The Open University of Hong Kong

The Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK), formerly the Open Learning Institute of Hong Kong (OLI), is the first self-financed university established by the government offering open and distance education in Hong Kong. The change of title, in May 1997, reflects the recognition of the University's outstanding academic standing, achievements and contributions to Hong Kong’s higher education.

Since its inception in 1989, the University has striven continuously to achieve its mission of providing high quality and flexible further education opportunities for adults. Currently the University offers more than 160 postgraduate, degree, associate degree and sub-degree distance-learning programmes.

Established by the Hong Kong Government in 1989 as a provider of distance education, OUHK began offering full-time programmes in 2001. Over the years we have grown into a leader in open and flexible education in the Asia Pacific region, and our full-time face-to-face programmes for qualified secondary school leavers are on par with other established universities across Hong Kong. OUHK today is a young, dynamic, full-fledged university.

The Institute moved to its permanent campus in Ho Man Tin. The campus comprises such facilities as a library, a computer laboratory, an audio-visual centre, a language laboratory, a lecture theatre, science project laboratories, tutorial rooms and a disabled students' centre.

The OUHK’s first off-campus learning centre, the Island Learning Centre, opened at Shun Tak Centre in Sheung Wan as the headquarters for the Li Ka Shing Institute of Professional and Continuing Education (LiPACE).

With passion and commitment, the OUHK’s leaders have made the University a successful institution as it is today.OUHK’s vision To be a leader in providing open and flexible education to all, and to excel as a provider of quality higher education.

Our Mission is To advance learning, knowledge, and research that meet students’ learning aspirations and society’s talent needs, focusing on practical and professional programmes. As a multi-mode university, we use innovative teaching and education technology to offer world class education, guided by our core values of fairness, integrity, perseverance, and innovation.

The Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) is in effect two universities in one. Our part-time learning programmes offer maximum flexibility to working adults who want to earn a university degree but cannot spare the time for full-time studies. The design of our part-time learning programmes and mode of delivery therefore defy the barrier of time and space, and let students decide their own pace of study. Currently we have about 9,500 part-time learning students.

Our full-time programmes, on the other hand, are no different from any other conventional universities, offering our students a rich campus life with a full range of co-curricular activities. Like the eight Government-funded universities in Hong Kong, our full-time students are admitted through Hong Kong's centralized joint university admission system (the JUPAS). To date, we have a headcount of about 10,000 students on our full-time face-to-face programmes.

We are the only self-financing university set up by the Hong Kong Government. While without government recurrent financial subvention, we do receive government funding for research, for some designated degree programmes, and also in terms of land for campus development and scholarships for our students. Indeed, the Government has granted us a piece of prime site right next to our Ho Man Tin campus to build another new campus. This will be the home to the new “OUHK Jockey Club Institute of Healthcare”.

The new campus would house all our existing and new health-related programmes plus a suite of other facilities to enhance our students’ learning experience. When completed in year 2020, the new campus would become a health education and community health care hub in Western Kowloon area.

Among all self-financing institutes in Hong Kong, we are the most established in terms of student number, faculty number, and choice of study programmes. Like the leading Government-funded universities, we have self-accrediting status, which again tells a lot about our academic standards.

While constantly finding innovative ways to enhance our teaching, we are also vigorously strengthening our research. With research funding from the Government’s Research Grants Council, we have set up five research institutes to spearhead research in selected niche areas of our strengths that would bring about social betterment.