Chinese Government Scholarship Youth of Excellence Scheme of China Admission Guide — Tongji University International Students Office

About the university

Tongji University, located in Shanghai, is a national key university directly under the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China and jointly built with the Shanghai Municipal Government. It is one of the earliest national universities in China and is a central-government-administered university. It is ranked as a Class A institution in the national "Double First-Class" initiative, a member of the "985 Project" and "211 Project" key construction universities, a Class A university in the national World-Class University construction, and one of the first batch of national demonstration universities for deepening innovation and entrepreneurship education reform. It is also included in the Everest Plan, the Excellent Engineer Education and Training Plan, and the Excellent Doctor Education and Training Plan. The university originated from the Tongji German Medical School founded in 1907 by German doctor Erich Paulun with support from the Chinese and German governments and various sectors of society. It was officially named Tongji University in 1923, became a national university in 1927, relocated six times after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War in 1937, moved back to Shanghai in 1946, merged with Shanghai Urban Construction College and Shanghai Institute of Building Materials in 1996 and was listed as a "211 Project" university, merged with Shanghai Railway University in 2000 to form the new Tongji University, was listed as a "985 Project" university in 2002, and had Shanghai Aviation Industry School placed under its management in 2003. It became a central-government-administered university in 2004. As of December 2025, the university has four campuses: Siping Road, Jiading, Huxi, and Hubei, covering an area of approximately 2.75 square kilometers, with a total building area of about 2.25 million square meters and a library collection of approximately 4.79 million volumes. It has 35 postdoctoral research stations, 42 first-level doctoral degree authorization points, 12 professional doctoral degree authorization categories, 49 first-level master's degree authorization points, and 30 professional master's degree authorization categories. It has 34 professional colleges, 12 affiliated hospitals, and offers 69 undergraduate programs. The university has 3,206 full-time faculty members, 18,920 full-time undergraduate students, 12,713 master's students, 9,942 doctoral students, and 4,426 international students. In 1893, German doctor Erich Paulun came to Shanghai and opened a clinic near the German Consulate General. Later, he and several German doctors in Shanghai established the "German Medical Association." During the invasion of China by the Eight-Nation Alliance, Germany shipped a large amount of medical equipment and hired the renowned Dr. Paulun to help set up a hospital for wounded soldiers in Shanghai. When the German troops returned home, they donated all the medical equipment from the hospital to Paulun in gratitude. In 1900, with the support of German Consul General Wilhelm Knappe in Shanghai, Paulun opened a 20-bed hospital on Xinma Road near Zhangjiabang. Funded by both Chinese and German sides, it was named "Tongji Hospital," with Paulun as its director. In early 1904, Knappe held talks in Berlin with representatives of the German Foreign Office, the Prussian Ministry of Culture, and the head of the Oriental Language Department at the University of Berlin. During the discussions on promoting German education policy in China, Knappe proposed a plan to establish a German medical school in Shanghai. In 1905, the German Foreign Office and the Prussian Ministry of Culture reached a consensus on establishing a German medical school in Shanghai; Althoff, the head of the Education Department of the Prussian Ministry of Culture, established the "Koppel Foundation for Promoting German-Foreign Intellectual and Cultural Relations." In March 1907, the Koppel Foundation, the Committee for Promoting German Cultural Work in China, the Shanghai German Medical Association, and Tongji Hospital signed an agreement in Berlin, drafted by the Prussian Ministry of Culture, on establishing a German medical school in Shanghai. On June 3, the board of directors of the "German Medical School" was formally established, consisting of 18 members. On October 1, the school held its opening ceremony and was named "German Medical School," with its campus located in three Western-style buildings at 23-25 Baike Road (now Fengyang Road), opposite Tongji Hospital.