinner remarks (typically by the College Head or the guest) to a post-dinner Q&A. But the "weight" attached to High Table Dinners varies by college: at S.H. Ho, attendance records formally appear on the transcript; at Lee Woo Sing, an unexcused absence costs HK$200; at Shaw, the dinner is treated as equivalent to an ordinary assembly. The institutional resources different colleges invest in the High Table Dinner are by no means uniform.

Shaw College, in introducing its High Table Dinners, states plainly that they are "part of the informal educational activities of the College General Education programme, in which speakers with unique life experience are invited to share", emphasising intellectual exchange over ceremonial display. (Source: Shaw College — High Table Dinners^※)

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# What changes does College GE bring in 2025/26?

The CUHK Office of General Education^※ states clearly: students entering in the 2025/26 academic year or later must complete at least one service-learning course within their 6 credits of College GE, with the aim of "encouraging students to engage in community service and to cultivate civic responsibility through practice and reflection". The requirement applies across all nine colleges, but the service-learning courses on offer differ in emphasis: Chung Chi leans toward servant leadership, New Asia stresses cultural heritage, S.H. Ho offers two elective service courses (GESH2011/2012), and CW Chu's GECW4022 "College Project (Service)" can also be taken as the service-learning option.

This policy change means students who entered in 2024/25 or earlier, and those entering in 2025/26, are subject to different versions of the College GE requirement. When consulting a college's GE requirements, be sure to check which programme of study applies to your year of entry.

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# Quick-reference table: College GE and assembly/High Table requirements at the nine colleges

Note: The above requirements follow the 2025/26 versions of each college's official web pages; the number of events in a given academic year may be adjusted, and the college's own notices are the final authority. The "Full residence?" column indicates whether the college compels all undergraduates to live in; colleges that do not generally guarantee new students at least one year of residence.

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