City University of Hong Kong — Governance Structure and Past Presidents

Who is the "boss" of a university? And who sits above the President? City University of Hong Kong is a statutory university created by a specific ordinance of Hong Kong's legislature; its governance powers are set out in its University Ordinance and Statutes. The highest ceremonial officer is the Chancellor, the supreme governing body is the Council, the highest academic authority is the Senate, and the chief executive officer is the President. This article maps the governance structure and past presidents using official and public-domain sources; the neutral factual sections (00–12) record the academic achievements and personal backgrounds of the leadership.

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# I. Governance Structure at a Glance

Chancellor ── Ex-officio role held by the Chief Executive of the HKSAR
      │ Ceremonial head
Council ── Supreme governing and executive body (led by the Chairman)
      │
President ── Chief executive officer of the University
      │
Provost & Deputy President ──── Overall responsibility for academic administration
Vice-Presidents ── Research / Education / Administration / Development, etc.
      │
Senate ── Supreme academic decision-making body (chaired by the President)
      │
Colleges / Schools ←→ Departments

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# II. Governance Bodies and Offices

# Chancellor

• The University's ceremonial head, held ex officio by the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (before the handover, held by the Governor). This is a shared institutional arrangement across most of Hong Kong's statutory universities, known as the "Chief Executive as ex-officio chancellor of Hong Kong universities^※" system.
• The role is primarily ceremonial — presiding at congregations and similar occasions — and does not involve day-to-day university administration.
• The incumbent Chancellor is the current Chief Executive of the HKSAR, John Lee Ka-chiu.

# Council

• CityU's supreme governing and executive body, responsible for the affairs, direction, property, and finances of the University; led by the Chairman of the Council.
• Current Chairman: Michael Ngai (魏明德), appointed with effect from 1 January 2025^※ for a three-year term, succeeding Lester Huang (黃嘉純). Michael Ngai is a Cambridge-educated veteran of the financial sector, a former managing director at UBS, and currently chairman of Andes Capital, among other roles (per Orange News^※).

# President

• The University's chief executive officer, with overall responsibility for day-to-day operations, academic and administrative management. The President is an ex-officio member of both the Council and the Senate, and serves as Chairman of the Senate.
• Current situation: the presidency is vacant. The previous President resigned for personal reasons on 24 April 2026^※.

# Acting President / Provost & Deputy President

• Incumbent: Lee Chun-sing (李振聲), appointed Provost and Deputy President in 2023^※, with responsibility for coordinating academic affairs and strategic development; assumed the role of Acting President with immediate effect on 24 April 2026. Lee Chun-sing is a Chair Professor in Chemistry and Materials Science and Engineering (per CityU press release^※).

# Senate

• The University's supreme academic decision-making body, responsible for curricula, examinations, degree standards, research policy, and related matters. Chaired by the President; membership includes the Vice-Presidents, College/School Deans, professorial representatives, and student representatives.

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# III. Complete List of Past Presidents / Directors

CityU's leadership falls into two phases: the City Polytechnic period (1984–1994), when the head was called "Director / Principal", and the university period (1994–present), when the head is called "President". The list below has been cross-checked against Simplified Chinese Wikipedia^※ and Traditional Chinese Wikipedia^※.

Note: The common convention for numbering "the Nth President" typically starts counting from the founding Director, David Johns — making Freddy Boey the fifth (combined Director/President count). Some sources count only the Presidents from the university period, which yields different numbering; it is advisable to specify the counting convention used when citing.

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# IV. Biographical Backgrounds of Past Presidents (Neutral Facts)

# David Johns (莊賢智, Founding Director)

The founder of City Polytechnic. During his tenure, the institution established a modular credit system that unified full-time and part-time programmes, insisting on identical academic standards for both streams — an approach consistent with the institution's original vocational and applied-education mission. After his term, he moved to the University of Bradford in the UK (per English Wikipedia^※).

# Cheng Yiu-chung (鄭耀宗, 2nd)

Physicist and scholar of materials science and electronic engineering. He guided City Polytechnic through the pivotal transition from polytechnic to university (Aug 1989–1996^※). After leaving in 1996, he became Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong (per English Wikipedia – Yiu-Chung Cheng^※).

# H.K. Chang (張信剛, 3rd)

A biomedical engineering scholar, born in 1940. He taught successively at the State University of New York, McGill University in Canada, and the University of Southern California. He served as the founding Dean of Engineering at HKUST (1990) and Dean of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh (1994) before becoming President and University Chair Professor at CityU in 1996^※; he retired in 2007. His academic honours include being a Foreign Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and an Academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences. He has also authored several books in both Chinese and English on history, culture, and civilisational exchange, and has been awarded the Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur and the Gold Bauhinia Star, among other honours (per Wikipedia – H.K. Chang^※).

# Way Kuo (郭位, 4th)

An international authority on reliability engineering, researching reliability design for electronics and energy systems. He is a Member of the US National Academy of Engineering, an Academician of Taiwan's Academia Sinica, and a Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (elected in 2000, 2002, and 2007 respectively) (per English Wikipedia – Way Kuo^※). His fifteen-year tenure from 2008–2023^※ — the longest in CityU's history — was a critical phase in which the university broke into the global top 100 and cemented its competitive strengths in internationalisation, veterinary medicine, and patents.

# Freddy Boey (梅彥昌, 5th)

A scholar of materials science and bioengineering. Before becoming CityU President, he was Senior Deputy President of the National University of Singapore. He assumed office in May 2023^※ and resigned for personal reasons in April 2026^※, serving less than three years.

