Hong Kong Polytechnic University

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is a public research university in Hung Hom, Hong Kong. The history of PolyU goes back to 1937. It became a full university in 1994. 

PolyU has 8 faculties and schools. There are programs in applied science, business, construction, environment, engineering, social science, health, humanities, design, hotel and tourism management. 

The university teaches 220 postgraduate, undergraduate and sub-degree programmes for more than 32,000 students every year. As of 2019, THE ranks the university 19th in Asia. QS ranks it 8th in young universities and 91st internationally.

History

Origins and establishment  
The Government Trade School started in 1937 at Wood Road, Wan Chai. The school was the first public post-secondary technical institution in Hong Kong. After World War II, the school became the Hong Kong Technical College. It opened a new campus in Hung Hom in 1957.

In 1972, the Government Trade School became the Hong Kong Polytechnic was formally established. Its goal is to educate qualified workers. It gained full university status and changing its name to The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 1994.

2019 police siege 
In November 2019, protesters occupied the university as part of the 2019 Hong Kong protests. Students fought with the Hong Kong Police Force from 17 November to 19 November. On November 16th, police tried to enter the campus, but protesters kept them out with road blocks and petrol bombs. The police then blocked all exits from the university campus and asked all protesters inside to give up and come out. On November 18, the police shot 1,491 canisters of tear gas at protesters and shot 1,981 rubber bullets, bean bags, and sponge grenades. The university has been called a battleground. The university was later closed off by police, but protesters still escaped. More than 280 protesters were injured and more than 1,000 people were arrested.

Campus

Main campus 

PolyU's main campus is in Yau Tsim Mong District. It has mare than 20 buildings. Many buildings connect to each other. The campus has student hostels, a multi-purpose auditorium, sports, recreational and catering facilities, and a bookstore and banks. The Jockey Club Auditorium opened in 2000. Its balcony and main floor seats up to 1,084 people.

PolyU has many sports facilities, including: a swimming pool, 2 indoor sports grounds, a outdoor sports ground with basketball and soccer fields and jogging track, 2 outdoor tennis courts, and a joint-sports center.

Innovation Tower 
The Jockey Club Innovation Tower is at the northeastern side of the university campus. This 15-story building has 15,000 square meters of floor area. It is for design education. The tower has exhibition areas, multi-functional classrooms and lecture halls, design studios and workshops, and a lounge. Zaha Hadid designed the tower.

Pao Yue-kong Library

The library started on 1 August 1972. There were two centers atHung Hom and Quarry Bay until 1976. They moved together into one building in 1976. The library was named after shipping entrepreneur and philanthropist Yue-Kong Pao in 1995.

In 2014, there were over 2.77 million of library holdings in total, with nearly 600,000 electronic resources. The six-storey library provides 3,900 study spaces and is equipped with a 24-hour study centre and audio-visual information areas.

Hotel Icon 
Hotel Icon opened in September 2011.  The hotel is owned by the university as a teaching and research hotel of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management.

Community college

PolyU started the Hong Kong Community College (HKCC) in 2001. It is a offers associate degree and higher diploma programs in arts, science, social sciences, business, health care, and design. HKCC classes are at the Hung Hom Bay and West Kowloon campuses.

Academics

Faculties and schools

The University has 8 faculties and schools. Students may study in more than 220 postgraduate, undergraduate and sub-degree programs. Service learning subjects are offered by 20 departments from all faculties and schools. They do many kinds of community service projects.

Research

There are several research centers at PolyU Each faculty or school has its own centers. Institutes for public policy research and sustainable urban development are run by the Areas of Excellence Committee. PolyU started the Aviation Services Research Centre with Boeing. PolyU also has The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel.

Important projects

Important PolyU research projects include:

Safety monitoring of high speed rail
Eco-blocks (a construction material made from recycled glass and demolition waste)
Electric vehicles
Electronic “bat ears” for people with vision problems
Nano-particles for purifying dirty water
Organic photovoltaics and LEDs
Tools and instruments used in space exploration

Reputation and rankings
World Rankings of PolyU
 QS "Top 50 Under 50" list of world's top young universities (2016/17): 7th in the world, 3rd in Hong Kong
 QS Asian University Rankings 2016/17: 6th in Asia, 5th in Hong Kong
 QS World University Rankings 2018: 95th in the world, 5th in Hong Kong
 Times Higher Education's World University Rankings 2017: 192nd in the world
 Times Higher Education's 150 Under 50 World University Rankings 2016: 27th in the world
 Times Higher Education's Asia University Rankings 2017: 17th in the Asia, 5th in Hong Kong

World Rankings of Faculties, Schools and Disciplines

Student life

Student halls 
There are two student halls of residence buildings provided by the university, in Hung Hom Bay and Ho Man Tin. The university also has off-campus housing  in Sham Shui Po, Mong Kok, and Tsim She Tsui.

Student organization 
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Students’ Union (HKPUSU) is run by students. It is not controlled by the university administration. The HKPUSU helps full-time undergraduate students.

Sports teams 

 Athletics
 Badminton
 Basketball
 Fencing
 Handball
 Karate-do
 Rowing
 Rugby
 Soccer
 Squash
 Swimming
 Table Tennis
 Taekwondo
 Tennis
 Volleyball
 Woodball

Controversy
The university's faculty-led Student Discipline Committee, with the support of the university council chairman Lam Tai-fai, expelled one student and suspended another for one year because the students posted on the "Democracy Wall" bulletin board in 2018. The students' union managed the bulletin board then. The students had posted messages remembering the fourth anniversary of the "Umbrella Movement" democracy protests of 2014. They also said Hong Kong should be independent from the People's Republic of China.  Two more students were ordered to do community service as punishment.  

The students were not allowed to have help from lawyers. The committee saw video of the students shouting and knocking on doors. Some people said that the students had made negative comments, attacked a staff member, and damaged property. The students said they did not do any of those things. The students were all current or past leaders of school organizations. They are not allowed to appeal the decision 

Many pro-democracy groups protested the committee's decision. More than a dozen legislators and 19 student organisations protested. The Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union described the punishments as too hard. That union has more than 90,000 members.

Notable alumni

Academics
 Kim Man Lui (2006, Ph.D. in Software Engineering) – Author, business, and professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Politicians and public organization
 Leung Chun Ying (1974, Higher Diploma in Surveying) - Chief Executive of Hong Kong
 Chan Kam Lam (1971) - member (Kowloon East) of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong SAR

Design
 Vivienne Tam - fashion designer
 Wong Kar-wai - film director
 Gigi Leung - singer, songwriter and actor
 Raman Hui - animator
 Paul Wong - composer, songwriter, singer and the lead guitarist of the band Beyond.
 Alice Mak - artist and cartoonist, mother of cartoon characters McMug and McDull
 Pinky Lai - designer of the original Porsche Boxster and Cayman

References

Other websites 

 

1937 establishments in Asia
Colleges and universities in Asia
Colleges and universities in Hong Kong