The Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) was renamed The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) in 2016. The Institute was founded in 1994 following the enactment of the HKIEd Ordinance in March of the same year. It was one of eight subsidized Universities under the University Grants Committee of Hong Kong.

The history of the institution can be traced back to 1853. St. Paul’s College introduced the first formalised program of in-service teacher training. On 25 April 1994, under the recommendation made by the Education Commission Report No 5., HKIEd was formally established by the merger of four colleges and one institute that were governed by the Education Department of Hong Kong Government.

• Northcote College of Education, established in 1939
• Grantham College of Education, established in 1951
• Sir Robert Black College of Education, established in 1960
• Hong Kong Technical Teachers’ College, established in 1974
• Institute of Language in Education, established in 1982

The School of Foundations in Education ("SFE") was part of the new academic structure which came into effect at the Hong Kong Institute of Education ("HKIEd") from the 1998/99 academic year until September 2005, when HKIEd underwent another academic restructuring.

In line with the upgrading of HKIEd to a university-level institution and the development of Bachelor and Postgraduate programmes, a working group was set up by the Academic Board to recommend a new structure after wide consultation with all staff. On 5 June 1998, the Academic Board's recommendation to create four Schools and 12 Departments was endorsed by the Council for commencement in the 1998/99 academic year. Under this new structure, the four Schools were responsible for organising academic programmes, whereas the twelve Departments were reorganised within the four Schools and they could focus on extending their expertise in the different programmes and courses organised by their respective School and reported directly to the School Deans.

The SFE was responsible for organising all primary and special needs education programmes, including HKIEd's flagship Bachelor of Education in Primary programme, a Postgraduate Diploma in Education programme, and many in-service professional development courses. The SFE was committed to playing an active role in the advancement of teacher quality and professionalism in Hong Kong by integrating the teacher education experiences of the previous Colleges of Education with the latest research and best practice. The SFE also comprised the most number of Departments and Centres out of the four Schools. By July 2005, the SFE consisted of five Departments and four Centres. They included the Departments of Curriculum and Instruction; Educational Policy and Administration; Educational Psychology, Counselling and Learning Needs; Science; and Social Sciences; as well as the Centre for Citizenship Education, the Centre for Special Needs and Studies in Inclusive Education, the Humanities and Social Sciences Learning Centre, and the Professional Studies Learning Centre.

In 2004, after having successfully achieved self-accrediting university status, HKIEd decided to realign its organisational structure by merging the four Schools into two Faculties from September 2005: the Faculty of Languages, Arts and Sciences, and the Faculty of Professional and Early Childhood Education. Major academic and research developments were to be coordinated at the Institute level with implementation taking place at the Faculty and Department levels. The SFE and the other three Schools therefore ceased to exist from September 2005.

The founding of Northcote College of Education was originated from the 1935 Report on Education in Hong Kong and a recommendation laid in 1938 by a Committee on the training of teachers. In 1935, an Inspector of Schools, Edmund Burney, visited Hong Kong and made an enquiry into the local education system. His Report on Education in Hong Kong, also known as the Burney Report, criticised several aspects of Hong Kong's educational policy such as the neglect of primary education and the inadequate training in Vernacular schools in which Chinese was the medium of instruction. One of the recommendations raised at the time, was that it might be necessary to have a new Government Normal School, or considerable additions to the existing premises of the Technical Institute for the training of teachers. In 1938, the Governor, Sir Geoffry Northcote, took up this endeavour in the improvement of teachers' training further by appointing a Committee to review the training of teachers for both English and Vernacular schools. The key recommendation of the Committee was that the Government should act immediately in the provision of a teacher training centre for the training of male and female teachers for both Anglo-Chinese and Vernacular schools - as a result the Teachers Training College was opened on 18 September 1939. The College was housed temporarily in the former Medical Officer's quarters at the old Government Civil Hospital at Hospital Road. It offered a two-year course and had two classes: an Anglo-Chinese class taught in the medium of English and a vernacular class taught in Cantonese. In its first year of operation, each class had 24 students including 12 male students and 12 female students.

The new building of the Teachers Training College at Bonham Road was officially opened on 23 April 1941 by the Governor, Sir Geoffry Northcote, and since then the College became known as the Northcote Training College. The College, however, was forced to close in December the same year because of the Japanese invasion. The Bonham Road building was initially used as the headquarters of the Japanese Military Police but was later mutilated by looters with all of its fittings and equipment removed during the war. Despite of great difficulties in replacing the equipment, the College reopened soon after the war on 13 March 1946.

In order to meet the demand for more trained teachers for the rapidly increasing school population, the College expanded greatly and moved yet again to new premises at Sassoon Road in April 1962, and was officially opened by the Governor, Sir Robert Black, on 31 May 1962. This new premise consisted of a hostel which could accommodate half the full-time enrolment. The vacated Bonham Road building was then used by the United College of The Chinese University of Hong Kong until it moved to Shatin in December 1971, and after considerable renovation reverted to College use and served as an annexe to the College in December 1973. On 18 October 1967, the three government Training Colleges including Northcote Training College, Grantham Training College and Sir Robert Black Training College, were renamed Colleges of Education. The former title, Training College, implied that the function of the colleges was merely to impart basic skills. The three colleges by then, had a much wider function and scope on the further education of students with the introduction of new full-time courses and the discontinuance of one-year courses. A range of student interests and activities were being broadened and subjects were also being studied to a higher level. In consideration of all these developments, Northcote Training College changed its name to Northcote College of Education.

