HKU Key Facts Card & Statistics over the Years

# HKU Key Facts Card & Statistics over the Years

Data snapshot: figures for students, staff, and finances are drawn from HKU’s “Quick Stats” for the 2025/2026 academic year (webpage last updated April 2026); leadership information reflects the editorial moment of June 2026. The first half of this article serves as a quick-reference facts card, while the second half uses the official Quick Stats and the “University Profile” sections of past Annual Reports, supplemented by UGC statistics, to trace changes over time. A note on data scope: HKU’s Quick Stats use a university-wide scope (including self-funded taught postgraduate (TPg) students); the UGC publishes figures on a UGC-funded places basis. These two sets of figures are not directly comparable. Each figure carries its own timeliness and scope; please check the latest official releases before citing.

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# I. Name

# II. Identity & Positioning

For the full history of the motto, coat of arms, colours, and the university anthem, see symbols.md.

# III. Governance & Leadership (at June 2026)

HKU is a statutory university; its governance powers are set out in the University of Hong Kong Ordinance (Chapter 1053 of the Laws of Hong Kong) and its Statutes.

For the full governance structure and a list of past Vice-Chancellors, see governance.md.

# IV. Scale (2025/2026 academic year, Quick Stats scope)

# V. Campuses

# VI. Academic Structure at a Glance

• 10 Faculties: Architecture, Arts, Business (HKU Business School), Dentistry, Education, Engineering, Law, the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, Science, and Social Sciences^※
• The tenth faculty, the HKU Business School, was established in 2001^※
• For details, see ../01-academics/ and firsts-and-superlatives.md

# VII. Residential Life: The Hall System

• HKU operates a residential hall system, rather than a collegiate one. Publicly available information consolidates that there are approximately thirteen residential halls and several non-residential halls^※. These include the historic University Hall, the independently run St John’s College and Ricci Hall, and the residential colleges at the Jockey Club Student Village III: Lady Ho Tung Hall, Chi Sun College, Lap-Chee College, and New College.
• For details, see ../10-colleges/. For high table dinners, “going on committee” (上莊), and the hierarchical “sin” (仙制) culture among the halls, see A Complete Overview of Hall Culture. For the Hall Orientation (Hall O) camps that new students must attend before moving in, see the Complete Guide to Orientation Camps.

# VIII. Alliances & Affiliations

• A University Grants Committee (UGC)^※ funded institution
• A founding member of Universitas 21^※
• A member of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU)^※
• Student exchange network: over 380 partner institutions across 46 countries/regions^※
• Alliances with mainland China: Beijing–Hong Kong Universities Alliance (2018), Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao University Alliance (2016), Shanghai-Hong Kong University Alliance (2018), and the Jiangsu-Hong Kong-Macao University Alliance (2021)^※, among others

# IX. Honours & Ranking Highlights

• 11th in the QS World University Rankings 2027^※, consolidating its all-time best rank for a second consecutive year.
• 33rd in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2026^※.
• 40th in the U.S. News Best Global Universities 2026–2027^※.
• In the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026: Dentistry is 2nd globally and Education is 5th^※. A total of 29 HKU subjects were ranked in the global top 50^※.
• 54 HKU academics were named Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers for 2025^※.
• The University's most famous early alumnus is Dr Sun Yat-sen^※, who studied at the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese from 1887 to 1892. For the full story, see sun-yat-sen-1923-speech.md.

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# X. Statistics over the Years: Students, Staff, Degrees, Internationalisation & Finances (2020/21–2025/26)

This section uses HKU’s official “Quick Stats” and the “University Profile” sections of past Annual Reports as its primary data sources, supplemented by UGC statistics, to trace changes in student numbers, staff, degrees awarded, and finances over the years.

# 10.1 Student Headcount & Composition (by Year)

By funding source (2025/26):

# 10.2 Non-local Students & Internationalisation (by Year)

Origin of non-local students (2025/26):

# 10.3 Staff (by Year)

Staff by category (2025/26, Quick Stats):

Gender ratio: According to the Quick Stats overview, the university-wide male-to-female ratio is about 0.9:1^※, with women slightly outnumbering men. A more detailed year-on-year, category-by-category breakdown is scattered across the official profile sub-pages. For this article, the detailed breakdown is marked as “check the official sub-pages”.

# 10.4 Graduates & Degrees Conferred (2024/2025)

Cumulative alumni (by year):

# 10.5 Finances (by Year)

Income composition (2024/2025):

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# Data Gaps & Scope Notes

• Year-on-year, category-by-category gender breakdown: The official source does not consolidate this information in a single table but scatters it across different profile sub-pages. This article cites only the overview ratio of “about 0.9:1”; the detailed breakdown is marked as “check the official sub-pages”.
• UGC-scope student figures: This article uses the university-wide scope (Quick Stats). If figures on a UGC-funded places basis are required (for cross-institutional comparison), one should consult the UGC official statistics^※. The two data scopes must not be conflated.
• Historical figures are based on each year’s respective official Annual Report. When comparing across years, one must note whether the scope (inclusion/exclusion of honorary/visiting staff, inclusion/exclusion of self-funded programmes) is consistent.

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