September 26, 2016

UOW’s Hong Kong college receives land grant for new flagship campus

The University of Wollongong’s college in Hong Kong, the Community College of City University (CCCU), has received a land grant from the Hong Kong Government to establish a new flagship campus in the Tai Wai Railway Station development.

The College has been granted 15,000 square metres of prime real estate over three floors above the crucial public transport hub as part of a massive mixed use development delivering more than 250,000 square metres of floor space including 2,900 residential units and more than 55,000 square metres of retail and commercial space.

By enabling the establishment of a new flagship campus away from its current home at the Kowloon Tong campus of City University of Hong Kong, the grant accelerates the college’s progress towards full independence and advances UOW’s vision to bring its outstanding university experience to Hong Kong’s leading non-profit college.

UOW Vice-Chancellor, Professor Paul Wellings CBE, was delighted to receive news of the grant on Thursday evening, 22 September 2016.

“The University of Wollongong is most grateful to the Hong Kong Government for its support of the College through this grant.

“The scale and location of this new flagship campus is ideal for CCCU with exceptional access via the MTR system for both students and staff,” he said.

CCCU has been operating for more than 10 years and is widely recognised as Hong Kong’s premier college, providing education for over 6000 students. It offers a range of diploma, associate degree and top-up degree programs aimed at preparing students for further university education, enhancing employment opportunities and supporting personal development.

UOW was selected by the Council of City University of Hong Kong in 2014, after an international competitive tender process, to assume responsibility for stewardship and governance of CCCU from 2015, marking the start of a five year transition towards full independence from City University.

“Since assuming responsibility for the college last year, we have been working hard at developing the outstanding university experience for which UOW is internationally renowned to the students of Hong Kong’s leading non-profit college. This grant helps us pursue this vision more effectively into the future,” Professor Wellings said.

The premises is expected to be available for fitout by mid-2020, with fitout expected to take up to 12 months to complete.

The grant was made under the Hong Kong Government’s Land Grant Scheme, which provides for land sites and vacant government premises to be granted at nominal cost to locally accredited, high quality, self-financing, non-profit making post-secondary institutions.