Founded in 1911, It is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. As of October 2021, HKU ranks 22nd internationally and third in Asia by QS, and 30th internationally and fourth in Asia by Times Higher Education. It has been ranked as the most international university in the world as well as one of the most prestigious universities in Asia. Today, HKU has ten academic faculties with English as the main language of instruction. It specializes in arts, engineering and medicine mainly. 

The university’s main campus covers 160,000 square metres (1,700,000 sq ft) of land on Pok Fu Lam Road and Bonham Road in Lung Fu Shan of Central and Western District, Hong Kong Island. The university also has a few buildings in Sandy Bay Gap. HKU buildings are some of the few remaining examples of British Colonial architecture in Hong Kong. The university lends its name to HKU station, the main public transport access to the campus opened on 28 December 2014.

The Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine is situated 4.5 km southwest of the main campus, in the Southern District near Sandy Bay and Pok Fu Lam. The medical campus includes Queen Mary Hospital, the William M.W. Mong Building and research facilities. The Faculty of Dentistry is situated in the Prince Philip Dental Hospital, Sai Ying Pun.

The university also operates the Kadoorie Agricultural Research Centre, which occupies 95,000 square metres (1,020,000 sq ft) of land in the New Territories, and the Swire Institute of Marine Science at the southern tip of the d’Aguilar Peninsula on Hong Kong Island.

HKU is approved by AMC (Australia), GMC (UK) and ECFMG (USA).