Tongji University


Tongji University is a comprehensive university located in Shanghai. Established in 1907 by the German government together with German physicians in Shanghai, Tongji is one of the oldest and most selective, most prestigious universities in China. It is a Chinese Ministry of Education Class A Double First Class University.
Tongji University is especially renowned for its engineering, business and architecture programs. The university possesses a faculty of more than 2,803 scholars, including 27 members from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Currently, Tongji University owns 29 colleges, 8 affiliated hospitals, and 6 affiliated primary and secondary schools.
The College of Civil Engineering has consistently ranked first in China for decades. The School of Economics and Management is one of 74 business schools in the world being triple accredited by the European Quality Improvement System, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business and the Association of MBAs. Tongji University is a member of the Yangtze Delta Universities Alliance and Asian-European Laotse Universities Network. According to the 2018 QS World University Rankings and the 2018 Times Higher Education Rankings, Tongji University ranked 10th nationally.

History

The history of Tongji University can be traced back to 1907 when the German Medical School for the Chinese in Shanghai was founded by the German government together with the German physicians Erich Paulun, Oscar von Schab and Paul Krieg. The school was affiliated with the Tongji-Hospital the German physicians had established in Shanghai on the initiative of Paulun. The name Tongji, which is a phonetic approximation in Shanghainese of German deutsche, suggests cooperating by riding the same boat. The school was expanded to include engineering in its programs and got its new name as German Medical and Engineering School for the Chinese in Shanghai in 1912. It was formally established as a Chinese university under the name of Tongji University in 1923/1924 and was renamed as National Tongji University in 1927. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the university campus was moved from Shanghai first to Zhejiang Province, then to Jiangxi Province and Yunnan Province and later to Sichuan Province. It was eventually moved back to Shanghai in 1946. It then grew to be a comprehensive university which offered programs in science, engineering, medicine, arts, and law. Following a nationwide campaign of reorganizing schools and departments between universities in 1952, Tongji University became a university knowns for its civil engineering and architecture programs. Tongji is also the first university that introduced Urban Planning into China. In 1952, the first twelve full professors of Tongji are: Li Guohao, 周念先, 钱仲毅, 陈超, 周方白, 李寿康, et al.
As a university which had established a reputation for its research, Tongji became one of the first batch of universities which were authorized by the China State Council to establish its Graduate School. As one of the leading universities, it was successful in its application for the 211 Program which provided universities with substantial government fund. In 1995, the university became one to be jointly supported by the State Education Commission and the Shanghai Municipal Government. In 1996 the university merged with Shanghai Institute of Urban Construction and Shanghai Institute of Building Materials. The merger was acknowledged by the State Council as "Tongji Model" in the system renovation of higher institutions in China. In April 2000, the expanded Tongji merged again with Shanghai Railway University. Now Tongji University has become a comprehensive university which offers a wide range of programs in science, engineering, medicine, arts, law, economics and management.

Timeline

The university now registers over 50,000 students at all levels from certificate and diploma courses to Bachelor's Degrees, Master's, Ph.D. programs and post doctoral attachments. There are over 4,200 academic staff for teaching and/or research, among whom there are 6 Members of Chinese Academy of Science, 7 Members of Chinese Academy of Engineering, over 530 professors and 1,300 associate professors. The university offers diverse courses in its 81 Bachelor's degrees, 151 Masters, 58 PhD programs and 13 post doctoral mobile stations. Tongji University is particularly famous for its Civil Engineering and Architecture programs. Its Civil Engineering, Architecture programs and Transportation Engineering are ranked Top 1 in P.R. China and its architecture program is by far the most difficult to gain entry into. As one of the state leading centers for scientific research, the university has 5 state key laboratories and engineering research centres.
The university is active in promoting cooperation and exchanges with other countries. It has established links with Australia, Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, UK and USA in the fields of education, science, technology and economics. A number of international joint programs have been established between the university and its counterparts in other countries in recent years. In 2006, the university enrolled 1,829 international students.

Anniversary Day

On June 3, 1907, German Medical School was opened in Shanghai. On October 1 of the same year, a ceremony was held. The Anniversary Day was initially set to May 18, on which day in 1924 the Wusong campus was opened. In 1925 and 1926, ceremonies were held on May 18. On the staff meeting on January 19, 1931, the Anniversary Day of National Tongji University was decided to be postponed to May 20, two days after the national mourn with half-mast over the death of Mr. Chen Yingshi, a politician. Tongji celebrates the Anniversary Day on May 20 since then.
Coincidentally, on May 20 of 1924, Tongji Medical School was approved to be a "university" by the Department of Education of China. At that moment, both the medical school and the engineering school were approved.

Campus

Tongji University is titled the State-level Garden Unit for Excellent Afforestation. lts five campuses are located in the municipal city of Shanghai, covering an area of 2,460,000 m². The Siping Campus is situated on Siping Road; the West Campus on Zhennan Road; the North Campus on Gonghexing Road; the East Campus on Wudong Road and the Jiading Campus is located in Shanghai International Automobile City in Anting, Jiading District. In the year 2009, the East Campus was sold to Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

Colleges, schools and departments

Tongji is ranked 265 in the world according to the 2020 QS World University Rankings. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2019 placed Tongji 13th out of 72 in China.

Partnerships

Tongji has a strategic partnership with Technische Universität Darmstadt and Technische Universität Graz.

Presidents

Some noted alumni of Tongji University are: