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History
In order to provide more opportunities for tertiary education in Hong Kong, the Government established a Planning Committee in June 1982 to plan the development of a new polytechnic capable of expansion to 13,500 full time equivalent students by the mid 1990's. Following the enactment of the City Polytechnic of Hong Kong Ordinance in November 1983, the Polytechnic formally came into being on 1 January 1984.
To enable the Polytechnic to enrol its first students in October 1984, as agreed by the Government, Argyle Centre Tower II in Mongkok (Trade Department Tower currently) was purchased. Initially, courses have been offered in fields which do not impose substantial laboratory or workshop resource requirements. The development of more scientific and technological courses will then be able to take place with the bringing into operation of the permanent campus, a site of 12.2 hectares on Tat Chee Avenue, adjacent to the KCR and MTR stations at Kowloon Tong.
CPHK commences its courses in October 1984. At the first place, it acquired Argyle Centre Tower II in January 1984 as its interim Campus. Conversion work for the building was divided into 3 phases. The two main phases were completed in October 1984 and September 1985 respectively. Thus more classrooms and student recreational space were added. Luckily, we all were admitted as full-time students of CPHK after the conversion work.
On October 1988, the Phase IA of permanent campus were finished. It accomodated a portion of staff and students who concerted themselves with science and engineering subjects. At that transition, the campus was in a split-campus state.
The interim campus was responsible for teaching the students who need no special facilities like computer centre and centralised laboratory as teaching aids, while the new permanent campus housed students who required these facilities. The students stayed at either the interim or the permanenet campus, but the lecturers, who might teach several classes, had to shuttle through the two campuses in order to 'serve' the students.
Now, the interim campus was overtaken by the Open Learning Institute, and the permanent campus was officially opened, and continued the task of developing professionals for the Hong Kong society.
Rectrospect of Interim Campus
The location and layout of the interim campus really reflected the meaning of City Polytechnic. It was errected at the heart of busy and crowded Mongkok district (until November 1989); and that the lower few floors of the interim campus were occupied by a variety of shops! What's a coherent name of 'City Polytechnic'!
Although the building was small and compact, it contained a lot of things. There were 9 lecture theatres of various sizes. All the lectures and tutorials were delivered there. The biggest one was LT 1. It was so big that even if you slept or reading comics at the very back of the theatre, the lecturer would discover it. There was also lecture theatres like LT 7 where you would be stared by others if you were late for the lecture because there was only one door!
The classrooms, occupying 3 floors, were the best place to do things that was very very personal. Once you occupied the room, you could use the tables and chairs inside to obstruct the door. Or you could cover the window of the door with a printer paper or rough work sheet saying 'Sorry! Occupied'. The Polytechnic suddenly turned into a free hotel.
There were academic support facilities like Computer Centre, Educational Technology Centre, Centralised Laboratory.
Have you ever seen the big hosts that you have been working with in Computer Centre? Where were those NCR, VAX and MV10000? You had no chance of visiting the place where the computer system was housed. You just sat in front of the terminals and manipulated the ASCII values like a fossil all day long. When it was not in a peak period, the students worked leisurely together to get familiar with the machines. They were in a good discipline and order.
But when the assignment's deadline was approached, they acted like beasts. They booked the terminals even though they had finished their assignments. They sat at the front of their booked terminals and seemed to be very concentrated on their work. Sometimes, some students discussed their work loudly so as to arouse the others' attention. Some were so nervous that they searched for the vacant terminal all the time. Once a vacancy was found, they were happy as if they had found a bag of gold.
The Educational Technology Centre (ETC) was a place where students would cluster together whenever there were presentations or reports to submit. Most of the time, you could see the ETC staff enjoying the TV programmes and you could also get a glimpse of the programmes.
If you were a girl, then please go to the Centralised Laboratory, where you might find your future boy friend there. If you found a girl there, you should buy a Mark Six ticket on that day. You might also call the Centralised Laboratory as 'Centralised Camp for Male'.
These kind of things no longer happened in the interim campus. Although it offered a limited spaces for us, it retained a lot of beautiful reminiscence for us.
Permanent Campus
The permanent campus first came into use on October 1988. The completion of Phase 1A allowed for expansion of existing departments in the interim campus. Operating on two sites created some inconvenience, but departments coped well with the situation. The students attending the classes in the new campus had to inhale the wonderful smell of the newly painted wall and watch out for the construction work everywhere.
