3) International Perspective

The University is committed to providing its undergraduate students with international education opportunities...

HKU wishes you, as a student, to have international exposure and global outlook. Through the wide range of student mobility programmes with overseas and Mainland universities, such as student exchange scheme, internship and placement programmes, intensive language courses as well as collaborative research projects, undergraduate students have invaluable chance to explore new cultures and perspectives, open their minds, gain intercultural competence, confidence and maturity that equip them for leadership roles in the 21st century.

The University has some 180 exchange partners in 25 countries around the world. Undergraduate students across faculties can choose to study for a semester or an entire year in one of the University's partner institutions worldwide, which include Cambridge, Oxford, Princeton, UC Berkeley, UCLA, British Columbia, Toronto, Uppsala, Sciences Po, Melbourne, Waseda, Tsinghua, Peking, Fudan and many other prestigious universities. Summer classes and intensive language programmes are also organised for you in universities in Europe, Japan, Korea, Russia and in many cities in the Mainland China such as Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Nanjing and Hangzhou. Students would be provided with scholarships and financial assistance to enable them to study abroad. HKU intends to provide all of its students with international education opportunities during their undergraduate year in future.

There are currently over 6,000 students from over 80 different countries on campus whose nationality is not Hong Kong, making HKU a truly international university (further evidence here). The atmosphere in the halls of residence that compete in attracting large number of non-local students is vibrant in its multiculturalism. The University's staff are recruited worldwide, and currently, about half of the academic staff are from outside Hong Kong, representing nearly 50 different countries. Recently, the University opened a new Global Lounge, a truly world-class international centre for students, with multiple plasma TVs showing news and sports stations from around the world, a gym, library resources, comfortable sofas, reading areas, work areas and staff on hand for advice.

Recent international surveys show HKU to be not just the best university in Hong Kong but one of the top 25 in the world. The University is rated as the best in Asia by the Times Higher Education. In Hong Kong, it has always been rated as the best university, whether according to employers, school principals, admissions standards, research funding, or a host of other factors.