Summary
Compiling official HKUST statistics on students, faculty, non-local enrolment, degrees awarded and research funding across the years — as of December 2025 total enrolment stood at 20,475, non-local students made up about 48.1%, and research funding had more than tripled since 2007-08.
This page gathers the historical statistics published by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) over the years, aiming for broad year coverage. All figures come from official annual reports or the University's Facts & Figures page; where a given year has no official release, this is noted as "no data".
# 1. Total Student Numbers Over Time
Academic year / census date
Total students
Undergraduates
Research postgraduate students
Taught postgraduate students
Source note
October 1991 (at opening)
about 700 (560 undergraduates + 140 postgraduates)※ 560
—
—
First year of operation
October 2023 (2023-24 academic year)
17,869※ 10,712※ MPhil 529 + PhD 4,212 = 4,741※ 2,416※ Annual report
December 2025 (latest official)
20,475※ 11,765※ MPhil 617 + PhD 2,666 = 3,283※ 5,427※ Facts & Figures
Note: the gap between the 2023-24 annual report and the December 2025 website figures is mainly due to different census dates — the annual report counts students as of the start of term in October, while the website's December 2025 data reflects actual enrolment for that month.
# 2. Student Numbers by School (December 2025)
School
Students
Engineering
7,218※
Business and Management
6,048※
Science
4,113※
Academy of Interdisciplinary Studies
1,173※
Interdisciplinary Programs Office (IPO)
1,112※
Humanities and Social Science
811※
Total 20,475
# 3. Gender Distribution (December 2025)# 4. Non-local Student Composition (December 2025)
Category
Number
All non-local students
9,860 (≈48.1% of total)※
Mainland China / Taiwan / Macau (MTM)
8,216※
International students (Asia, excluding mainland China / Taiwan / Macau)
1,271※
International students (non-Asia)
373※
# Non-local student numbers, selected years
According to the President's year-end message for 2025, the share of non-local undergraduates reached 47% in the 2025/26 academic year※ .
# 5. National Diversity of Students# 6. Faculty Size (December 2025)# 7. Degrees Awarded (2023-24 Academic Year)
Degree type
Degrees awarded
Undergraduate degrees
2,389※
Research postgraduate degrees (MPhil/PhD)
668※
Taught postgraduate degrees
2,934※
Total graduates 5,991※
# 8. Research Funding Over Time
From 2007-08 to 2024-25, total research funding more than tripled, as indicated by the growth chart on the official Facts & Figures page.
# 9. Research Centres and Research Infrastructure# 10. QS World University Rankings Over Time (Selected Years)
All-time high: HKUST was ranked first in the QS Asia rankings for three consecutive years, from 2011 to 2013※ .
# 11. Alumni NumbersSources · verify independently
