Universities

Northwest University, established in 1902 in Xi'an, is one of China’s oldest institutions of higher learning. It operates across multiple campuses in the city and offers undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral programmes through schools including History, Law, Geology, and Life Sciences. The university has a long-standing role in regional education and research, with particular strengths in humanities, earth sciences, and law. Its location in Xi'an places it at the heart of China’s northwest, supporting academic engagement with local and national development priorities. NWU enrolls several thousand students and maintains active teaching and research programmes across disciplines.

Northwestern Polytechnical University is based in Xi’an, a city with deep historical roots as the seat of thirteen Chinese dynasties. Established in 1938, it has grown into a research-intensive university focused on science and technology, particularly in aeronautics, astronautics, and marine engineering. The university comprises 16 academic schools and delivers undergraduate, postgraduate, and postdoctoral programmes across technical and non-technical disciplines including humanities, economics, management, and law. It offers 54 undergraduate, 101 postgraduate, and 12 postdoctoral programmes. With over 28,000 students and more than 3,500 faculty members—including scholars from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering—NPU maintains a strong emphasis on technological innovation and interdisciplinary education. Its campus community reflects long-standing contributions to national scientific development since its founding.

Founded in 1924, Ocean University of China is located in Qingdao, a coastal city on the Shandong Peninsula with a mild climate and historic maritime character. Its position by the Yellow Sea informs its long-standing emphasis on marine science, atmospheric science, and related disciplines, while also maintaining teaching and research programmes in economics, law, engineering, pharmacy, agronomy, and the humanities. The university operates across two campuses in Qingdao, each embedded within the city’s academic and cultural environment. It hosts approximately 27,000 students, including over 1,300 international students from more than fifty countries, and is staffed by around 2,500 faculty members. Academic work spans eight disciplinary areas, with degrees offered at undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral levels. The university falls under the direct administration of China’s Ministry of Education.

Omeida Chinese Academy is a Chinese language school based in Yangshuo, Guangxi, known for immersive Mandarin study in a smaller-city setting. It offers short- and longer-term language courses for international students, including group and private classes and cultural activities alongside classroom instruction.

Panzhihua University (PZHU) is in Panzhihua, Sichuan — known for vanadium and titanium resources and as a major iron and steel base in western China, bordering northwestern Yunnan. Campus area about 840,000 m²; building area about 500,000 m²; stadiums/gymnasiums more than 50,000 m². Faculty: 799 professional teachers, including 272 associate professors and professors and 476 master’s/doctoral degree holders. There are 15 schools and departments (Materials Engineering, Electromechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Humanities and Social Sciences, Economics and Management, Medical Science, and others) offering undergraduate study in 35 specialties across science, engineering, liberal arts, law, economics, management, and medical science. Enrollment: over 16,200 students from 30 provinces/regions/municipalities. Teaching equipment valued at more than 100 million RMB; library holdings over 1.74 million books; more than 2,000 teaching computers and 9,000 seats in multimedia and language classrooms; 17 practical teaching centers and nearly 200 corporate/factory partnerships )

Established in 1898 in Beijing, Peking University is China’s first national university. Its campus hosts five faculties—Humanities, Social Sciences, Sciences, Medicine, and Information and Engineering—alongside 47 colleges and departments. The university offers over one hundred undergraduate programmes and more than five hundred graduate and doctoral programmes. With around 34,000 students including nearly 2,400 international learners from 80 countries, its academic community is both large and diverse. The teaching staff includes over 5,800 full-time faculty members, among them more than 1,700 professors and over 60 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering. Research infrastructure includes 11 national key laboratories, 46 state key laboratories, and a library holding 7.7 million volumes—the largest university library in Asia.

Peking University HSBC Business School (PHBS), founded in 2004 in Shenzhen, is Peking University's graduate business school, delivering English-medium business and management degrees with an international faculty and student body.

Qilu University of Technology (QLUT) is in Jinan, Shandong — known as the City of Springs — between the Yellow River to the north and Mount Tai to the south. The main campus covers more than 2,000 acres in the Western University Science Park. History: founded in 1948; upgraded as Shandong Polytechnic University in 1978; among the first bachelor’s degree-granting units in 1982; master’s degree-granting from 1998; Master of Fine Arts authorization in 2009; among Shandong’s first “Featured University Cultivating Applied Talents” cohort in 2012; renamed Qilu University of Technology on 18 April 2013 with Ministry of Education approval. Disciplines: 71 undergraduate majors across Engineering, Science, Liberal Arts, Economics, Management, Law, and Art )

Qingdao Binhai University is a private university in Qingdao, Shandong, established in 1992. It offers undergraduate programmes across applied disciplines with an emphasis on practical skills. International students can enrol where the university opens overseas intake.

