The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) – HKUST(GZ)

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), abbreviated as HKUST(GZ) or 港科大（廣州）, is an independent legal entity established through a collaborative partnership between The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Guangzhou University, and the Guangzhou Municipal Government^※. It was formally approved by the Ministry of Education on 29 June 2022 and opened on 1 September of the same year^※. The campus is located at No. 1 Duxue Road, Qingsheng Hub, Nansha District, Guangzhou.

The university's academic structure replaces the conventional school–department system with a "Hub + Thrust" model, an experiment in higher-education architecture that, together with the Clear Water Bay main campus, forms the "Unified HKUST, Complementary Campuses" (港科大一體，雙校互補) framework, collectively labelled "HKUST 2.0".

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# 1. Background and Chronology

# 1.1 Inception (2017–2018)

In March 2017, Wen Guohui, then Mayor of Guangzhou, visited Hong Kong and proactively invited HKUST to establish a campus in Guangzhou^※. An HKUST delegation reciprocated with a visit later that year, and the two parties began preliminary discussions on location and operational model.

On 21 December 2018, HKUST, the Guangzhou Municipal Government, and Guangzhou University signed a tripartite cooperation agreement^※, formally announcing the establishment of a new campus in Nansha, Guangzhou. The site was chosen next to the Qingsheng station on the Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong High-Speed Railway, offering a journey time of about 30 minutes from Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Station.

# 1.2 Preparatory Approval and Groundbreaking (2019)

On 26 September 2019, the Ministry of Education approved the preparatory establishment of HKUST(GZ), and the groundbreaking ceremony took place the same day^※. Dignitaries in attendance included the then Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Mrs. Carrie Lam; Li Xi, then Secretary of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee; Ma Xingrui, then Deputy Secretary and Governor of Guangdong Province; Wang Zhimin, then Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong; as well as Andrew Liao, then Chairman of the HKUST Council, and Prof. Wei Shyy, then President of HKUST. At the ceremony, Mrs. Lam remarked that the initiative would facilitate exchange and cooperation in higher education between Guangzhou and Hong Kong.

The campus was designed by the internationally renowned architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) and conceived as a "smart green campus"^※. The first phase of construction was scheduled for completion in mid-2022.

# 1.3 Formal Establishment and Opening (2022)

On 29 June 2022, the Ministry of Education formally approved the establishment of HKUST(GZ)^※, making it the first cooperatively run higher-education institution with independent legal-person status jointly approved by mainland China and Hong Kong since the promulgation of the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

HKUST(GZ) officially opened and began teaching on 1 September 2022, welcoming an inaugural cohort of roughly 500 postgraduate students across 15 programmes^※, spanning fields such as advanced materials, intelligent transportation, and microelectronics.

# 1.4 Undergraduate Admissions Begin (2023)

In November 2022, HKUST(GZ) announced that it would begin admitting undergraduate students from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and overseas from 2023 onwards^※. The first three undergraduate programmes were Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and Big Data Technology, and Smart Manufacturing Engineering.

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# 2. Educational Positioning and Legal Status

# 2.1 Independent Legal Entity

HKUST(GZ) is registered as an independent legal entity in Guangdong under mainland Chinese law, with its own governing board and financial system, operating independently from but in parallel with the Clear Water Bay campus. The two campuses jointly set admissions standards and faculty requirements, and share a common academic quality assurance framework^※, ensuring parity in academic standards.

# 2.2 Operating Partners

The cooperating institutions are HKUST, which provides the lead on academic standards and branding, and Guangzhou University, with the Guangzhou Municipal Government deeply involved in site selection, infrastructure development, and policy support.

# 2.3 Medium of Instruction

English is the primary medium of instruction across the campus^※, consistent with the HKUST Clear Water Bay campus.

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# 3. The "Hub + Thrust" Interdisciplinary Framework

# 3.1 Underpinning Philosophy

HKUST(GZ) has replaced the conventional School–Department system with what it describes as a world-first "Hub + Thrust" model^※, designed to dismantle disciplinary silos, foster cross-disciplinary collaboration, and tackle the complex challenges of contemporary society. The University positions itself as "the first university in the world to organise its academic structure around Hubs and Thrust Areas rather than Schools and Departments."

A Hub acts as a convergence point for related disciplines, overseeing several Thrust Areas. Each Thrust represents a cutting-edge interdisciplinary research direction, rather than a single traditional discipline. The Hubs and Thrusts are structured to encourage interaction and synergy, aiming to generate integrated knowledge that transcends individual fields^※.

# 3.2 The Four Hubs and Sixteen Thrusts

HKUST(GZ) has established four Hubs, encompassing a total of sixteen Thrust Areas^※:

Information Hub

According to the Information Hub’s official page^※, it comprises four Thrusts:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Data Science and Analytics (DSA)
• Internet of Things (IoT)
• Computational Media and Arts (CMA)

Function Hub

The Function Hub’s official page^※ identifies four Thrusts:

• Advanced Materials (AMAT)
• Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (EOAS)
• Microelectronics (MICS)
• Sustainable Energy and Environment (SEE)

Systems Hub

Drawing on HKUST(GZ) official recruitment materials^※, this Hub hosts four Thrusts:

• Bioscience and Biomedical Engineering (BSBE)
• Intelligent Transportation (INTR)
• Robotics and Autonomous Systems (ROAS)
• Smart Manufacturing (SMMG)

Society Hub

Official sources list four Thrusts:

• Financial Technology (FINT)
• Urban Governance and Design (UGD)
• Innovation, Policy and Entrepreneurship (IPE)
• Carbon Neutrality and Climate Change (CNCC)

# 3.3 Relationship with the Four Schools at Clear Water Bay

According to HKUST(GZ) recruitment documents^※, the four Hubs broadly correspond in functional orientation to the four Schools at the Clear Water Bay campus (Science, Engineering, Business & Management, and Humanities & Social Science), but they have been deliberately designed to avoid duplicating existing disciplines, ensuring complementarity rather than competition.

