No Collegiate System — CityU's Residential Hall System

This article belongs to Module 10 of CityU Wild History. This is a deliberately streamlined module — because the City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK / CityU) does not have a residential college system. On reference sites like Wild CUHK and Wild HKU, this module covers "the collegiate system / residential colleges"; but CityU's situation is entirely different, and the primary task of this article is to make that clear: CityU has no collegiate system; its residential education operates on a Hall system. For an analysis of the naming conventions of CityU's various "Colleges" as academic units, see naming-and-academic-colleges.md in this module; for campus geography and architecture, see Module 05; for student union politics, residents' association activities, and student life, see the Campus Life module.

A CUHK freshman's first act upon enrolment is being assigned to one of the nine colleges, after which that college's canteen, orientation camp, and identity as a "NA-ren" or "Chung Chi-ren" stays with them for four years. A CityU freshman's first act is opening the Student Residence Office's webpage to apply for a bed space — if successful, they move into a hall on Cornwall Street; if not, they hunt for a flat in the Kowloon Tong area on their own. Behind these two "first lessons of university" lie two completely different institutional designs. This article sets out to explain precisely CityU's path of "no colleges, but halls".

# 1. In a Nutshell: CityU Has No Collegiate System

Therefore, content that falls under the "collegiate system" checklist on this museum's other reference sites is uniformly "not applicable to this university" for CityU. The remainder of this article will itemise which CUHK-style "college checklist items" do not apply to CityU.

# 2. CityU vs. CUHK: The Fundamental Difference Between "Collegiate System" and "Hall System"

Among Hong Kong's higher education institutions, only The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) genuinely operates a collegiate system — it is the sole collegiate university in Hong Kong, currently comprising 9 constituent colleges. Every undergraduate is assigned to one of the nine upon admission, and the college supplements professional training through the four pillars of general education, accommodation, communal dining, and mentorship. CityU is completely different.

In other words: at CUHK, "College" = your home + your whole-person education community. At CityU, "College" = the academic faculty where you study, and the place you live is called a "Hall". Both systems use the word "College", but they denote entirely different things — this is the single most critical point for understanding CityU's accommodation system. For details on CityU's academic "College" naming, see the accompanying article in this module, naming-and-academic-colleges.md.

# 3. CityU's Accommodation System: The Hall System

CityU's residential education is coordinated by the Student Residence Office (SRO) and divided into two main residential compounds: the Kowloon Tong Compound and the Ma On Shan Compound, which opened in 2024. (Official · SRO)^※

# 3.1 Kowloon Tong: Tat Chee Avenue / Cornwall Street Student Residences (11 Halls + Jockey Club House)

The student residences on CityU's main campus are located at 22 Cornwall Street, Kowloon Tong, at the junction with Tat Chee Avenue and adjacent to Beacon Hill. (Wikipedia)^※ They comprise 11 Halls (Hall 1 – Hall 11), plus the Jockey Club House located in the Academic Exchange Building on campus. (Official · Living at CityUHK)^※ The official description refers to these as the "11 halls at Cornwall Street and Jockey Club House", collectively providing nearly 3,700 bed spaces for undergraduates and postgraduates. (Official · Living at CityUHK)^※

Each hall bears a name (mostly in honour of donors or organisations). The roster is listed below (Chinese and English names are based on official/Wikipedia sources; the current SRO listings take precedence in case of discrepancies):

Sources: The hall roster has been cross-checked against the official SRO page and the Wikipedia entry for "City University of Hong Kong". (Wikipedia)^※ (Official · SRO)^※ Hall configurations are subject to annual adjustments; details on facilities, orientation, hall culture, and traditions for each hall fall within the Campus Life module and are not elaborated here. Halls 10 and 11 are "new phase" expansion halls, previously described officially as subsequent capacity-building projects. (Official · Living at CityUHK)^※

# 3.2 Ma On Shan: Lee Shau Kee Student Residence Village (2024)

CityU's largest accommodation expansion in recent years is the Lee Shau Kee Student Residence Village, located at Pak Shek (Whitehead) in Ma On Shan.

