Academics
The eight faculties and their department programmes, state key laboratories and landmark research breakthroughs, and the Faculty of Medicine with its teaching hospitals.
01 Academics Faculties · Departments · Programmes
6 articlesAn overview and in-depth profile of all eight faculties, every department, undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, and the academic and general-education system.
The Eight Faculties of The Chinese University of Hong Kong: A Comprehensive Overview and In-Depth Dossier
CUHK was founded in 1963, with its academic departments organised into eight faculties (plus Hong Kong’s first graduate school, founded in 1966). This article begins with a quick-reference table for the eight faculties and the Graduate School (founding year, dean, profile) and then unfolds an in-depth dossier for each. Only Arts, Science, and Social Science were founded alongside the University; Business (1974), Medicine (1981), Engineering (1991), and Law (elevated in 2008) were all added later.
Complete List of All Departments / Schools / Teaching Units at The Chinese University of Hong Kong
A faculty-by-faculty listing of all departments, Schools, and teaching units within CUHK's eight Faculties (verified against official Faculty websites, totalling approximately 61 departments), with an explanation of the structural tiers and counting method used for departments, schools, and centres.
Undergraduate and Postgraduate Programme Structure at The Chinese University of Hong Kong
A three-tier survey of CUHK's programme structure: JUPAS admissions and broad-based majors at the undergraduate level; over 220 postgraduate programmes coordinated by the Graduate School; and the dual LLB/JD entry routes leading to PCLL and legal practice at the Faculty of Law.
Academic Structure, Credit-Unit System and General Education at CUHK
A breakdown of CUHK's "3-3-4" four-year undergraduate academic structure, the flexible credit-unit system requiring roughly 123 credits, the two-tier University and College General Education programme, biliterate and trilingual language requirements, and the A–F grading and honours classification system.
CUHK Faculty of Medicine Deep Profile — Five Schools, Clinical/Preclinical Departments, and Teaching Hospitals
Over nearly half a century, the CUHK Faculty of Medicine has grown from a single clinical track into a comprehensive ecosystem spanning Western clinical medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health, biomedical sciences, and Chinese medicine; this article focuses on the organisational logic of its Schools and Departments and its curriculum evolution, complementing the hospital history and founding narrative in Module 11.
Distinctive Academic Units – Department of Translation, Department of Music, School of Architecture, and School of Chinese Medicine
The Research Centre for Translation in 1971, the Department of Translation in 1972, Renditions in 1973—three years, three distinct institutional set-ups. The Department of Music has been Hong Kong’s first music department since 1965. The School of Architecture was founded by a planner who emerged from Boston’s Chinatown. The School of Chinese Medicine completed a cross-faculty migration in 2013. This entry traces, one by one, the founding details and key figures behind these four distinctive academic units.
04 Research Labs · Breakthroughs · Startups
8 articlesState key laboratories, landmark breakthroughs (NIPT / optical fibre / network coding), robotics, named research centres and spin-off companies.
A Panorama of Major Research Achievements at CUHK: Five Milestones, National-Level Platforms, and a Timeline of Breakthroughs
Five of CUHK's most globally visible research achievements span medicine, physics, information theory, artificial intelligence, and agriculture, with two leading to a Nobel Prize and a Lasker Award respectively. Coupled with national-level platforms, AoE funding, and RAE performance, this article serves as a master map of the university's strongest research.
CUHK Research Infrastructure: State Key Laboratories, InnoHK Centres, and University‑Level Institutes
CUHK’s research units are arranged in three tiers — national (State Key Laboratories), HKSAR‑government flagship (six InnoHK Centres), and university‑/faculty‑level institutes. The SKL portfolio, stretching from agriculture, medicine and chemistry to quantum, is an institutional embodiment of CUHK’s dual identity as a university that “faces both the world and the nation.”
Life Sciences and Medical Breakthroughs: The Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences, NIPT, and the Front Lines of Epidemic Response
Taking the Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences as its axis, this piece weaves together CUHK Medicine’s world-class achievements: NIPT’s “finding fetal DNA in plasma,” early detection of nasopharyngeal and other cancers, digestive diseases and the gut microbiome, frontline experience with SARS and COVID-19, as well as the Lasker Award, Breakthrough Prize, and academician honours.
Information & Engineering Breakthroughs: Network Coding, the Shannon Award, and from MMLab to SenseTime
Two high-water marks of CUHK engineering research: one is Network Coding (2022 Shannon Award) which \"rewrote the logic layer of network communication,\" the other is deep learning and SenseTime, which \"directly incubated a laboratory breakthrough into industry.\" The former is an original new theoretical field; the latter is a paradigm of academia-industry integration.
