Overview
Basic facts and historical timeline, world and subject rankings, admissions/tuition and graduate outcomes.
00 Overview Overview · Facts · History
8 articlesBasic fact sheet, FAQ, key numbers, pre-founding history, historical timeline, motto and crest, governance structure, and year-on-year statistics.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong — Essential Facts and Key Figures at a Glance
The full CUHK picture on one card: founded in 1963 as Hong Kong's second university from the merger of three colleges, 8 faculties and 9 colleges, 23,088 UGC-funded students (around 30,000 all-programme), a campus of about 137 hectares; figures compiled on the UGC-funded scope, with scope traps and historical trends flagged in place.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong — A History: From the Three Founding Colleges to 2026
CUHK was founded on 17 October 1963 through the merger of New Asia (1949), Chung Chi (1951) and United (1956) colleges on the "federal" model proposed by the Fulton Report, with Li Choh-ming as its first Vice-Chancellor — the first Chinese vice-chancellor of any university in Hong Kong. This article traces the story from the three colleges' beginnings through to the 60th anniversary and the inauguration of the ninth Vice-Chancellor.
Tracing the Leadership Transition: The Ninth Vice-Chancellor Dennis Lo Takes Office and "Governance by Scientist" (2025– )
Approved unanimously by the Council in September 2024, Dennis Lo succeeded Rocky S. Tuan as CUHK's ninth Vice-Chancellor on 8 January 2025, for a five-year term. A liquid-biopsy scientist who spent 27 years at CUHK has taken the Vice-Chancellorship, writing "translating research into practice" into the 2026–30 blueprint — the opening chapter of what is described here as "governance by scientist.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong — Motto, Emblem, Anthem and Colours
A line from the Analects, a phoenix glancing back, and a hymn set to the tune of Cornell's alma mater — CUHK's symbolic system carries a dual heritage of Chinese culture and Christian college tradition. This article examines in turn the provenance, adoption and institutional detail of each symbol.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong — Governance Structure and Presidents
CUHK is governed by three pillars — the Chancellor, the Council and the Senate. Founded in 1963 on a federal model, the University reformed its Council in 2023 to the current 34 seats. This article lists the nine Vice-Chancellors from Li Choh-ming onward and traces the 2025 handover from Rocky Tuan to the ninth incumbent, along with his governance priorities.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong — Firsts and Records
From Hong Kong's second university to Asia's first business school, from the first Graduate School to the invention of non-invasive prenatal testing — six decades of CUHK "firsts" scattered across its founding, faculties, research and medicine. This article systematically gathers them, distinguishing documented facts from official self-descriptions.
How Three Colleges Became One University: Chung Chi, United and New Asia and the Making of CUHK in 1963
CUHK did not start from zero. It assembled New Asia (1949), Chung Chi (1951) and United (1956) — three colleges, each with its own legal personality and character — into one university in 1963, following the "federal" blueprint of the Fulton Report: the colleges kept their autonomy, the University held the power to confer degrees. This article takes federalism as its thread to unpack that six-year engineering project.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong — Comprehensive FAQ
A question-and-answer guide to CUHK (Shatin campus) covering its founding year, the origin of its name, campus size, student and staff numbers, governance structure, motto and emblem, world rankings, and its Nobel connection, with each key figure dated and sourced.
03 Rankings World · Subject
4 articlesQS / THE / ARWU / U.S. News world rankings and their year-on-year trends, plus subject rankings for standout disciplines.
QS and U.S. News Rankings, Five Years Under the Microscope (CUHK 2021–2027)
The Chinese University of Hong Kong rose to world No. 18 in the QS 2027 edition and world No. 28 in the U.S. News 2026–2027 edition (both best-ever, both in Hong Kong's leading cohort). The two tables measure different things — QS leans nearly half on reputation and internationalisation, U.S. News compares papers and citations alone — and the five-year trajectory is explained by two main threads: QS's change of ruler and U.S. News's bibliometric surge.
CUHK Rankings: QS/THE/U.S. News Positions of The Chinese University of Hong Kong
A glance at CUHK's positions on the four major world rankings — QS (2027: 18th globally, an all-time high), THE (41st), ARWU (101–150), U.S. News (28th) — with historical trajectories, methodology differences and subject strengths, all per official announcements.
Business School Global Rankings Archive: The Evergreen Record of 22nd in FT EMBA and 21st in Masters in Finance
The CUHK Business School's EMBA ranks 22nd globally in FT 2025, holding a global top-30 spot for eight consecutive years; the MSc in Finance ranks 21st globally in FT 2026 (1st in Hong Kong). The full-time MBA ranks 65th globally in FT 2025, and the School holds dual AACSB and AMBA accreditation.
