In the early 1950s, it became apparent that there was a need for further education opportunities in Hong Kong. The findings of the Keswick Report (1952) and the Jennings-Logan Report (1953) provided recommendations to the
British Hong Kong government to establish a new department aimed at providing adult-education programmes. On 21 May 1957, the
University of Hong Kong (HKU) established the Department of Extra-Mural Studies with an enrollment of 330 students. The department's purpose was partly to develop and run courses to meet the needs of the growing city. These courses included
library studies in response to the opening of the first library in the territory, and housing management to cope with the growing housing crises which plagued the city in the 1960s. In January 1992, the department was renamed the School of Professional and Continuing Education. This change elevated its status with relation to its parent organisation, giving it financial autonomy and allowing it more freedom to make decisions for the programmes it offered. The school was reformed into a corporate structure in 1999, allowing HKU to differentiate the school's activities from public funding and to provide for more flexible and appropriate rules and procedures that are not available as a publicly-funded institution. ==Locations==