Tongji University is one of the leading universities in China underdirect administration of Ministry of Education, listed on “Project 985” and “Project 211”. With a history of over a century, Tongji has valued the balanced development of four functions, i.e. education, research, outreach, and culture inheritance and innovation.
The history of Tongji can be traced back to 1907 when German Medical School was founded by Erich Paulun, a German doctor in Shanghai. After being renamed Tongji German Medical School in the following year, it was formally established as a university in 1923. It became National Tongji University in 1927, one of the seven earliest national universities of China. Around 1949, Tongji already boasted five colleges of natural sciences, engineering, medical science, liberal arts and law, and enjoyed a fine reputation as a comprehensive university both home and abroad.
Following a nationwide campaign of restructuring universities in 1952, Tongji became an engineering-intensive university with top-notch strength in civil engineering and architecture, which is second to none in terms of scale and number of disciplines. Since 1978, “two transforms” were launched, namely, the transforming to an international university by restoring links to Germany, and the transforming from a university focusing mainly on civil engineering to multi-disciplinary engineering university. In 1995, Tongji declared to be jointly built by the Ministry of Education and the Shanghai Municipal Government. By 2007 when it was celebrating its centennial, Tongji had become a comprehensive, international, research-oriented university with distinct features and global influence. In 2013, the university proposed its vision of “a sustainability-oriented, world-class university”.
The university now covers 10 broad categories of academic disciplines, including engineering, science, medicine, management, economics, philosophy, literature, law, education and arts. The number of faculty stands at 2,786, of which 855 are professors, and 997 associate professors. The university now registers 18,581 full-time undergraduate students, 13,762 graduate students, and 4,279 PhD candidates. Another 2,197 international students are pursuing their degrees here.
The university offers 75 undergraduate majors (50 of which are enrolling students according to 17 broad disciplinary categories).It can grant master degrees in 55 broad academic disciplines, together with 15 professional Master’s programs and 26 engineering Master’s programs. It also grants PhD degrees in 31 broad academic disciplines with 3 professional PhD programs and 25 post-doctoral mobile research stations. Of all the disciplines, 3 are first-level national key disciplines, 7 second-level national key disciplines, 3 second-level national key disciplines (incubated), and 17 first-level Shanghai disciplines. There are 3 State Key Laboratories, 1 National Engineering Lab, 5 National Engineering (Technology) Research Centers, and 26 ministerial/provincial-level key labs and engineering (technology) research centers as well as 7 affiliated hospitals and 4 affiliated high schools. Since its founding, Tongji has turned out nearly 300,000 graduates, among which many are extraordinary political leaders, scientists, educators, social activists, business leaders, medical specialists, and engineering technology experts. Over 140 alumni are academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, or the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