Pursuant to the recommendation of the Education Commission Report No. 5, the Hong Kong Institute of Education ("HKIEd") was formally established on 25 April 1994. Meanwhile, Northcote College of Education, Grantham College of Education, Sir Robert Black College of Education, the Hong Kong Technical Teachers' College and the Institute of Language in Education, the five institutions which were to be amalgamated into the HKIEd, continued their part in delivering teacher education programmes until the end of their last academic year. On 1 September 1994, HKIEd formally took over the administration of the five institutions from the Education Department and amalgamated them into a new, unified autonomous institution; on the same day the campuses and annexes of the five institutions were converted into campuses of the HKIEd until the Tai Po campus was completed in October 1997.

The Academic Staff Association of The Education University of Hong Kong was established in 1965 as the Association of Lecturers at Colleges of Education to secure the complete organisation of all grades of lecturers employed by the Education Department of Hong Kong Government in the Colleges of Education. Membership of the Association, at first, was open to lecturers in Northcote College of Education, Grantham College of Education, and Sir Robert Black College of Education. And since 1975, it also began to admit lecturers of the Hong Kong Technical Teachers' College. The Association was the only staff association for lecturers in Northcote College of Education, Grantham College of Education and Sir Robert Black College of Education, but lecturers from the Hong Kong Technical Teachers’ College had the option of joining, concurrently, the Hong Kong Technical Teachers’ College Lecturers’ Association.

Subsequent to the establishment of the Hong Kong Institute of Education ("HKIEd") on 25 April 1994 and the amalgamation of Northcote College of Education, Grantham College of Education, Sir Robert Black College of Education, the Hong Kong Technical Teachers' College and the Institute of Language in Education into HKIEd on 1 September 1994, membership of the Association was extended to the entire Institute including lecturers of the Bonham Campus (formerly the Institute of Language in Education, which was converted to one of the HKIEd campuses before the Tai Po Campus was completed). The Association was also renamed the Association of Lecturers at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. The name of the Association was later changed again, firstly on 25 September 2002 to the Academic Staff Association of the Hong Kong Institute of Education so as to better reflect and represent staff at HKIEd; and after the grant of university title in 2016, to the Academic Staff Association of The Education University of Hong Kong.

The Colleges of Education Joint Selection Board ("the Board") was created in 1971 to centralize the selection of students for the Full-Time Two-Year Courses offered by Northcote College of Education, Grantham College of Education and Sir Robert Black College of Education. The scope of the Board's responsibilities and research undertakings broadened with the introduction of new courses and the joining of new member. For example, in 1980, the Board began to administer for the selection of the Two-Year Part-Time In-Service Course of Training for Kindergarten Teachers, the Initial Course of Teacher Training (Primary) for Special School Teachers and the Two-Year Part-Time In-Service Course of Training for Teachers of Handicapped Children, in addition to the selection of all full-time courses. As from 1985/1986, the Hong Kong Technical Teachers' College also became a member of the Board, and since then the Board had to manage the selection of all full-time and part-time courses of the four Colleges as the overarching administrative machinery. In 1989, there was a review of the responsibility of the Board. It was felt that the Board should only be concerned with the selection of students of the full-time courses and those part-time courses which accord qualified teacher status and were common courses in the four Colleges. Thus the selections for courses for Special Education, Kindergarten, and the Refresher and Retraining Courses were no longer included.

The Board was supported and assisted by its subsidiary committees which comprised all professional staff members of the four Colleges in the smooth mounting of all joint selection exercises. Membership of the Board included Principals of the four Colleges, who took turns to serve as the Chairman in each reporting year; and representative(s) of the Assistant Director (Further Education Division), Chairpersons of Committees, appointed members, and a secretary. They held board meetings to monitor, direct and evaluate the selection exercises throughout the year. The Board underwent some restructuring in 1989 and set up committees to look after the different aspects of the selection exercises. The professional staff members of the four Colleges, on the other hand, were organised into various Executive Committees, a Research and Statistics Unit and various Subject Advisory Committees, and carried out the execution of the selection procedures in accordance with the Board policies. Apart from involving in the selection of students which took place at various times of the year, the professional staff members also had to concurrently involve in their regular programmes of lecturing at their own Colleges and supervising students of both the full-time and part-time courses in practical teaching.

The selection exercises had always been done manually but in September 1992, in collaboration with the Information Technology Services Department, the joint selection exercise was computerised to streamline and standardise the selection of students, though only for the Full-Time Two-Year and Three-Year Courses of Initial Teacher Education 1992-93.