A Record of Presidents and Council Chairmen: From David Johns to the Unplanned Handover of 2026

City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK / 城大) consolidated information database · University governance module

Note: This article compiles leadership information from official CityUHK announcements, government press releases, and verifiable news sources. Incumbent leadership (including the Acting President and the current Council Chairman) are referred to by title only in the dispute/evaluation sections of this article; historical figures are named in accordance with common practice.

This is the fourth article in the "University Governance" series. Multi-perspective analysis of controversial events can be found in Governance Controversies and the Academic Autonomy Debate; the complete lineage of Council Chairmen can be found in The Lineage of Council Chairmen; the statutory governance framework is set out in Governance Structure and Legal Framework.

---

In 1983, an educator from Loughborough University of Technology sat in a temporary campus in Mong Kok, drafting a development blueprint for a college that did not yet have a permanent home. Four decades on, that college has grown into a comprehensive university that has changed presidents five times — with the longest-serving among them holding the post for fifteen years. Then, on a Friday in April 2026, a resignation letter citing "personal reasons" shattered that rare record of stability. This article traces the succession of five substantive presidents and two acting presidents, reconstructing the history of a leadership transition that is not especially long, yet has accelerated sharply in recent years.

# Overview of Presidents

Since its founding in 1984 as City Polytechnic of Hong Kong^※, CityUHK has seen five substantive presidents and two acting presidents, forming a clear succession chain.

Two points are worth noting when reading this table. First, "President" and "Acting President" are two different kinds of office: the former is formally appointed by the Council after a global search, while the latter is a transitional arrangement in which a senior deputy steps in when the presidency falls vacant. Both acting appointments are listed as separate rows in this article rather than being folded into the substantive sequence. Second, this article follows a tiered convention for referring to living persons — retired historical presidents (Johns, Cheng, Chang) are named as is customary, while incumbent or recently incumbent leaders who figure in the transition controversy (the 5th President, the Acting President, and the current Council Chairman) are referred to by surname plus title, or by title alone, never by full name. The sections below proceed president by president along this chain.

# The Founding Era: David Johns and the Making of City Polytechnic (1983–1989)

David Johns^※ was a senior educator from Loughborough University of Technology in the UK, appointed as the first Principal in 1983^※ to lead the new institution's start-up phase. When he arrived, the college had no permanent campus, no existing faculty, and no established disciplines — the job of "Principal" was closer to that of a founder-entrepreneur: in a temporary site in Mong Kok, he sketched out faculties, hired people, and set the direction from a blank page. City Polytechnic formally came into being on 1 January 1984^※, initially using leased commercial premises as temporary teaching space — a world away from the purpose-built campus on Tat Chee Avenue that would come later.

Johns's core tasks during his tenure were:

• Building the institutional foundations: recruiting the core faculty and staff, and establishing the departmental and programme framework;
• Laying the groundwork for the 1990 move to the permanent campus on Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong^※ (the actual relocation spanned his successor's term);
• Setting the teaching orientation as applied and industry-facing, which shaped CityU's early character as a "practical engineering and business" institution.

Johns retired in 1989^※ and returned to the UK to become Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bradford — a trajectory from "founding" a university in Hong Kong to leading an established British one. This cross-border administrative career also set the pattern of "international backgrounds" that every subsequent CityU president would follow. His six-year legacy is not any single building or ranking, but the skeleton of a university built from nothing.

# Elevation and Foundation: Cheng Yiu-chung and the Run-Up to University Status (1989–1996)

The second President, Cheng Yiu-chung, was a microelectronics engineer by training. He earned a BSc from the University of Hong Kong in 1963^※, later pursued graduate study in the United States, and returned to Hong Kong with considerable academic standing in electronic engineering; he was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1999^※. His seven years in office coincided exactly with City Polytechnic's climb from "polytechnic" to "university".

Under Cheng, the institution completed three critical transitions:

1. Moving to a permanent campus: In 1990 the Polytechnic relocated to its present site on Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong^※, ending the Mong Kok temporary phase.
2. Expanding the disciplinary map: According to Wikipedia's summary, he vigorously developed the Department of Electronic Engineering and approved the establishment of a law department, making City Polytechnic the second higher education institution in Hong Kong to offer an LLB programme^※ — a move that laid the groundwork for what would become CityU's School of Law.
3. Launching the elevation application: In early 1991, the Polytechnic applied to the government for self-accrediting status and the university title^※, laying the legal and academic foundations for full university status. In 1994 City Polytechnic was formally granted the university title^※ and renamed City University of Hong Kong, making Cheng the only president to have served under both the "City Polytechnic" and "City University" names.