Medicine and Multi-Scale Robotics: The Multi-Scale Medical Robotics Center, Endoscopic Surgery, and Intercontinental Telesurgery
Medical robotics is the most visible face of \"engineering × medicine\" crossover at CUHK: from MRC, Asia's first one-stop R&D platform for surgical robots, to intercontinental telesurgery spanning 20,000 kilometres, through to microrobotic swarms navigating inside blood vessels, the research stretches from the centimetre scale all the way down to microns and nanometres.
Agricultural Biotechnology: The SKLA, Salt-Tolerant Soybeans, and the Journey from Gene to the Saline-Alkali Fields of Gansu
A soybean that can grow on saline-alkali land transforms sophisticated genetic science into farmers' harvests. Using the State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology as its institutional backbone, this article traces the complete chain from the wild soybean salt-tolerance gene GmCHX1 and the first reference-grade genome, to the fields of Gansu and rhizobia in space.
Research output, named institutions, and knowledge transfer: from endowed professorships to spin-off unicorns
From grants and assessments to endowed chairs and spin-offs, this article maps the institutional and output side of CUHK's research: major AoE/TRS funding, engineering's leading RAE performance, three world-class threads marked by the Nobel, Lasker, and Shannon awards, and three spin-off unicorns — SenseTime, SmartMore, and Insighta.
China Studies, Social Science Think Tanks, and Earth & Space: The Art Museum, the USC Collection, Opinion Polls and CUHK’s First Satellite
Bringing together CUHK’s humanities- and society-oriented research into a single chapter: from the Institute of Chinese Studies, the Art Museum, and the USC contemporary China collection, to HKIAPS public opinion surveys and the Quality of Life Index, and on to the ISEIS satellite ground station and CUHK’s first satellite, launched in 2024.
11 Medicine Faculty · Hospitals · Chinese Medicine
6 articlesThe Faculty of Medicine's structure and clinical departments, the Prince of Wales Hospital and CUHK Medical Centre, and the School of Chinese Medicine and its research.
CUHK Faculty of Medicine — Structure, Teaching Hospitals, and Research Strengths
The CUHK Faculty of Medicine comprises five schools and fourteen clinical/basic science departments, with the Prince of Wales Hospital as its primary teaching hospital. A new private teaching hospital, co-funded by the Jockey Club and the government, was added in 2021. This article systematically maps its structural evolution, teaching hospital system, and clinical research strengths.
Prince of Wales Hospital and SARS 2003: A Clinical History of CUHK's Teaching Hospital
A pneumonia patient admitted to Ward 8A on 4 March, a jet nebuliser, eighteen healthcare workers fallen ill within ten days—how the Prince of Wales Hospital, a teaching hospital in Sha Tin, became the world's earliest field site for understanding nosocomial SARS transmission, documented point by point from academic and official sources.
School of Chinese Medicine: One of Hong Kong's First Chinese Medicine Degree Programmes, Established in 1998, and the Coexistence of Chinese and Western Medicine
From a 'Chinese Medicine Research Group' under the Faculty of Science in 1975, to formal establishment as a School in 1998, integration into the Faculty of Medicine in 2013, and relocation to the Li Wai Chun Building at Chung Chi College in 2014 — the CUHK School of Chinese Medicine has journeyed nearly half a century, produced over a thousand graduates, and represents one of the earliest degree programmes in Chinese medicine in Hong Kong.
The Birth of Hong Kong’s Second Medical Faculty: The Founding of the CUHK Faculty of Medicine and Founding Dean Gerald Choa (1977–1981)
A doctor who studied medicine in wartime at Cheeloo University and later served as Hong Kong’s Director of Medical and Health Services turned, in 1976, to building a medical school that did not yet exist. In five years, Gerald Choa transformed a Legislative Council approval into a building, a teaching hospital, and a graduating class — Hong Kong’s second medical faculty.
Jockey Club Institute of Ageing: The 2014 HKJC Grant and the \"Age-Friendly City\" Vision
The CUHK Jockey Club Institute of Ageing was established in August 2014 with a HK$12 million donation from The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust (inclusive of first five years' operating costs). Professor Jean Woo was appointed its first Director. With \"making Hong Kong an age-friendly city in the world\" as its core vision, the Institute integrates interdisciplinary ageing research, policy advocacy, and community outreach.
The Opening of CUHK Medical Centre: Hong Kong’s First Smart Private Teaching Hospital, 2021
CUHKMC partially opened on 6 January 2021. It is Hong Kong’s first not-for-profit private teaching hospital and the territory’s first “smart hospital,” with 516 inpatient beds, wholly owned by CUHK. All surpluses are reinvested in Faculty of Medicine teaching and research. Construction was supported by a HK$1.3 billion donation from the Hong Kong Jockey Club and an approximately HK$4 billion interest-free government loan.