The University of Hong Kong (or HKU, as it is familiarly known to students, staff and alumni) is the oldest tertiary education institution in Hong Kong. On March 16, 1910, Sir Frederick Lugard, the then Governor of Hong Kong, laid the foundation stone for the University, signifying the birth of Hong Kong's first tertiary institution.
On March 11, 1912, the University launched its official opening with its founding Faculty of Medicine which had evolved from the Hong Kong College of Medicine, founded in 1887. Of the College's early alumni, the most renowned was Dr Sun Yat-sen, the founder of modern China'.
The Faculties of Engineering and Arts were established within a year of the official opening.
In December 1916, the University held its first congregation, with just 23 graduates.
It was ten years after the founding of HKU that women students were admitted for the first time. In 1937, Queen Mary Hospital opened and has served as the University's teaching hospital since that time. Before the outbreak of the Second World War, which temporarily arrested the otherwise steady progress of the University, there were four Faculties - Arts, Engineering, Medicine, and Science.
After 1945, the University underwent structural developments as post-war reconstruction efforts began in earnest. | 