Cheng stepped down in April 1996^※ and immediately became Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong (serving until 2000) — a rare lateral move between two UGC-funded universities in Hong Kong, with the same person heading both institutions in quick succession. It has never been repeated.

# Consolidation and Advancement: H.K. Chang's 11 Years (1996–2007)

Chang Hsin-kang (English abbreviation H.K. Chang) was a biomedical engineering scholar. He took office just after CityU was granted university status in 1994^※, at a critical juncture in the transition from polytechnic to comprehensive university.

Chang served for 11 years^※ (1996–2007) — the third-longest tenure in CityU history to date. His principal achievements included:

• Deepening the shift of academic programmes from vocational orientation towards research orientation, helping CityU genuinely build a research-university academic structure under the university title;
• Promoting international exchange and cross-civilisational studies. He was himself known for dialogue between Chinese and Western cultures, and during his tenure established general-education courses of the "Chinese Culture Centre" type, requiring undergraduates to earn credits in Chinese culture — a long-standing feature of CityU's general education;
• Participating in the expansion of campus infrastructure, leaving room for later campus growth and the creation of new colleges.

Chang's academic background was biomedical engineering, yet he was best known for cultural history and civilisational dialogue. This crossover image of "an engineer talking culture" in some ways extended the common thread among CityU presidents of "professional training plus international career". His tenure spanned major historical junctures including the 1997 handover of Hong Kong and the 2003 SARS outbreak, during which he maintained continuity of university governance amid a turbulent external environment. Chang retired in April 2007^※, leaving a transition period of roughly a year covered by then-Deputy President Ho Yin-kee in an acting capacity until the 4th President arrived. This was the first "Acting President" arrangement in CityU's history, and it anticipates the 2026 acting handover — but the two are entirely different in nature: the former was a brief bridge after a normal term expiry, the latter a non-planned transition in the middle of a term.

# The Longest Tenure: Way Kuo's 15 Years (2008–2023)

Way Kuo is a Taiwan-born American scholar of reliability engineering, formerly Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Tennessee. He became CityU's 4th President on 14 May 2008^※ and served until 13 May 2023^※, a tenure of 15 years^※ — the longest of any CityU president. At his retirement, media reports described him as one of the highest-paid university heads in Hong Kong^※.

Kuo's achievements can be sketched along four lines — fundraising, new schools, innovation, and rankings (abridged here; module 00-12 carries the full record):

Fundraising and campus expansion. According to official CityU materials for the farewell banquet in his honour, Kuo raised over HK$3 billion cumulatively for the University^※ during his tenure; the "United, We Soar" fundraising campaign hit its HK$2.5 billion target 18 months ahead of schedule^※, providing the funding base for campus infrastructure and new schools.

New schools and disciplines. According to the same official source, Kuo oversaw the establishment of the School of Energy and Environment and the School of Data Science^※ and other new academic units; the most iconic was his leadership in bringing the Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences (the veterinary school) to its first intake in 2017/18^※. This six-year Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine programme was the first undergraduate veterinary curriculum in Asia designed to international accreditation standards^※, making CityU the only institution in Hong Kong offering an undergraduate veterinary degree.

Innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. He launched the HK Tech 300 entrepreneurship programme (formally rolled out in March 2021^※), described officially as the first large-scale innovation and entrepreneurship programme in Asia^※, providing seed funding and incubation support for student and alumni start-ups.

Internationalisation and rankings. Under Kuo, CityU recorded its best-ever rankings: consistently near the top of the THE "Most International Universities" list, with multiple QS indicators in the global top 50 and multiple THE indicators in the global top 100. According to Clarivate's 2023 report, CityU had 29 scholars named "Highly Cited Researchers" for 2022, placing the University 44th globally on this measure^※; by the ratio of highly cited researchers to faculty, it ranked first in Asia.

Kuo's public stance was known for insisting on the separation of politics and education, and the unity of research and teaching — a posture that distinguished him from some university leaders of the same period. For the specifics of this period and the National Security Law joint-letter controversy, see Governance Controversies and the Academic Autonomy Debate.

It is worth noting that Kuo's departure was not a last-minute decision but a normal end-of-term arrangement. As early as November 2021, the media reported that he would not renew his contract after the third five-year term expired^※. The timing coincided with a wave of simultaneous leadership changes at several Hong Kong universities, and the decision was discussed in the context of this broader "changing of the guard" (see the section The Territory-Wide Changing of the Guard below). On 13 May 2023^※, Kuo formally stepped down. In recognition of his contributions, the CityU Council exceptionally conferred on him the titles of "Emeritus President" and "University Distinguished Professor" — according to official materials, a rare honour the University seldom grants.