Qingdao University sits on a coastal campus at the foot of Fushan Mountain, with views across to the Yellow Sea. Founded in 1987, it is one of China’s earlier institutions approved to enrol international students and hosts an HSK test centre. The university comprises 22 colleges offering 94 undergraduate majors, alongside 35 doctoral and 178 master’s programmes across disciplines including medicine, engineering, law, arts, and social sciences. Its student body exceeds 40,000. Qingdao’s mild climate, seaside setting, and layered cultural history—shaped by German colonial architecture, maritime trade, and modern academic life—form part of the university’s everyday context. International engagement is embedded in its structure, with formal partnerships spanning over 20 countries and regular teaching contributions from visiting academics worldwide.

Qingdao University of Science and Technology (QUST) in Qingdao is known for chemistry, chemical engineering, and related science and technology programmes.

Renmin Business School is the business faculty of Renmin University of China in Beijing. It delivers undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral programmes taught in Chinese and English. The school operates within Renmin University, which was founded in 1937 and is located in central Beijing. Its academic staff conduct research across management, finance, economics, and marketing, with teaching grounded in both Chinese institutional contexts and global business theory. Student intake includes domestic and international candidates, and degrees are awarded by Renmin University of China.

Renmin University of China (RUC) is a comprehensive research university focused on humanities and social sciences. Its predecessor was Shanbei Public School (1937), later North China Union University and North China University. It was formally established as Renmin University of China on 3 October 1950 — described as the first university founded by the new Chinese government — and is a Project 211 and Project 985 university, often called a flagship for social sciences and humanities education in China. Structure: 26 schools and 14 interdisciplinary research institutes, plus School of Physics, School of Continuing Education, and School of Education & Training; a satellite campus in Suzhou and a research institution in Shenzhen. Programs: 75 bachelor’s, 4 secondary bachelor’s, 183 master’s (including 33 offered autonomously by RUC), 124 PhD (including 31 autonomous); 20 first-level PhD disciplines and 18 postdoctoral mobile centers

Renmin University of China (RUC) is a comprehensive research university focused on humanities and social sciences. Its predecessor was Shanbei Public School (1937), later North China Union University and North China University. It was formally established as Renmin University of China on 3 October 1950 — described as the first university founded by the new Chinese government — and is a Project 211 and Project 985 university, often called a flagship for social sciences and humanities education in China. Structure: 26 schools and 14 interdisciplinary research institutes, plus School of Physics, School of Continuing Education, and School of Education & Training; a satellite campus in Suzhou and a research institution in Shenzhen. Programs: 75 bachelor’s, 4 secondary bachelor’s, 183 master’s (including 33 offered autonomously by RUC), 124 PhD (including 31 autonomous); 20 first-level PhD disciplines and 18 postdoctoral mobile centers

Shandong Jianzhu University (SJU), founded in 1956, is in Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province and a historic cultural city. It has grown into an applied research university focused on engineering, especially civil engineering and architecture, with coordinated development across engineering, science, management, literature, law, agronomy, and art. The campus covers more than 160 hectares with about 700,000 square meters of buildings. There are 20 schools (departments), 64 undergraduate programs, 4 research (design) institutes, and over 26,800 full-time students. SJU is described as the only university in China designated to cultivate doctoral talent for green architecture to meet special national needs, and the only university in Shandong that has passed national professional evaluation (certification) for all civil engineering majors. It was the first undergraduate university in Shandong in the national industry–education integration demonstration project. ESI engineering ranks among the top 1% worldwide. Architecture and civil engineering are first-class disciplines in Shandong; architecture is listed as a high-level advantageous and characteristic discipline. Civil engineering, building environment and energy application, urban and rural planning, and water supply and sewerage engineering are provincial high-level application key construction majors. Architecture, civil engineering, electrical engineering and automation, and environmental design have been rated national characteristic majors. The university has strong research strength in new urbanization, building industrialization, green building, smart city, and ancient building fields )

Shandong Jiaotong University was established in 1956 and is described as the only university in Shandong offering bachelor’s degrees focused on highway and waterway transportation. It has three campuses (Jinan, Changqing, and Weihai), covering more than 2,200 Chinese mu, with floor area about 0.39 million m². Equipment and facilities valued around 154 million yuan; library about 1.53 million volumes. Thirteen schools/colleges and four teaching departments include Automotive Engineering; Transportation and Logistics Engineering; Mechanical Engineering; Civil Engineering; Information Science and Electronic Engineering; Finance and Economics; Management; Humanity and Law; Foreign Studies; Science; Maritime; Material Science and Engineering; Northern International College; plus Social Science, Physical Education, Continuing Education, and Vocational Technology College. Forty-two bachelor’s programs (examples: Traffic Transportation, Vehicle Engineering, Civil Engineering, Engine Engineering, Navigation, Ships and Oceanographic Engineering) across liberal arts, science, engineering, economics, management, law, and art, with engineering as the key discipline )

Shandong Normal University was established in 1956 in Jinan, capital city of Shandong Province. It operates across two campuses and maintains a strong academic focus on teacher education and humanities, with additional programmes in social sciences, natural sciences, and management. The university integrates elements of Qilu cultural tradition into its teaching and research environment. Its library holds extensive collections, and it hosts multiple discipline-specific research centres. Student enrolment spans undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral levels across several schools and faculties.

