The College of Engineering's Seven Departments: CityU's Engineering Landscape and Its Materials-Science Flagship

Module: 01 Academics · Sub-file: Seven Departments of the College of Engineering In the ShanghaiRanking 2025 global subject rankings, CityU placed 16 engineering-related subjects in the world's top 50 — the most of any university in Hong Kong. The College of Engineering is one of CityU's largest and most prestigious academic units, and the clearest embodiment of the University's "applied, technology-driven" ethos. This article maps the College's departmental structure, ranking highlights and flagship disciplines. For the materials-science research lines, see 04-research/high-entropy-alloys-and-metallurgy.md. The relationship between the new College of Computing (2024) and the Department of Computer Science is covered below and in 01-academics/college-of-computing-2024.md.

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# 1. Departmental landscape: seven focused departments

According to the College of Engineering's academic units page^※, the College comprises seven focused departments:

Together, the seven cover the main branches of engineering: from the "hard" disciplines of materials, mechanical and electrical engineering, to the crossover fields of biomedical engineering and computer science, to systems engineering with its systems-and-management bent, to architecture and civil engineering spanning both engineering and design. The coverage is remarkably complete.

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# 2. The flagship: Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE)

Among the College's current five departments, none carries more prestige than Materials Science and Engineering (MSE). It is CityU's most emblematic discipline:

• Long ranked first in Hong Kong and among the world's best in the QS World University Rankings by Subject (in 2026 it achieved the "grand slam" of topping all three major league tables in Hong Kong — QS, ShanghaiRanking and U.S. News; see 04-research/high-entropy-alloys-and-metallurgy.md);
• Lead department for frontier research such as high-entropy alloys and perovskite solar cells (on the latter, see 04-research/perovskite-solar-cells.md).

MSE is to the College of Engineering what a flagship is to a fleet — it carries the rankings and drives much of the patent and research output (CityU holds more US patents than any other Hong Kong university, with materials and engineering as the main contributors; see 04-research/patents-and-hk-tech-300.md).

According to the department's official About Us page^※, MSE positions itself as the first department of its kind in Hong Kong, founded to "develop internationally competitive leading research, and offer professional education programmes, enabling graduates to contribute to materials science and engineering in Hong Kong, the Greater China region and worldwide". The department now concentrates on four research strands: computational materials science and AI applications in materials science; functional materials; structural materials; and materials characterisation techniques. That "computational + AI" is listed first of the four signals how seriously MSE has taken the fusion of materials science with data-driven methods — a disciplinary logic that chimes with the College of Computing (2024).

# Rankings at a glance (as cited by the College)

From the College's Our Rankings^※ page:

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# 3. Electrical Engineering: the first national key laboratory in Hong Kong's engineering sector

Beyond materials, the Department of Electrical Engineering (EE) is another department that holds its head high. Its home, the State Key Laboratory of Terahertz and Millimeter Waves, was the first national key laboratory in any engineering field in Hong Kong to be accredited by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of mainland China.

According to the laboratory's official history page, its origins trace back to the founding of the Department of Electronic Engineering at the then-City Polytechnic of Hong Kong. Key milestones include: Professor Li Qifang laying the groundwork as departmental founder; the 1994 arrival of Professor Mei Guanzhong^※, which expanded research strength; the 1996 arrival of Chair Professor Chan Chi-hou; and, after Dr. Xue Quan joined in 1999, the further development of microwave and millimetre-wave integrated-circuit research. This steady accumulation of faculty expertise culminated in state approval from MOST in March 2008^※ to establish the laboratory; a decade later, its research scope extended into the terahertz band, and it was formally renamed the State Key Laboratory of Terahertz and Millimeter Waves.

The laboratory is now led by Chair Professors Lu Guiwen, Xue Quan and Chan Chi-hou, and maintains a long-term collaboration with the State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves at Southeast University. Its research spans more than ten areas: antennas, passive/active microwave circuits, system integration, terahertz science and technology, microelectromechanical systems, multi-antenna communications, microwave photonics, plasma devices, biological effects and nanomaterials. In a 2025 interview with Sina Finance^※, the laboratory's current director, Professor Chan Chi-hou, said his research focus has extended to 6G "integrated sensing and communication" (ISAC) technologies — a fitting complement to the department's U.S. News 2025 ranking of 24^※ in Hong Kong and its 22nd place in ShanghaiRanking 2025.

