The Faculty of Arts was established in 1912 as one of the three founding faculties of the University of Hong Kong. It is currently one of the largest faculties in the University, with approximately 2,120 students and 182 academic staff. A number of departments now located in the Faculties of Science, Education, Business and Economics, and Social Sciences began life in the Faculty of Arts. Since then the Faculty of Arts has grown to become one of the flagship faculties of the University and its graduates have made significant contributions to the development of Hong Kong, China and the wider region of East and Southeast Asia.
The Faculty of Arts is housed primarily in the historic Main Building (1912) with the Department of Music occupying the adjacent Hung Hing Ying Building (1919). Both of these are historic buildings listed under the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance of Hong Kong. Other departments are located close by on the main campus of the University, many of them in purpose-built or recently-renovated accommodation.
The Faculty comprises four Schools and a Centre:
- School of Chinese ( Chinese Language & Literature, Chinese History & Culture, Translation, Chinese Language Enhancement, Chinese Language Centre)
- School of English ( English Studies, Cross-cultural Studies in English , Language & Communication)
- School of Humanities ( Comparative Literature, Fine Arts, History, Linguistics, Music, Philosophy and African Studies)
- School of Modern Languages and Cultures ( American Studies, European Studies, Japanese Studies, Modern China Studies, and other languages studies including Arabic, French, German, Greek, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Thai)
- Centre for Applied English Studies
The Centre of Buddhist Studies was established in September 2000 to promote the study of and research into all aspects of Buddhism and its relevance to the world of today. The postgraduate programmes offered by the Centre provide students with the opportunity to study Buddhism not only as a religion but also as a philosophy, an ethics system and in metaphysical terms.
Centre for the Humanities and Medicine, established in 2009, is a joint initiative between the Faculty of Arts and the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong. Its mission is to foster interdisciplinary research and teaching in relation to three broad interconnected themes: the challenges posed by the translation of biomedical technologies into society; the relationship between disease, health, culture and society; and the humanization of our understanding and practice of medicine.
There are currently about 219 full-time teaching and research staff (including 93 professoriate staff). The Faculty is committed to international and competitive recruitment. About 60% of the academic staff are recruited internationally, and this percentage rises to nearly 100% in the case of Language Instructors teaching languages other than Chinese.