Origin of the Name: The residence village is named after Dr Lee Shau Kee, a long-standing supporter of CityU and founder of Henderson Land Development. In 2018, Dr Lee donated HK$120 million to CityU through the Lee Shau Kee Foundation to support the University's long-term development, leading CityU to name the Ma On Shan Pak Shek student residence the "Lee Shau Kee Student Residence Village". (Official · Donation News, 2018-08-17)^※ Note: The similarly named Kowloon Tong "Lee Shau Kee Hall" (Hall 6) and this Ma On Shan "Lee Shau Kee Student Residence Village" are two distinct facilities, both connected to donations by Lee Shau Kee; do not confuse them.

Naming and donor context belongs in the "Donor Roll" section of Module 08 (Finance); only the key accommodation facts are recorded here. With the commissioning of the Ma On Shan Village, CityU's residential provision has expanded from a single Kowloon Tong compound to two major residential compounds: Kowloon Tong and Ma On Shan — this is precisely why the SRO website now divides accommodation into the "Kowloon Tong Compound" and "Ma On Shan Compound". (Official · SRO)^※

# 4. The Halls' "Residential Education" Framework: Residence Master / Residence Tutor / Residents' Association / Hall Scholarships

While CityU's halls are not colleges, they do bear a certain "residential education" function. The official description of hall life positions it as: Residence Masters, Residence Tutors, and students living together in the halls, forming a community that is meant to enhance students' social, emotional, and intellectual capabilities. (Official · Living at CityUHK)^※ Its organisational structure rests on four pillars:

1. Residence Master (RM) Each hall has a Residence Master (typically a faculty member), responsible for the hall's culture, annual plans, and holistic care. The official description of the RM's role states they help build the hall into a "place where students can excel in both academic and extracurricular pursuits". (Official · Hall 11 RM page)^※

2. Residence Tutor (RT) Under the Residence Master, a team of Residence Tutors is appointed. These are typically full-time postgraduates / final-year undergraduates / researchers / postgraduate staff, responsible for assisting the RM in providing pastoral care and intellectual guidance, organising activities, and maintaining hall order and daily administration. (Official · RT Recruitment)^※ When the new Ma On Shan residence opened, CityU also publicly recruited postgraduates and senior undergraduates to serve as RTs there. (Official · Living at CityUHK)^※

3. Residents' Association (RA) Each hall has a Residents' Association, elected by the resident students, which represents hall residents and organises hall activities and traditions. There exist RA constitutions under the CityU Students' Union structure. (Self-report · CityUSU Council RA Constitutions)^※ The society politics, elections, and activities of RAs fall within the purview of the Campus Life module.

4. Hall Scholarship Team / Learning Community (Hall Scholarship) Halls establish scholarship teams that promote "broad-based learning" and a learning community atmosphere through activities such as study tours, "scholarship journeys", and wellness talks. (Official · Living at CityUHK)^※

# 5. Cross-Referencing CUHK-Style "College Checklist Items" Against CityU (Not Applicable List)

To align with the standard Module 10 checklist used on this museum's other reference sites, the situation for CityU is itemised below:

# 6. Relationship with Other Modules

• naming-and-academic-colleges.md in this module: The academic structure, naming, and nature of CityU's various "Colleges / Schools" are clarified there — they are academic units, not residential colleges.
• Module 05 (Campus): The geography of the Tat Chee Avenue campus, the external appearance of residence buildings, and the architecture and siting of the Ma On Shan Pak Shek residence village are detailed there.
• Campus Life Module: The society politics of the Students' Union and individual hall Residents' Associations, orientation, hall culture and traditions, and the residential life experience are explored there.
• Module 08 (Finance): The context behind the naming donations by Lee Shau Kee, the Hong Kong Jockey Club, HSBC, and others is detailed in the "Donor Roll".
• This article does only one core thing: establishes the fact that "CityU has no collegiate system and operates a hall system", and clarifies the skeleton of the hall system and its points of contrast.