Set alongside materials science (QS 1st in Hong Kong), the College's two commanding heights — materials and electrical engineering — correspond neatly to "structural design at the atomic scale" and "information transmission at the electromagnetic-wave scale". Together they underpin the overall strength of CityU's engineering disciplines.

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# 4. Architecture and Civil Engineering (ACE): Hong Kong's only "whole-industry-chain" department

Among the College's seven departments, Architecture and Civil Engineering (ACE) has an unusual structure: it is the only department in Hong Kong that combines architecture, civil engineering, building services engineering (or building engineering) and surveying under one roof (most universities split these into separate faculties of architecture, departments of civil engineering and departments of surveying). According to the ACE at a Glance page^※, the department's academic staff includes civil and structural engineers, architectural/building services engineers, construction engineers, materials technologists, environmental scientists, architects, urban planners, building surveyors and quantity surveyors — nearly ten distinct professional backgrounds packed into a single department.

At undergraduate level, students enter without a declared major in Year 1 and choose among three degree streams from Year 2:

The addition of the "urban informatics" and "smart cities" specialisms reflects the department's recent efforts to keep pace with industry trends such as smart cities and BIM (building information modelling) — squarely in line with CityU's applied ethos (the campus itself serves as a physical textbook of architectural education: Daniel Libeskind's "Crystal" Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre is one example, see 05-campus/buildings-landmarks.md). At postgraduate level, the department offers master's programmes in civil and architectural engineering, construction management, and urban design and regional planning.

The civil engineering subject is placed at 66^※ in Hong Kong by U.S. News 2025 and 40th by ShanghaiRanking 2025 — less dazzling than materials or electrical engineering, but the "one department covering the entire industry chain" structure is itself the feature that most distinguishes ACE from comparable departments at other local universities.

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# 5. Mechanical Engineering and Systems Engineering: smart manufacturing, robotics and operations management

Mechanical Engineering (MNE) is another "hard-core" foundational department, with teaching and research spanning energy and power, smart manufacturing and robotics (the Dongguan campus likewise offers programmes in smart manufacturing and energy and power; see 09-international/cityu-dongguan-campus.md). Its research base for robotics is the Centre for Robotics and Automation — according to the Centre, CityU teams have collaborated with teams from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) on sensing and robotics since 2004, and in 2013 the two sides jointly established, with CAS approval^※, the "CAS-CityU Joint Laboratory on Robotics". Research areas include computer-vision algorithms, neural prosthetics, brain–computer interfaces, smart structures and power systems for energy harvesters/sensors/actuators, and flexible wearable sensing and electronics. The mechanical engineering subject is placed 38th in Hong Kong^※ by U.S. News 2025 and 51st by NTU 2025.

Systems Engineering, by contrast, leans towards systems optimisation, operations research and management, with an official remit of delivering quality teaching and research in smart manufacturing and industrial engineering. According to the department's postgraduate admissions page^※, research directions include manufacturing systems, operations management, industrial statistics, reliability engineering, logistics and supply chains, human factors engineering, entrepreneurship, project management, quality management and engineering asset management. At undergraduate level it offers a single major, "Systems Engineering and Management", which trains students to analyse and manage modern enterprises and systems using engineering principles and scientific methods. This disciplinary emphasis chimes with the academic background of CityU's fourth President (a reliability-engineering scholar; see 06-people/fourth-president-reliability-scholar.md) — "reliability engineering" is not an isolated personal label attached to the President, but has long been one of the Systems Engineering department's core research strands.

