The English Department was one of the two Departments at the Institute of Language in Education ("ILE"). It was part of ILE's organisational structure since its establishment in 1982, for the ILE was set up to improve the teaching and learning of Chinese and English as subjects, and the use of these languages across the curriculum. The English Department was responsible for running courses in English, both as a subject and as a medium of instruction for teachers of content subjects. There was an approximate ratio of 1 expatriate native-speaker to 1 local member of staff within the English Department. While ILE ceased to exist as an independent body from 1 September 1994 following its amalgamation with the Colleges of Education and the Hong Kong Technical Teachers' College, the work of the English Department had been taken over and continued in the Department of English at the Hong Kong Institute of Education.

The Department of English Language Education ("ELE") was first known as the Department of English under the newly amalgamated Hong Kong Institute of Education ("HKIEd") in 1995. Since then, it was known as the Department of English until the academic reorganization in academic year 2012/2013. It had also been organized into different academic entities throughout the years:

• 1994–1998: Department of English, Board of Language in Education;
• 1998–2005: Department of English, School of Languages in Education;
• 2005–2008: Department of English, Faculty of Languages, Arts & Sciences;
• 2008–2012: Department of English, Faculty of Languages;
• 2012–Present: Department of English Language Education, Faculty of Humanities.

A Department of Fine Arts was established in the 1994/95 academic year. It was subsequently renamed as Department of Creative Arts and then Department of Creative Arts and Physical Education. In 2009, it was renamed as Department of Cultural and Creative Arts.

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.

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.