Shandong University is among the founding institutions of modern Chinese higher education. Its main body, Shandong Imperial College (Shandong Da Xue Tang), was established in 1901 as the second national university in China after the Imperial University of Peking, and the first university founded and run under a chartered constitution. The university has 8 campuses in three cities — Jinan, Qingdao, and Weihai — covering over 533 hectares. It has 4 affiliated hospitals, 3 non-subordinate affiliated hospitals, and 11 teaching hospitals. Teaching and administrative staff number about 10,200 (including Weihai Campus and 3 affiliated hospitals). Full-time students total about 60,000: 41,437 undergraduates, 16,607 postgraduates, and 2,456 international students. Faculty include 1,107 professors, among them 907 Ph.D. supervisors. As a comprehensive university, it covers 13 general disciplines: philosophy, economics, law, education, literature, history, science, engineering, agriculture, medicine, military science, management, and fine arts. It has 40 first-level doctoral programs, 55 first-level master’s programs, 28 professional doctoral and master’s programs, 116 undergraduate programs, and 38 mobile post-doctoral research stations. Key discipline figures include 2 national key first-level disciplines (including 8 second-level), 14 national key second-level disciplines, 3 key national second-level disciplines (incubating), and 70 provincial key disciplines )

Shandong University of Finance and Economics is a provincial university in Jinan, capital of Shandong Province, formed in 2011 through the merger of two earlier institutions founded in 1952 and 1986. It operates across four campuses and comprises 24 schools delivering 62 undergraduate, 73 graduate, and 9 doctoral programmes. The university hosts around 33,000 full-time students and employs over 1,900 academic staff, including more than 900 professors and associate professors. Its teaching and research focus strongly on economics, finance, management, and related social sciences, with 16 provincial-level key disciplines and several dedicated research bases in regional economic development, public finance, and service industry innovation. Faculty members hold national and provincial honours, including Taishan Scholar titles and recognition under national talent programmes. SDUFE maintains an open approach to academic collaboration, supporting domestic and international exchange as part of its institutional ethos.

Shandong University of Science and Technology (SDUST), founded in 1951 in Qingdao, is a multidisciplinary university with particular strength in engineering and the sciences.

Shandong University of Technology (SDUT), established in 1956, is a key comprehensive university in Shandong Province with a focus on science and engineering. It is in Zibo, historically the capital of the Qi State during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. The campus covers 240 hectares and is about 1.5 hours from Qingdao by high-speed rail and about 2.5 hours’ drive from Qufu. SDUT has 21 academic schools, about 33,000 full-time undergraduates, and over 2,600 graduate students. Disciplines span engineering, science, economics, management, literature, law, history, pedagogy, and arts. Programs include 75 undergraduate, 98 graduate, and 13 doctoral offerings. Notable fields cited include Chinese Language and Literature, International Economy and Trade, Finance, Accounting, Mechanical Manufacturing and Automation, Vehicle Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Automation, Energy and Power Engineering, and Civil Engineering. SDUT is an HSK examination center approved by Hanban (Confucius Institute Headquarters) and works with the International Society of Chinese Language Pedagogy on Chinese language teacher training and testing (Certificate of Accreditation in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language). It accepts Chinese Government Scholarship and Shandong Provincial Government Scholarship students and has cooperative relationships with more than 60 universities in 17 countries )

The Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, established in 2009, specialises in finance and management education.

Shanghai Business School (SBS), formerly the East China Branch of the Tax Administration School of the Central Government, is described as a roughly 60-year-old institution under Shanghai Municipal Government. Faculty: more than 400 full-time instructors — about 37.9% with master’s or PhD degrees and 34.7% associate professors, professors, or researchers — plus over 100 visiting professors drawn from senior business leaders. More than 10,000 full-time students across twelve divisions: Management; Economics; Finance and Accounting; Ecology and Tourism; Art and Design; Foreign Languages and International Exchange; Computer and Electronic Information; Food Science; Media and Journalism; Law and Politics; College of Social Science and Foundation Courses; and Adult Education. Offerings: 20 undergraduate programs, 45 advanced vocational programs, and seven Sino-foreign cooperation programs (two national educational-reform experimental programs and one municipality-level). Graduate employment rate cited as remaining over 95%

Shanghai DianJi University (SDJU) traces its history to 1953. It is a public university oriented toward advanced manufacturing and modern service industries, with engineering as its main focus and coordinated development of economics, management, literature, art, and science. SDJU has two campuses, Lingang and Minhang, totaling nearly 200 acres, and more than 13,000 full-time graduate and undergraduate students. Graduate programs include energy power, international business, electronic information, machinery, materials and chemicals, and control science and engineering (6 programs). There are 43 undergraduate specialties: engineering about 61%, management and economics about 33.4%, and arts and fine arts about 5.6%. SDJU was among the first nationwide CDIO pilot universities and among the first model universities in Shanghai for innovation and entrepreneurship education reform