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# 4. HKUST 2.0: "Unified HKUST, Complementary Campuses"

# 4.1 Conceptual Framework

"HKUST 2.0" is the strategic banner for the University’s new phase of development, grounded in the principle of "Unified HKUST, Complementary Campuses" (港科大一體，雙校互補)^※: both campuses belong to a single HKUST system, with identical academic standards, faculty recruitment criteria, and teaching quality assurance processes, yet they assume distinct and complementary academic missions—

• Clear Water Bay campus (HKUST): focuses on in-depth investigation of traditional disciplines, providing "solid discipline-based curricula" and oriented towards blue-sky research.
• Guangzhou campus (HKUST(GZ)): focuses on thematic, cross-disciplinary innovation, offering "interdisciplinary thematic programmes delivered within unconventional Hubs" and oriented towards problem-driven research addressing real-world challenges.

The two campuses do not offer overlapping disciplines, and postgraduate programmes are "non-overlapping but synergistic"^※.

# 4.2 Sharing of Cross-Campus Resources

Students at either campus may take courses offered by the other campus, with credits automatically recognised and transferred^※. The framework also expressly supports:

• Joint-degree (Dual Degree) programmes;
• Cross-campus joint thesis supervision (Joint Thesis Supervision);
• Reciprocal course offerings and sharing (Course Sharing);
• Shared use of research facilities.

Faculty members are likewise encouraged, and supported by enabling policies, to pursue collaborative research and joint supervision of postgraduate students across the two campuses.

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# 5. Campus Planning and Construction

# 5.1 Location and Area

The campus occupies approximately 1.1 square kilometres^※ and is situated in the Qingsheng Hub, Nansha District, Guangzhou, adjacent to the Qingsheng High-Speed Rail Station, about 30 minutes by high-speed train from Hong Kong's West Kowloon Station.

Nansha lies at the geographical centre of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. It has been designated the primary base for the Greater Bay Area's Comprehensive National Science Centre^※, and the HKUST(GZ) campus location aligns closely with the district's national strategic role.

# 5.2 Architectural Design

The campus was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF)^※, with the "smart green campus" concept serving as its core design philosophy, emphasising sustainable and innovative infrastructure for higher education. Phase-1 construction was completed and the campus brought into use alongside the University's opening in September 2022.

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# 6. Academic Programmes and Admissions

# 6.1 Postgraduate Programmes (2022 Inaugural Cohort)

Upon opening in September 2022, HKUST(GZ) admitted its first cohort to 15 postgraduate programmes (MPhil and PhD)^※ distributed among the four Hubs, spanning interdisciplinary fields such as advanced materials, intelligent transportation, and microelectronics.

# 6.2 Undergraduate Programmes Launched (2023)

From 2023 onwards, HKUST(GZ) formally launched undergraduate programmes. The first three offerings were Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and Big Data Technology, and Smart Manufacturing Engineering^※.

# 6.3 Programme Expansion (2025)

In March 2025, the Ministry of Education approved the addition of 4 undergraduate programmes and 6 postgraduate programmes at HKUST(GZ)^※, as follows:

New Undergraduate Programmes (4):

• Materials Science and Engineering
• Robotics Engineering
• Financial Technology
• Microelectronics

New Postgraduate Programmes (6):

• Smart Manufacturing (MSc)
• Carbon Neutrality and Green Finance (MSc)
• Computational Arts (Master of Fine Arts, MFA)
• Carbon Neutrality and Climate Change (MPhil)
• Carbon Neutrality and Climate Change (PhD)
• Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MBA+)

With this approval, the total number of undergraduate programmes at HKUST(GZ) increased to 7.

# 6.4 Award of Degrees

According to official announcements^※, HKUST(GZ) awards its own independent graduation certificates and degree certificates, conferred by the university in its own capacity as an independent legal entity. Some joint-programme routes may also lead to dual degrees awarded by both institutions.

# 6.5 Admissions Cohort

From 2023, undergraduate admissions were open to students from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and overseas. Students from mainland China are admitted through the national university entrance exam (gaokao) admissions channel.

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# 7. Timeline of Key Events

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# 8. Controversies and Discussion

Questions over the recognition of HKUST(GZ) qualifications have surfaced both locally and internationally. Because HKUST(GZ) is an independent legal entity on the mainland, its degrees are conferred by a different legal body from those issued by HKUST in Clear Water Bay, leading some prospective graduates and employers to question whether those degrees enjoy the same standing in Hong Kong. In response, the University has stressed that academic standards and faculty quality are fully aligned between the two campuses, though specific recognition practices remain subject to the policies of individual employers and institutions. No formal record of systematic recognition disputes had been documented as of the time of writing.

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