WHEN Lingnan College celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1988, it commemorated the founding of the Christian College in Canton in 1888.
The college changed its name to the Lingnan College in 1912, became a university in 1927 and ceased holding classes in 1952.
It was another 15 years before the Lingnan College reopened, this time in Hong Kong, when a number of the alumni of Lingnan University got together to establish it.
Less than a decade later, in 1978, the college was officially registered under the Post Secondary Colleges' Ordinance which led to limited government funding.
With the aim of regaining its earlier status as a university, the college applied for a review by the British Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA).
The review, which was carried out in 1987, expressed satisfaction with the standards of the college, the quality of its staff, students and teaching.