Deep Dive into Subject Rankings: Global Standing of Strengths in Communication, Geography, Nursing, and Theology
CUHK had 21 subjects in the global top 50 and 11 ranked first in Hong Kong in the QS 2026 subject rankings. Nursing (#6), Communication (#16), and Geography (#21) are the three flagships; in ARWU 2025, Nursing and Communication both ranked 10th globally, highlighting a pattern of dual strength in medicine and the social sciences.
香港中文大学 ranking overview(updated 2027)
| University | QS World | U.S. News World |
|---|---|---|
| HKU | 11 | 40 |
| CUHK · This university | 18 | 28 |
| HKUST | 33 | 82 |
| CityU | 52 | 47 |
| PolyU | 50 | 52 |
World rankings as officially reported by each list; every figure is sourced — see each university's deep-dive for detail. Machine-readable data (JSON · with sources) ↗.
香港中文大学's world-class subjects
Ranking FAQ
What is 香港中文大学's (CUHK) QS World Ranking in 2027?
In the QS World University Rankings 2027 (released 2026-06-18), 香港中文大学 is ranked 18 in the world.
What is 香港中文大学's U.S. News World University Ranking?
In U.S. News Best Global Universities 2026-2027 (released 2026-06-16), 香港中文大学 is ranked 28 in the world.
How do Hong Kong's five universities rank in QS 2027?
QS 2027: HKU #11, CUHK #18, HKUST #33, CityU #52, PolyU #50.
What are 香港中文大学's strongest subjects?
香港中文大学's world-class strengths include 护理学 Nursing (ranked 6 in the world), 传播与媒体研究 Communication & Media Studies (ranked 16 in the world), 地理学 Geography (ranked 21 in the world), among others.
02 Admissions Admissions · Tuition · Outcomes
7 articlesJUPAS and non-JUPAS admissions, mainland and international applications, tuition and scholarships, graduate outcomes and the programme catalogue.
CUHK admissions requirements: four pathways — JUPAS, Non-JUPAS, mainland gaokao — and college assignment
A breakdown of CUHK's four undergraduate entry routes (JUPAS, Non-JUPAS, mainland gaokao, international) — thresholds, the two grading scales and subject weighting, 2025 admission scores and competition ratios, and the college-assignment mechanism.
CUHK Tuition Fees and Scholarships
After nearly three decades frozen, local tuition at CUHK rises over three years from 2025, while non-local fees see their first increase in seven years — the steepest of the eight universities; covers entry scholarships, non-local student awards, the HKSAR Government Scholarship Fund and the mainland top-scorer scholarship scheme.
CUHK Graduate Destinations
CUHK bachelor's graduates earned a mean annual salary of HK$381,000 in 2023/24, second in Hong Kong behind HKU; medicine, dentistry, and nursing paid the most at HK$540,000; in the 2024 employer survey CUHK overtook HKU to top the "most wanted to hire" list with 57.1% of votes; in the THE 2024-25 Global Employability University Ranking CUHK placed 90th, third in Hong Kong.
CUHK Undergraduate Programme Catalogue: Complete JS Codes for 88 JUPAS Programmes
Lists the JUPAS (JS) codes for all 88 UGC-funded undergraduate programmes at CUHK by faculty, with each programme's non-JUPAS IB/A-Level minimum reference score range for quick reference.
CUHK Taught Postgraduate Application Guide: MSc/MA Programmes, Deadlines and FAQs
As of October 2025, CUHK's Graduate School offers 123 taught master's programmes. The oft-cited 'main round on 1 December, clearing round on 31 March' rule applies only to research programmes (MPhil/PhD); taught master's programmes set their own multi-round deadlines by Faculty and programme, spanning July 2026 to May 2027.
Mainland Gaokao Direct Admission: Early Admission Batch · Code 81002 · English Threshold of 120
CUHK (Shatin main campus) is listed by the Ministry of Education in the early admission batch under national institutional code 81002. In 2025 it plans to admit around 400 undergraduates across all 31 provinces, requiring an English score of at least 120 (out of 150) and selecting on gaokao scores (excluding bonus points) across four categories — Humanities, Science, Engineering and Business — with no interview. The University has recruited through this channel since 1998, with over 6,700 mainland students admitted to date.
School Nominations Direct Admission Scheme (SNDAS): A Top-Talent Pathway That Bypasses the DSE
CUHK participates in the Education Bureau's School Nominations Direct Admission Scheme (SNDAS, launched in the 2022/23 academic year), under which principals can nominate up to two S6 students with outstanding disciplinary talent each year for direct admission before the HKDSE results release. For the 5th cohort (2026), CUHK's directly admitted intake increased by nearly 45% year-on-year, while a total of 325 students received offers and 319 accepted across all eight universities.