status in respect of its own teacher education programmes at degree-level and above. In June 2009, the institute won extra annual funding of HK$22 million from the Hong Kong Government to provide 120 undergraduate degree places for three new undergraduate programs and 30 research postgraduate places for the 2009–2012 triennium. In January 2010, the University Grants Committee endorsed the HKIEd's plans for Research Postgraduate programmes and undergraduate programs in three disciplines: "Humanities" (mainly Language), "Social Sciences", and "Creative Arts & Culture". The approval is seen as a step closer for the institute to gaining its university title by becoming a fully-fledged university of education with a range of disciplines and strong research capacity. HKIEd will launch its first batch of non-education programmes, namely the Bachelor of Arts in Language Studies and Bachelor of Social Sciences in Global and Environmental Studies in September 2010. Both programmes have already secured the support of the External Validation Panel of the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications. Preparations for the launching of the third Education-Plus programme, Bachelor of Arts in Creative Arts and Culture, in 2011–2012 are underway. The institute operates four institute-level research centres had been set up to facilitate the growth of expertise in multi-disciplinary research. On 11 September 2015 the University Grants Committee accepted the application by the Institute of Education to change its name to university, and on 26 January 2016 the adoption of the title "The Education University of Hong Kong" was approved. Accordingly, The Hong Kong Institute of Education (Amendment) Bill will be gazetted on 19 February 2016 and introduced into the Legislative Council on 2 March 2016. In January 2016, the institute was awarded self-accrediting status in three further programme areas, covered by its existing Programme Area Accreditation status: Chinese Studies, English Studies and Environmental Studies. On 27 May 2016, the institute was formally renamed The Education University of Hong Kong in recognition of its "efforts and contributions over the years". In September 2020, The Education University of Hong Kong, with the help of the Li Ka Shing Foundation, partnered with Kneron to build Hong Kong's first AI educational system. Academic organisation There are three faculties and a number of non-faculty academic units at the university, which provide study programmes and courses for students. The Graduate School was established in April 2010 to support EdUHK (the then HKIEd) in the management and quality