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# V. Legal Foundation: The CityUHK Ordinance and Statutes

CityU's existence and operations rest on a clear legal basis. According to CityU's official site^※, the University was established under the City University of Hong Kong Ordinance (CityUHK Ordinance). This ordinance provides for the establishment of CityU and related matters. The accompanying Statutes set out the University's objects and powers (CityU Statutes page^※).

This "Ordinance + Statutes" legal framework is the standard model for Hong Kong's public universities: the university is not a private entity, but a statutory body created by a specific ordinance of the legislature, with its governance structure and the boundaries of its powers written into law.

According to CityU's governance page^※, the University's Principal Officers include: the Chancellor, Pro-Chancellor, Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Council, Treasurer, and President. Among these, the President is the chief executive officer responsible for day-to-day operations, while the Council Chairman and Chancellor sit at higher levels of governance and symbolism. This layered structure of "Chancellor – Council – President" separates the university's ultimate constitutional authority, its governance decision-making power, and its day-to-day executive authority.

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# VI. A Key Design: The Chief Executive Serves Ex Officio as Chancellor

There is a highly distinctive arrangement in the governance of Hong Kong's public universities, and CityU is no exception:

As nominal head, the Chancellor typically performs symbolic roles — such as presiding at major ceremonies like Congregation — and does not intervene in day-to-day governance.

• 1984–1997: The City Polytechnic / CityU Chancellor was held ex officio by the Governor of Hong Kong.
• From 1 July 1997: The role has been held ex officio by the Chief Executive of the HKSAR (following the standard system for Hong Kong's statutory tertiary institutions, consistent with HKU, CUHK, etc.).

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# VII. The Court

In addition to the Council, CityU has a Court. According to CityU's official site^※, the Court performs its functions under Section 8A of the Ordinance; the Chancellor, when present, chairs meetings of the Court and the University's congregations.

The Court is typically a broader, more representative body (with members drawn from across the community, alumni, etc.), whose role leans towards "connecting the University with society" and "expressing views on major occasions," rather than exercising day-to-day governance powers as the Council does. In December 2025, CityU announced appointments and reappointments to the Council and Court^※ — a routine update of the membership of this governance body.

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# VIII. At a Glance: Distribution of Power

Commentary: This layered structure is the standard model for Hong Kong's public universities, but it also embeds the structural features of "government-appointee-dominated Council + Chief Executive as ex-officio Chancellor." Some scholars have described this as a form of "managed freedom^※" (see 13-governance-and-reform/governance-controversies.md); part of CityU's governance disputes over the years have been specific manifestations of the tensions inherent in this architecture at particular moments.

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# IX. Summary

• CityU is established under the City University of Hong Kong Ordinance and Statutes^※, giving its governance structure a clear statutory basis.
• The Council is the supreme governing body; the Principal Officers include the Chancellor, Pro-Chancellor, Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Council, Treasurer, and President.
• The Chief Executive of Hong Kong serves ex officio as Chancellor of all publicly funded universities — the most distinctive, and most debated, structural feature of Hong Kong's university governance.
• A Court additionally serves as a broadly representative body connecting the University to society.
• There have been five Presidents/Directors since founding Director David Johns; the presidency is currently held in an acting capacity by Provost and Deputy President Lee Chun-sing.

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# Sources

• "City University of Hong Kong", Wikipedia (Simplified Chinese): https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/香港城市大學 (secondary; list of past presidents, Chancellor, Council Chairmen, college structure)
• "City University of Hong Kong", Wikipedia (Traditional Chinese): https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hant/香港城市大學 (secondary; presidential terms, Freddy Boey 2023–2026)
• "Professor Freddy Boey resigns as CityUHK President", CityU press release (2026-04-24): https://www.cityu.edu.hk/en/media/press-release/2026/04/24/professor-freddy-boey-resigns-as-cityuhk-president (official primary; president's resignation, Lee Chun-sing acting, Provost background)
• "大學高層變動｜浸大城大換校董會主席" (University senior leadership changes | HKBU and CityU replace Council Chairmen), Orange News: https://www.orangenews.hk/hongkong/1247310/ (news; Michael Ngai appointed Council Chairman 1 Jan 2025, succeeding Lester Huang, background)
• "H.K. Chang", Wikipedia: https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/張信剛 (secondary; H.K. Chang academic background, term, fellowships, honours)
• "Way Kuo", Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Way_Kuo (secondary; Way Kuo three academy memberships, reliability engineering, 2008–2023)
• "Yiu-Chung Cheng", Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yiu-Chung_Cheng (secondary; Cheng Yiu-chung City Polytechnic 1989–1996, then HKU)
• "City University of Hong Kong", Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_Hong_Kong (secondary; David Johns modular system, move to Bradford)
• "Fifteen Years Beyond Boundaries", CityU news: https://www.cityu.edu.hk/media/news/2023/05/07/fifteen-years-beyond-boundaries-banquet-honour-professor-way-kuos-presidency (official primary; Way Kuo's fifteen years)
• "香港行政長官校監必然制" (Chief Executive as ex-officio chancellor of Hong Kong universities), Wikipedia: https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/香港行政長官校監必然制 (secondary; Chancellor held ex officio by Chief Executive)
• "Governance", City University of Hong Kong official: https://www.cityu.edu.hk/about/governance — official
• "CityUHK Ordinance", City University of Hong Kong official: https://www.cityu.edu.hk/court/ordinance.htm — official
• "Statutes", The Council, City University of Hong Kong official: https://www.cityu.edu.hk/cuc/statutes.htm — official
• "CityUHK welcomes appointments for Council and Court" (2025-12-19), CityU official: https://www.cityu.edu.hk/en/media/news/2025/12/19/appointments-to-council-and-court-members — official

# Cross-references

• General Facts Card · History Timeline · Recent Developments 2020–2026 · Year-by-Year Leadership Timeline · Governance Controversies (Wild History)