, the Government Trade School was founded at Wood Road, Wan Chai. The school was the first publicly funded, post-secondary technical institution in Hong Kong.[13] Under G. White, the then principal, it ran classes in marine wireless operating, mechanical engineering and building construction.
[14] The campus was a three-storey high Victorian architecture, and commonly referred to the “Red Brick House” by the locals
.[15] After World War II, the Government Trade School became the Hong Kong Technical College in 1947, offering both full-time and part-time courses. In 1957, the new campus of the college located in Hung Hom was constructed. It was opened by Sir Alexander Grantham, the then Governor of Hong Kong.[14]
In 1965, Sir Chung Sze-yuen (S.Y. Chung) suggested to establish a polytechnic in Hong Kong to provide post-secondary technical education. Dr Tang Ping-yuen was appointed by the government at the chair of the Polytechnic Planning Committee in May 1969.
[16] On 24 March 1972, the Legislative Council passed the Hong Kong Polytechnic Ordinance and the institute was established. Sir Chung assumed the first chair of the Polytechnic Board of Directors (later renamed Polytechnic Council in 1978). The Polytechnic’s mandate was to provide professional-oriented education to meet the need for qualified workers. The Institution launched its first five degree programmes in 1983, and introduced its first MPhil and PhD programmes in 1986 and 1989 respectively.[14]