# Selecting, Profiling, and the Early Resignation of the 5th President (2023–2026)

# A Three-Tier Search: A Year-Long Global Hunt

The 5th President was produced by a selection process CityU officially calls "three-tier". According to official announcements, the search began in autumn 2021^※ with the Search Committee and the Nominations Committee scouting globally and locally; the process took about a year, and the Council announced the appointment on 17 May 2022^※. Under the City University of Hong Kong Ordinance, the Council is the final approving body for the appointment of a President (for the governance structure, see Governance Structure and Legal Framework; for the Chairman's role in search committees, see The Lineage of Council Chairmen). The 5th President was formally installed on 18 May 2023^※, succeeding the retiring Kuo.

# The Résumé: A Biomaterials Inventor from Singapore

The 5th President (surname M.; for ease of narrative, referred to below as "the incumbent President" in his academic capacity) came from the National University of Singapore, with an academic background in biomaterials engineering. According to public materials from CityU and Singapore, before arriving he served as Deputy President (Innovation and Enterprise) at NUS^※, overseeing innovation, entrepreneurship, research commercialisation, and graduate affairs. His academic speciality is functional biomaterials and medical devices; several of his inventions have been commercialised, including a customisable hernia mesh approved by the US FDA^※. In 2013 he received Singapore's highest scientific honour, the President's Science and Technology Medal^※. This "inventor-entrepreneur" profile continues the innovation-and-entrepreneurship line that his predecessor Kuo championed through HK Tech 300, and he was seen as a continuity choice for CityU's "tech-innovation" positioning.

# The Departure: A Non-Planned Exit Two Years Early

Installed in May 2023^※, his five-year term was due to run until 2028^※. However, on 24 April 2026^※, the incumbent President resigned early for "personal reasons", roughly two years before his contract was due to expire. CityU's official press release that day announced:

According to the CityU official statement, the Provost and Deputy President (surname L.) would immediately serve as Acting President to ensure the stability of the University's operations during the transition; the University would simultaneously launch a global recruitment process to find the next President.

The Education Bureau issued a statement the same day^※, saying the government respected the incumbent President's personal wishes and decision, thanked him for his service to CityU, and expressed full confidence in the Council's ability to select the most suitable candidate through its own process. The Chairman of the University Grants Committee also responded^※, supporting CityU's global search under its established mechanisms.

The early departure meant CityU experienced a non-planned presidential change within less than three years^※ of the previous one. The Acting President took over immediately and a global recruitment drive began in parallel; as of this article's last update (July 2026), no successor has been announced. For the various interpretations of the resignation and the respective statements from the Education Bureau and the media, see Governance Controversies and the Academic Autonomy Debate.

# How Is a CityU President Chosen? And What Is an Acting President?

The President is CityU's chief executive, and the power to appoint rests with the Council. Under the City University of Hong Kong Ordinance, the Council is the final approving body for the selection and appointment of a President; in practice, the selection is led by the Search Committee and the Nominations Committee under the Council, which scout candidates globally and then bring the recommendation to the Council for decision — the global search for the 5th President, launched in autumn 2021 and lasting about a year, was a full run of this mechanism. For the statutory division of responsibilities among the governing bodies, see Governance Structure and Legal Framework.

An Acting President is a temporary arrangement when the presidency is vacant or the President is unable to discharge duties. A senior deputy steps in immediately to maintain the University's day-to-day operations until a substantive President arrives. CityU has had two acting arrangements, of fundamentally different natures:

The contrast between the two acting arrangements captures a turning point in CityU's leadership succession: from "planned handover in due course" to "mid-term takeover".

# The Territory-Wide Changing of the Guard: CityU Was Not Alone

Placing CityU's two recent transitions in the territory-wide context shows they were not isolated events, but part of a collective leadership turnover at Hong Kong's UGC-funded universities after 2021. According to public reporting:

This round of leadership changes coincided with a peak in faculty turnover. According to SCMP reporting, the eight UGC-funded universities in Hong Kong saw about 362 academic staff departures in 2021/22, the highest since the 1997 handover^※, with the figure rising to about 380 the following year — a departure rate not seen in over two decades. Several media outlets examined CityU's 2026 early resignation against this broader climate of higher-education governance. Whether there is any connection to the wider context, the University has not said, and this article makes no determination — the various interpretations and the academic-freedom context are consolidated in Governance Controversies and the Academic Autonomy Debate.

# Term-Length Observations: From Fifteen Years to Three

Spreading the tenures of the five substantive presidents across a spreadsheet shows both the magnitude of CityU's historic stability and its recent shift. The calculations below are based on the sourced tenure years listed in the table above.

Three observations stand out. First, the first four presidents all served long, complete terms, with none leaving mid-term — uncommon among Hong Kong universities of the same period. Second, tenure followed a pattern of "longer with each succession" then "sudden collapse": rising from Johns's 6 years to Kuo's 15, then falling to about 3 years for the 5th President. Third, the disciplinary backgrounds of all five presidents are strikingly similar — all trained in engineering or applied science (education/engineering, microelectronics, biomedical engineering, reliability engineering, biomaterials engineering) — and every single one brought a cross-border career (UK, US, Taiwan, Singapore). Stability, professionalism, and internationalism have long been the three keywords of this roll of honour; the 2026 early resignation is its first conspicuous exception.

# Why Are CityU Presidents All Professional Scholars with Overseas Backgrounds?

This is no coincidence; it is the product of both the selection mechanism and the institution's positioning. CityU presidents are chosen by the Council through a global search (see next section), and the Search Committee's brief of scouting the international academic market naturally favours senior scholars with transnational careers. Add to that CityU's founding strength in applied science and engineering, and the professional backgrounds of successive presidents have reinforced the University's disciplinary focus. From the Loughborough educator, to the microelectronics engineer who became a Chinese Academy of Sciences academician, to the reliability-engineering scholar who stood on "separation of politics and education", to the biomaterials inventor with multiple FDA patents — each president's professional identity maps almost exactly onto the strategic priority of the era (elevation, research transformation, internationalisation, innovation commercialisation). This tradition of the "scholar-administrator" — rather than the politically appointed university head — is the empirical basis for this article's repeated emphasis that all CityU presidents have come from academic professional backgrounds.

# The Lineage of Council Chairmen

The chairman of the CityU Council is appointed by the Chief Executive, normally for a three-year term, renewable. Based on verifiable official records, the known sequence of chairmen is as follows:

Unlike the President, who is selected by the Council, the Council Chairman is directly appointed by the Chief Executive (in the latter's capacity as the University's ex-officio Chancellor). This appointment power is key to understanding CityU's governance structure: the Chancellorship is held ex officio by the incumbent Chief Executive, and the Council Chairman sits in the pivotal position below the Chancellor and above the President. The first Chairman, Sir Sze-yuen Chung, was a veteran of both the colonial and the SAR political establishments; his appointment symbolised the close ties between City Polytechnic's founding era and the worlds of politics and business. The Mr. Leung who chaired the Council around the 2000s later became, as Chief Executive of the HKSAR, the University's ex-officio Chancellor — a crossover from "overseer" to "Chancellor" that is a telling footnote in CityU's governance history (for the personnel-system controversy during his chairmanship, see Governance Controversies and the Academic Autonomy Debate).

The two most recently verifiable milestones are these: Lester Garson Huang served as Chairman continuously from 2018 to the end of 2024; and on 6 December 2024, the government announced that a new Council Chairman would take office on 1 January 2025^※. This current Chairman is the one steering the Council through the post-resignation transition and the global search of 2026.

Note: The chairman sequence in the table above is incomplete for the 2000s and earlier; there are information gaps for the intervening terms, and only the milestones listed are currently available. The incumbent Council Chairman is referred to by title only in this article (in the "wild history"/governance module) and is not named. For the full lineage of chairmen's terms, the ex-officio Chancellor appointment mechanism, and a term-by-term institutional analysis, see The Lineage of Council Chairmen and The Lineage of Council Chairmen (Chancellor's Perspective).

# Summary

From the appointment of the first President, David Johns, in 1983 to the present, CityU has changed substantive presidents only five times in over forty years — a rate of turnover that has long been lower than that of many comparable institutions. Every president has come from an academic professional background (engineering, biomedical science, reliability engineering, biomaterials) with substantial international experience; an overseas, cross-border career is the common thread of this roll of honour. That stability has been broken twice in recent years: first by the normal end-of-term handover of 2021–2023 that coincided with the territory-wide changing of the guard, and then by 2026, which brought the first non-planned transition in the University's history, with an acting president taking over before a term had expired^※. The succession arrangements and timeline will become clear as the global search progresses — this article will be updated in place once a candidate is announced, rather than spawning a separate card.

What is worth watching is not just "who will succeed", but several more structural questions: will the next president continue the established profile of "professional scholar plus overseas career", or break with it? Will the sixth selection cycle be faster or slower than the year-long global search of 2021? And is this non-planned transition an isolated case, or another signal of a changing governance rhythm across Hong Kong's universities? The answers must await the official announcement of a successor and the accumulation of verifiable public records. This article makes no predictions; it leaves the hooks in place.

---