A chronicle of recent events (2023–2026) – CityU’s period of intense change
Zoom in to the last four years, and CityU has been fighting on several fronts almost every year: changing presidents, opening a new mainland campus, expanding residential halls, climbing the rankings, and occasionally splashing out on property purchases. 2023 to 2026 is one of the most concentrated periods of upheaval in CityU’s recent history: two changes of vice-chancellor, the landing of its mainland campus, the birth of a new college, a new residential village opening, repeated record-high rankings, and an external building acquisition for expansion. This piece arranges these events chronologically into a single chronicle, each entry accompanied by a source or cross-reference to a corresponding in-depth article on this site. For an earlier historical timeline, see 00-overview/history.md; for an overview of developments from 2020–2026, see 00-overview/recent-developments-2020-2026.md.
1. 2023: a change at the top and a veterinary milestone
| Date | Event | Cross-reference |
|---|---|---|
| 2023-05 | The fourth Vice-Chancellor and President (Prof. Kuo) stepped down after roughly 15 years in office※ | Governance structure and former presidents |
| 2023-10-28 | The inaugural cohort of 11 BVM graduates registered to practise, producing Hong Kong’s first cohort of locally trained veterinarians | 11-medical-hospital/ |
| 2023-09 | The BVM programme received dual accreditation from the RCVS and AVBC (the first such in Asia) | 01-academics/ |
In 2023, CityU bid farewell to a scholar-president who had led the University for 15 years, and simultaneously welcomed a historic breakthrough for the veterinary profession in Hong Kong: the first locally trained veterinarians registered to practise.
2. 2024: a college, a campus, and a residential hall all land at once
| Date | Event | Cross-reference |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-09-01 | The College of Computing was established, integrating computer science, data science, and statistics with a strong focus on AI | 01-academics/ |
| 2024-09 | City University of Hong Kong (Dongguan) officially opened and enrolled students (covering 10 provinces) | 09-international/mainland-and-greater-bay-area.md |
| 2024-12 | The Lee Shau Kee Student Residence Village (Pak Shek, Ma On Shan, over 2,000 bed spaces) was opened and named | 21-residence-college-life/residence-and-hostel-culture.md |
2024 was a year of ‘hard expansion’ for CityU: three major initiatives — a new college, a new campus, and a new residential village — all landed in the same year, expanding the University’s organisational, geographical, and residential dimensions simultaneously.
3. 2025: record-high rankings and an external property purchase
| Date | Event | Cross-reference |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-03 | US patents ranked No. 1 in Hong Kong for the 9th consecutive year, and the only institution in Hong Kong among the global top 100 (95 patents granted in 2024) | 04-research/ |
| 2025-11-04 | QS Asia University Rankings rose to 7th place (from 10th), 3rd in Hong Kong | 03-rankings/ |
| 2025-11-17 | THE World University Rankings rose to a record-high 73rd place; named the 「全球最國際化大學」 (‘Most International University in the World’) for the third consecutive year | 09-international/global-partnerships-and-exchange.md |
| 2025-12-10 | Spent HK$1.96 billion to acquire a four-storey office block in Festival Walk※ (primarily for wet-research laboratories) | 15-campus-lore/campus-identity-and-spaces.md |
Note: Details of the purchase price and area of the Festival Walk building can be found in reports cited by the South China Morning Post in
15-campus-lore/campus-identity-and-spaces.md(contract signed 2025-12-10, approximately 214,000 square feet).
In 2025, CityU bloomed on multiple rankings fronts (QS Asia 7th, THE World 73rd, a three-peat as the most international university), while also spending close to HK$2 billion on a shopping-centre office block to relieve its chronic shortage of urban space.
4. 2026: another change at the top
| Date | Event | Cross-reference |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-04-24 | The fifth Vice-Chancellor and President (Prof. Boey) resigned early citing 「私人理由」 (‘personal reasons’), with around two years remaining on his contract | 13-governance-and-reform/governance-controversies.md |
5. How to read this chronicle
If you string 2023–2026 together, you can see that CityU is in a phase of rapid change:
- Expansion track: Dongguan campus, College of Computing, residential village, office-block acquisition — wholesale expansion in organisational, geographical, and spatial terms;
- Reputation track: QS Asia, THE World, Most International, patent champion — rankings and reputation on a sustained upward trajectory;
- Personnel track: Two vice-chancellors succeeded each other (departure in 2023, early resignation in 2026) — volatility and uncertainty at the governance level.
The coexistence of ‘dual highs in expansion and reputation’ with ‘personnel turbulence’ is key to understanding CityU during this period. In-depth verification of each event and the juxtaposition of multiple perspectives are handled in the corresponding articles on this site; this piece serves only as a timeline index.
6. Summary (timeline at a glance)
- 2023: Fourth VC steps down; first cohort of locally trained veterinarians registered (BVM, Asia’s first dual accreditation).
- 2024: College of Computing established; Dongguan campus opens; Lee Shau Kee Student Residence Village comes into use.
- 2025: Patents as the only Hong Kong institution in the global top 100; QS Asia rises to 7th, THE World to 73rd, three-peat as Most International; acquisition of the Festival Walk office block.
- 2026: Fifth VC resigns early (official narrative in the wild-history module).
This has been the recent period of intense change for CityU, marked by ‘dual highs in expansion and reputation, with personnel turbulence’.
Sources
- Way Kuo — Wikipedia (tenure as fourth VC) — secondary
- Grand opening of City University of Hong Kong (Dongguan) (2024-09-02) — CityU official — official
- CityUHK rises to a record 73rd in THE World University Rankings 2026 — CityU official — official
- CityU president resigns — The Standard (2026-04-24) — news
Cross-references
- Historical timeline · Developments 2020–2026 · What makes CityU CityU · Governance structure and former presidents · Governance controversies · Rankings
Notes on consolidation and splitting of this article
This article was originally the legacy card 00-overview/timeline-2023-2026.md slated to be merged into recent-developments-2020-2026.md. It was split out into a standalone article on 2026-07-02 because the parent card had grown too large. Content and sources remain unchanged.
Subsequent update criteria
Subsequent updates shall only enter the body text based on three types of material: first, primary sources such as the University website, annual reports, departmental web pages, and materials from regulatory or ranking bodies; second, verifiable facts from reliable media, student media, or public archives; third, publicly available timelines that can explain institutional changes. Single screenshots, undated rumours, ranking slogans whose source cannot be located, and personal evaluations may serve only as leads pending verification and must not be written directly as facts.