Tongji University, one of China's earliest national key universities, is a prestigious institution of higher education which is directly under the Ministry of Education (MOE) and is supported by the Shanghai Municipality. Already in its second centenary,the University has grown into a comprehensive and research-intensive university with distinctive features and an international reputation.The University was among the 36 Class A universities in the list of Double First Class University Plan released by the central government of China in 2017. According to 2019 Global Universities Rankings by US News & World Report, Tongji University ranks 11th in Country Rank of China and 35th in Best Global Universities in Asia.
The history of Tongji can be traced back to 1907, when the German Medical School was founded by Erich Paulun, a German doctor, and was then renamed as Tongji German Medical School in the following year. In 1923, it was formally established as Tongji University and was later renamed as National Tongji University in 1927. Following a nationwide campaign of reorganizing schools and departments among universities launched by the central government of the newly founded People's Republic of China in 1949.In 1996, Tongjiwasmerged with Shanghai Institute of Urban Construction and Shanghai Institute of Building Materials and was listed later in the Project 211. In 2000, the expanded Tongji was merged again with Shanghai Tiedao University and developed into the new Tongji. Then, in 2002, it was listed in Project 985, and took over the administration of the Shanghai College of Aviation Industry in 2003.
The University has always taken an active role in expanding international cooperation. With close historical ties with Germany, it partners mainly with European universities, but is also activelyexpanding its influence to North America, Asia and Africa. So far, it has established 11 international cooperation platforms in partnership with Germany, France, Italy, Finland, Spain and United Nations agencies. The University has also signed memorandum of understanding with over 200 international universities and co-founded research centers with Volkswagen, Siemens, Bayer, IBM and many other multinational enterprises. The University initiated “China Green University Network (CGUN)” and “International Green Campus Alliance (IGCA)”, and acted as the first President. It was also elected as the League President of Global Universities Partnership on Environment for Sustainability (GUPES) under the United Nations Environment Programme, and became the first Asian university to win “Excellence in Campus Award” at the meeting organized by International Sustainable Campus Network.
Tongji University has established 29 schools/colleges, 8 affiliated hospitals, and 6 affiliated primary and secondary schools.Tongji’s four campuses of Siping, Jiading, Huxi, and Hubei cover a total area of 2.54 square kilometers (256 hectares), with the floor area of about 1.80 million square meters (roughly 193 million sq. ft). The University Library houses 4.45 million books in its collection.
Currently, there are 17,757 full-time registered Bachelor’s students, 12,852 registered Master’s students, 5,246 registered Doctoral students, and 3,468 international students. The University has 2,814 faculty members, among which are 1,028 professorsincluding10members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 13members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 2 fellows of the World Academy of Sciences, 1 international fellow of the American Academy of Engineering, 1 international fellow of the German Academy of Engineering, 1 international fellow of the Belgian Royal Flemish Academy of Sciences and Arts, and 1 international fellow of the Swedish Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences. In addition, the University has 4 national-level Master Teachers of Excellence, 23 chief scientists in the National Basic Research Program of China, 48 chief scientists in the National Major Research Program of China, 52 professors in the National Outstanding Young Scholars Program, and 131 professors among the four types of outstanding young talents program, including Outstanding Youth Science Foundation. The University has also established 6 national-level teaching teams, 8 innovation communities supported by Natural Science Foundation of China, 9 innovation communities directly under the MOE, 1 innovation team in selected areas of priority under the Ministry of Science and Technology, and was selected to participate in the National Innovative Talent Training Demonstration Project.
The University has 10 academic disciplines of engineering, science, medicine, management, economics, philosophy, humanities, law, education, and arts. There are 85 undergraduate majors, 47first-levelacademic Master’s degree awarding points, 18 professional Master’s degree awarding points 32first-levelacademicDoctoral degree awarding points, 3 professionalDoctoral degrees awarding points, and 25 postdoctoral research stations. Tongji University is also equipped with 3 national key laboratories, 1 national engineering laboratory, 1 national collaborative innovation center, 1 national large-scale instrument center, 5 national research centers of engineering (technology), and 53 ministerial and provincial researchplatforms.
