“College” at CityU — the Naming and Nature of the University’s Academic Colleges

This article belongs to the CityU Wild History 10 module and is the companion piece to residence-and-no-college-system.md. Its one job: to stop readers from mistaking a CityU “College” for a CUHK-style residential college. CityU’s “College” is a teaching faculty, not a residential college. In-depth material on academic structures — the departments, programmes, and curricula within each College — lives in the 01 Academic module; everything about accommodation can be found in this module’s residence-and-no-college-system.md. The governance and triple-crown accreditation of the College of Business, and the story behind the creation of the College of Computing, each have their own dedicated pieces: college-of-business-three-crown-identity.md and college-of-computing-establishment-2024.md.

A new student who has just received a CityU offer will often read “admitted to the College of Business” in their letter, then go online and discover that “College” on the neighbouring CUHK website refers to residential communities like Chung Chi, New Asia, and United — and start wondering: do I have to pick a “college” to live in, too? The answer is no. CityU’s “College” has nothing to do with accommodation, and this article exists to untangle that confusion.

# One: Why This Article Exists — One Word, Two Meanings

In the Hong Kong higher-education landscape, the English word “College” carries at least two distinct meanings:

• At The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK): “College” refers to a residential college — Chung Chi, New Asia, United, and the rest — a community built around general education, residence, communal dining, and mentorship, designed for whole-person education.
• At City University of Hong Kong (CityU): “College” refers to an academic faculty, responsible for disciplinary teaching and research — for example, the College of Business or the College of Engineering. It is not a residential unit, and students do not “live in” a College.

When you see “College of XXX” at CityU, therefore, do not picture a CUHK-style residential college. A CityU student’s affiliation with a College means precisely that they are pursuing a degree in that academic unit — nothing to do with accommodation or a holistic-education community. CityU’s residential life is handled by the hall system; for that, see residence-and-no-college-system.md.

# Two: CityU’s Current Academic Structure — Seven Colleges + Four Schools + the Graduate School

According to the university’s official “Colleges, Schools and Departments” page, CityU’s academic structure currently comprises seven Colleges, four Schools, and the Chow Yei Ching School of Graduate Studies — all of them academic units. The university explicitly states that their purpose is “the pursuit of excellence in professional education,” and not residential-college provision. (official)^※

# 2.1 The Seven “Colleges” (Teaching Faculties)

Note: the older shorthand “CityU’s four Colleges” is now out of date — the College of Computing (2024) and the College of Biomedicine (2025) are recent additions. For the departments, programmes, and research strengths housed within each College, see the 01 Academic module and the 04 Research module.

# 2.2 The Four “Schools” (Also Teaching Units, Not Residential)

CityU uses both “College” and “School” as labels for its academic faculties. Both are teaching units; the difference between them lies in history and organisational tier, and neither is a residential college. For the precise structure of each School/College, refer to the official “Academic Units” directory. (official – Academic Units)^※

# Three: Where the “College” Label Came From — From Polytechnic to Multi-College University

CityU’s use of “College” did not arrive in a single stroke; it evolved alongside the university’s organisational tiers. After the institution was formally upgraded from polytechnic to university in 1994, the existing departments were gradually grouped into several “Faculties.” Over the following decades some of these were elevated and rebranded as “Colleges,” while others remained “Schools.” The resulting parallel naming convention persists today, and newer units — the College of Computing and the College of Biomedicine — have adopted “College” rather than “Faculty,” signalling that the university has settled on “College” as its standard label for flagship teaching faculties. This shift in terminology, however, has never changed the underlying fact: all of them are academic units, and that has held steady through every reorganisation.

The Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences (JCC) is both the youngest and most distinctive of the seven Colleges: it is Hong Kong’s only school offering veterinary education, and the “Jockey Club” prefix reflects the charitable support of the Hong Kong Jockey Club. This sits within the same philanthropic lineage as the many Jockey Club–named halls in the residential system — for example, Hall 1 (Jockey Club Humanity Hall) and Hall 4 (Jockey Club Academy Hall) — but the two should never be conflated: one is a naming sponsorship of an academic college, the other of a residential hall.

# Four: If You Spot “Faculty” on the CityU Website, Does That Mean a Residential College?

Some of CityU’s administrative documents and archival records still occasionally use the word “Faculty” to designate an academic unit. This is the standard international term for a teaching division — effectively synonymous with “College” in the CityU context — and it, too, is not a residential college. If you come across an official file referring to the “Faculty of Business” (or an equivalent older label), read it as another historical or administrative way of saying “the business school,” not as a parallel collegiate system. CityU has never operated, and does not currently operate, any form of residential college or “Academy”-tier residential–academic hybrid. The fifth section of residence-and-no-college-system.md in this module includes a dedicated “CUHK-style college checklist,” which itemises, item by item, why none of the criteria apply to CityU.

# Five: Three Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does CityU have anything like a “Residential College,” just not called shuyuan? No. According to the Student Residence Office and the official academic-structure pages, CityU’s residential units are uniformly called “Halls,” and they are administered under the Student Residence Office (SRO). The academic units are uniformly called “Colleges / Schools,” administered by the Academic Regulations and Records Office and the respective faculties. These are two entirely separate administrative tracks; there is no third, semi-academic-semi-residential hybrid.

Q: Hall 4 is called “Jockey Club Academy Hall.” Does the word “Academy” mean CityU runs a collegiate-style residential learning programme? No. As explained in Section Three of residence-and-no-college-system.md, “Academy” here is merely the dedicatory name of Hall 4 — a naming practice consistent with other halls named after institutions or individuals. It does not signify any formal “Academy” residential-education programme or collegiate structure.

Q: Might CityU adopt a CUHK-style college system in the future? At the time of writing this update, CityU has never released any public plan or consultation paper proposing a collegiate system. Should such a motion emerge, this article and residence-and-no-college-system.md will be updated accordingly. Until then, “CityU has no college system and operates a hall system” remains the accurate description.

# Six: The Bottom Line — and Where to Go Next