The entire Phase 1 was ready for use after October 1989. You saw the completion of the Academic Building, the Administration Building and the Amenities Building, which together offered the structures for running a hi-tech polytechnic.
Academic Support Centres Centralised Laboratories
The Centralised Laboratories, located on Level 2 of the new campus, include many specialised laboratories, on an open-plan basis, where experimentation in building technology, computer-aided design, computer architecture, electronics, information technology, manufacturing engineering, and materials physics can be carried out. There is also a drawing office in the laboratories area.
Computer Centre
The Computer Centre provides computing facilities for both students and staff. It shares Level 2 of the new campus with the Centralized Laboratory. The main area of the Computer Centre are divided into four terminal areas. The terminals and PCs are connected to the Digital VAX8820, VAX8650, VAX785 systems, Data General MV10000 System and NCR Tower 800 System via DECnet and Ethernet. The Polytechnic recently buys a VAX9000 from Digital so that the processing power of the network is made even larger.
Through the network, eligible users can access any machine from any terminal, thus making the best use of the Centre's facilities and providing the most convenient arrangement for users. More than 50 software packages, covering various programming languages, data base management systems, business, mathematical, statistical and scientific applications, are installed in the campus-wide network.
In addition to the terminal areas, there are a project laboratory, a demonstration area and a seminar room. The project laboratory is equipped with PCs and appropriate peripherals and software to allow students to undertake their final year projects. The demonstration area is a place where demonstration of software, hardware, and project results can take place. The seminar room, equipped with workstations and overhead large screen projectors, is set up to facilitate tutorial requiring simultaneous practical work.
Educational Technology Centre
The ETC, located on Level 2 as well, is responsible for the provision of general support to all departments in the areas of media production, specialist teaching facilities and instructional design. The centre provides services and facilities for graphic design, photography, phototypesetting, offset printing, production of overhead transparencies, audio and video production. In addition to offering professional support in high quality studios, a large area has been set aside for staff and students to prepare their own teaching/study materials with assistance available if required.
Library
The library, called Run Run Shaw Library, occupies the whole Level 3. It is the largest libary (approximately 8,000 square metre) accommodated on a single level in Asia. It can house 500,000 volumes. Altogether, 1,800 readers' seats are provided, together with 65 audio visual carrels, equipped with a range of audio and video playback facilities, including CD-ROMs and interactive video terminals. The library also has a computerised issues and ciculation system as well as an on-line catalogue.
Amenities
Amenities for staff and students are provided in the Amenities Building to the north of the central core. Facilities include student common rooms, students' union offices, a student cafeteria with seating for 1,000, a health centre, a mini-bank and a 300-seat theatre. There are also common rooms, a chinese and a western restaurants specially designed for staff.
An indoor sports complex, comprising a multi-purpose hall of 1,300 square metre, practice gymnasia, badminton court, six squash counts, a table-tennis room, a fitness room and a full-size swimming pool, is also located here.
Chinese Garden
Hugging the Polytechnic is a Chinese Garden alongwide the boundary with Tat Chee Avenue. There is also a jogging and fitness trail in the hillside surrounding the main valley. This facility will be extended to encircle the entire campus when the second phase of the campus construction is completed.
Adminstrative Offices
The Adminstrative offices occupies 3 blocks currently (2 more for phase II). They include Academic Secretary's Office Management Information Office, Estate Office, Finance Office, and General Secretary's Office. The Student Affairs Office situates at the Student Amenities Block.
CPHK's Future
The campus characterizes the rapid growth and development of CPHK. The campus serves as a basis for the Polytechnic in research and development and tertiary education.
The Polytechnic continues to adopt its unique modular approach in course design. Thus the resources are minimized so that the course approach is more cost-effective and flexible.
The Polytechnic offers new courses at degree or higher level annually so as to accomoduate the need for the society. Now, the polytechnic adopts a faculty system. Under this system, the academic departments are grouped into three faculties which will be involved in the development and monitoring of the courses offered. It sounds like a milestone in the structure of the Polytechnic. As a matter of fact, CPHK has the plan to become another University in Hong Kong.
Besides the academic aspect, the Polytechnic also emphasizes the students' recreation. The sport complex provides sufficient and advanced facilities for the students to relax themselves. The construction work of Phase II of the sport complex is now undertaking. Furthermore, more and more interest societies and clubs will be established. Soon, the students will see a lot of extra-curricular activities to join.
All in all, every time you go back to the Polytechnic, you will find it is evolving into a better and better shape. Best wishes for CPHK!
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