Fully Residential and Communal Dining
Rationale
The tradition of full residence and communal dining goes back to the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge. You will make friends with students from different backgrounds and in different disciplines, and also with your teachers. With students living in the hostel and dining together frequently, an intimate atmosphere and close community are established.
Participating in College dining is an important element of college life, and it contributes to the building of a close community. It is part-and-parcel of Full Residence. Administratively, it is regarded as a part of College General Education.
Hostel Residence
As a student of CW Chu College (whether local or non-local), you will be offered hostel residence for the first four years (eight academic terms) during your normative study period. In return, you will be obliged to take up residence and take part in communal dining in order to be part of the College community of shared learning and growth. Please refer to the Dining Arrangements and the related fees below.
Communal Dining
The College will organize communal dinners (CD) and High Table Dinners (HTD) during term time. Guest speakers or fellow students will be invited to share their experiences on different topics during/ after dinners occasionally. There will be no regular College Assemblies.
Communal dining will be arranged three times a week on every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday during term time. High Table Dinners will also be arranged. Please refer to the attendance and the related fees below.
Detailed Arrangements for Hostel Residence
CW Chu College is committed to offering hostel residence for the first four years during regular school terms to every student (whether local or non-local) irrespective of his/her accommodation need or home distance from the University, according to the specifications below.
- By the first four years, it means to count 8 academic terms starting from your first admission to CUHK as an undergraduate. Hostel accommodation during summer terms is treated separately.
- The student is still in the normative study period of his/her major programme. If you are admitted with Advanced Standing or via Senior year admission channel, your normative study period, and thus our hostel offer, may be less than four years / eight academic terms.
- Any gap period of residence due to exceptions is also counted towards the four-year offer. Exceptions include student participation in outbound exchange/ internship programmes, disciplinary or public health issues, or the closure of the hostel as a result of epidemic, disaster, safety concern, or social unrest.
- The student is paying the full meal fee for communal dinners of the term. In very special cases, a student may only need to pay a partial meal fee approved by the College.
- Students may apply for hostel residence beyond the fourth year for various reasons, including longer normative study period or approved leave/ suspension of study. The application shall be reviewed by the Student Affairs Committee only if spare hostel places are available.
- For students in the MBChB programme, hostels will usually be provided by the University in the Prince of Wales Hospital in the last two years of clinical studies.
Hostel Fees and Related Financial Support
The College hostel is a self-financing operation; thus the hostel fee will reflect the actual cost of running the hostel, including a contribution to a reserve for maintenance. The hostel fee per student for academic year 2024–25 is as follows:
A basic usage level (140 kWh per room*) is provided within the hostel fee. Usage above this level (especially for air-conditioning) will be separately charged to each room based on individual metering on a monthly basis.
*4.65 kWh per room per day ~ 140 kWh per room x 12 months / 365 days
All CWC students with genuine financial needs may apply for Bursary to offset part of the hostel fee together with the meal fee.
Additional Hostel Accommodation
When there are extra hostel places in the College, the College may accept application for hostel accommodation in addition to the above Fully Residential offer. Students looking for such accommodation are required to submit a special application to the Student Affairs Committee in advance for approval. Besides the concern of need, the student’s previous engagement in and contribution to College life are essential consideration. Some valid cases are listed below as examples.
- In the event of approved leave or suspension, the College may provide residence beyond the fourth year, provided that the normative period of the student concerned has also been extended by the University.
- Students in programmes with normative periods of more than four years may need continuing residence beyond the fourth year. This normally does not apply to students in the MBChB programme, who will usually have hostels provided in the Prince of Wales Hospital in the last two years of clinical studies.
- For students beyond their normative periods, residence will rarely be provided.
Hostel places in the College during term time are allocated based on the guidelines approved by the Assembly of Fellows. For details, please refer to the pdf file “Guidelines on the Allocation of Hostel Places”.
Attendance for Communal Dinners and Activities
Attendance to communal dining (CD) and College activities is a crucial requirement of passing (PP grade) the non-credit bearing courses (GECW 1000/ 2000/ 3000/ 4000) in College General Education. CD is a mandatory activity for all students enjoying the four-year full residence.
The minimum attendance rates strike a balance between building the college community and the occasional needs of individual students to engage in essential activities during those hours. The attendance requirement is briefly described below. Please refer to the pages about Attendance Requirement and Dining Arrangements for details.
Attendance to HTDs is NOT counted as meal attendance or activity participation.
Students assigned to GECW1000 / 2000/ 3000/ 4000 are required to fulfill an attendance rate of 50% for CDs during the term.
*Students who are not in residence or who are residing beyond four years may participate in some college dinners on a voluntary basis subject to the approval of the College with separate payments.
Students assigned to the above non-credit bearing GE courses are also required to participate in three College accepted activities (for regular meal plan participants), or seven College accepted activities (for students who are exempted from attending CDs for one term with a valid reason approved by the Student Affairs Committee).
Year 1 students are also required to attend the 4 compulsory sessions of Extended Orientation in September for receiving a PP grade for GECW1000 in Term 1.
Attendance Taking
Records of participated College activities: recorded by the College within two weeks upon completion of each activity at Registration and Attendance System (here)
Online Record Form for ‘Self and Significant Others” programme: students to submit by 23 April 2025 (Wed, 5:00 pm) (here)
Online Record Form for Cultural Activities: students to submit by 23 Apr 2025 (Wed, 5:00 pm) (here)
Dining Fee
The cost of dining will be based on what the caterer charges. The dining fees for the academic year 2024–25 are as follows:
| Dining Fee Per Student | Number of Meals Provided |
|
Term 1: $0 (meal plan was suspended)
|
N/A
|
|
Team 2: $2,283
|
41 communal dinners and 1 High Table Dinner
|
College Office
G/F, CW Chu College
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR