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# 6. Computer Science and Biomedical Engineering: two old departments that moved to new colleges

The historical structure of the College also includes two departments that, owing to recent restructuring, have been transferred to newly founded colleges — yet their disciplinary roots remain deeply tied to the College of Engineering:

• Computer Science (CS, moved to the College of Computing in 2024): its programmes span artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data science, multimedia computing, software engineering and project management, among several specialisms^※. The computer science and information systems subject is ranked 59th^※ by QS 2025, 61st by THE 2026 and 23rd by U.S. News 2025; for data science and AI, QS 2025 placed CityU 45th (see college-of-computing-2024.md). This department is a textbook case of "an old department meets a new college": its teaching and research traditions were rooted in the College of Engineering for decades, yet its administrative home has now migrated to a dedicated college in step with the AI-era reorganisation.
• Biomedical Engineering (BME, moved to the College of Biomedical Sciences in 2025): an interdisciplinary field straddling engineering and the life sciences, it joined biomedical sciences and neuroscience in 2025 to form the independent College of Biomedical Sciences (see colleges-and-schools.md). Though both transfers occurred within the past two years, their logics differ — computer science's move was a strategic choice "to ride the AI wave and concentrate computing strength", while biomedical engineering followed the more conventional path of "spinning off into its own college once the cross-disciplinary field reached a certain scale".

Together, the two transfers show that the College of Engineering's departmental map is no fixed historical inheritance but a dynamic structure continually adjusted in step with CityU's overall disciplinary strategy — and the undergraduate programme portfolio (see programs.md) has been updated accordingly.

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# 7. The College of Engineering and CityU's overall positioning

• The heart of "applied, technology-driven" CityU. The College of Engineering is where the University's pragmatism is most concentrated: patents, technology transfer and industry engagement are driven chiefly by its engineering departments.
• A model of the focused strategy. CityU does not chase comprehensiveness; instead it pushes a few engineering subjects, such as materials, to the very top. The College of Engineering is the finest example of this "small but excellent" approach.
• Synergy with the new colleges. The College of Computing (2024), the School of Energy and Environment (2009) and the School of Data Science (2018) overlap and cooperate with the College of Engineering in disciplinary terms, jointly forming CityU's "engineering–computing–energy" technology cluster.

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# 8. Summary

• The College of Engineering currently comprises five departments: ACE, EE, MSE, MNE and Systems Engineering^※ (computer science having moved to the College of Computing and biomedical engineering to the College of Biomedical Sciences), while still covering the main branches of engineering.
• The flagship is Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) — first in Hong Kong and among the world's best, and the main driver of rankings and research output. Electrical Engineering anchors another disciplinary high ground through Hong Kong's first national key laboratory in the engineering sector (the State Key Laboratory of Terahertz and Millimeter Waves, approved in 2008). Across the University, 16 engineering subjects make the ShanghaiRanking global top 50 — the most of any Hong Kong university.
• ACE is Hong Kong's only department combining architecture, civil engineering, surveying and urban informatics under one roof; MNE is built around the Centre for Robotics and Automation, while Systems Engineering focuses on reliability and operations management. Each department has its own distinct character, and all cross paths disciplinarily with the new colleges such as Computing and Biomedical Sciences. Departmental affiliations shift with restructuring — check the official organisational page for the latest.
• The College of Engineering is the core vehicle for CityU's "applied, small but excellent" ethos.

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# Sources

• Academic Units — College of Engineering, CityU official — official
• College of Engineering — Our Rankings — official
• Colleges, Schools and Departments — City University of Hong Kong official — official
• College of Engineering — THE World University Rankings — secondary
• BSc Computer Science (admissions page) — official
• QS Computer Science & Information Systems (CityU) — secondary
• State Key Laboratory of Terahertz and Millimeter Waves — History — official
• "HK" Innovation & Tech 25 — Interview with Professor Chan Chi-hou (Sina Finance, 2025-04-22) — news
• ACE at a Glance — Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering — official
• BEng in Civil Engineering (ACE admissions page) — official
• Centre for Robotics and Automation, CityU — official
• Department of Systems Engineering — Postgraduate Admissions — official
• About Us — Department of Materials Science and Engineering — official

# Cross-references

• Colleges and Schools Overview · College of Computing · School of Energy and Environment · High-Entropy Alloys and Materials Science · Patents and HK Tech 300 · Dongguan Campus · The "Crystal" Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre · Undergraduate Programmes Overview · The Fourth President (a reliability-engineering scholar)