Media

HKU TO OPEN STUDENT VILLAGE THIS SUMMER (Press Release)

27 Jun 2005

 

The Jockey Club Student Village II of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) will open this summer to provide accommodation for 900 students. The Student Village has three new halls; namely, Morrison Hall located at the Dexter H C Man Tower, Lee Shau Kee Hall and Suen Chi Sun Hall.

The Student Village cost more than HK$300 million. In addition to the funding from the University Grants Committee, HKU raised a further HK$100 million for this project.

Speaking about the new student village, Dr Albert Chau, newly appointed Dean of Student Affairs, said, "As HKU plans to increase the enrolment of international students in future, priority for places in the new halls will be given to applications from overseas students, followed by first-year undergraduates. We also hope that the new halls can house a number of second-year and third-year undergraduates so that each hall will in time establish its own traditions, culture, and unique characteristics. Applications will be assessed on a student's housing situation and possible contribution to the hall."

The warden of Lee Shau Kee Hall will be Dr David Plott from Journalism and Media Studies Centre. Dr Ben Young from Department of Civil Engineering will be warden of Suen Chi Sun Hall, and Dr Billy Hau Chi-Hang from Department of Ecology and Biodiversity, will be warden of Morrison Hall.

Halls of residence form part of the proud tradition of the University. Over the years, hall education has played an important role of whole-person education that HKU pursues. The wardens plan to create a "Learning-residence Community" within the halls where students can find a positive balance between their studies and hall activities. Students from different nationalities, cultures and academic backgrounds will have the opportunity to learn from one another and broaden their university experience.

With the completion of the three new halls, HKU now has 4,375 hostel places —equal to 39% of the full-time student body. Around 700 of the places will be allocated to overseas students.

HKU continuously seeks ways to provide more hostel places for students. And, as part of its future development and internationalization plans, HKU will build a further three hostels at Lung Wah Street, Kennedy Town, Western District. This project will provide an additional 1,390 places and will be completed in 2009 at a cost of HK$500 million. HKU will seek to raise more than HK$100 million for this project.

Residential hall life is viewed as an important part of the university experience and, with the completion of further hostels, the University hopes that more students will be able to enjoy hall life and benefit from enhanced personal growth, social commitment and their sense of belonging to the University.

The opening ceremony of the three new halls will be held after the hall residents move in this fall.

For media enquiries, please contact Dr Albert Chau, Dean of Student Affairs, at 2859 2306 or Mr Patrick Tang, Director (Campus Life) at Office of Student Affairs, at 2857 8302.