University of Hong Kong
The University of Hong Kong was founded in 1911. Governor Sir Frederick Lugard had proposed to establish a university in Hong Kong to compete with the other Great Powers opening universities in China, most notably Prussia, which had just opened the Tongji German Medical School in Shanghai.
Sir Hormusjee Naorojee Mody, an Indian businessman in Hong Kong, learned of Lugard's plan and pledged to donate HK$150,000 towards the construction and HK$30,000 towards other costs. The Hong Kong Government and the business sector in southern China, which were both equally eager to learn "secrets of the West's success" (referring to technological advances made since the Industrial Revolution), also gave their support. The Government contributed a site at West Point. Swire Group contributed £40,000 to endow a chair in Engineering, in addition to thousands of dollars in equipment (its aim was partly to bolster its corporate image following the death of a passenger on board one of its ships, "Fatshan", and the subsequent unrest stirred by the Self-Government Society). Along with donations from other donors including the British Government and companies such as HSBC, Lugard finally had enough to fund the building of the university.
University Hall (University of Hong Kong)
However, with the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, it became difficult for overseas missionaries to penetrate the mainland. By the early 1950s, most of the foreign missionaries were forced to leave their stations in Mainland China. Hong Kong as a base for missionary work into the greater China area became increasingly unfeasible. In the coming years, Nazareth closed down. The government, which considered the castle for numerous purposes, finally decided to grant the building to the University of Hong Kong. On 4 December 1954 the building got transferred from the French Mission to the university at a price of HK$1,600,000.
The University's proposal of turning Nazareth into a male dormitory was in line with the French Mission, and the transferral went smoothly. The abandoned printing workshop was demolished and turned into the carpark. The chapel and the crypt were transformed into the dining hall and common room respectively. In 1956 the first group of about 52 students, from Eliot Hall, Morrison Hall, and Lugard Hall settled in the castle writing a new page of the Castle' history called University Hall.