Tan Kah Kee Scholarship

About the university

Xiamen University of Technology (XMUT), also known as Xiamen Institute of Technology, is a provincial key university in Fujian Province, located in Xiamen, Fujian. It is designated as a Fujian First-Class Discipline Construction University, a Fujian Class A First-Class Applied University, a university under the Ministry of Education's Excellent Engineer Education and Training Program, a national demonstration university for deepening innovation and entrepreneurship education reform, a national model university with distinctive experience in deepening innovation and entrepreneurship education reform, a host institution for the Chinese Government Scholarship, a comprehensive pilot unit for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements in Fujian universities and research institutes, a partner university for the Xiamen Tan Kah Kee Scholarship, and the first rotating chair unit of the Jimei District Industrial Technology Alliance in Xiamen. It is also among the first batch of national universities for the pilot program of professional master's degree education for special national needs and a participant in the New Engineering Research and Practice Project. The university is authorized to confer master's degrees and is a candidate for doctoral degree authorization. Xiamen University of Technology traces its origins to Lujiang Vocational University, founded in October 1981, and was renamed Xiamen University of Technology in 2004. In 2012 and 2013, it successively passed the Ministry of Education's undergraduate teaching qualification evaluation and was approved as a Fujian Provincial Key University. In 2022, it was approved as a provincial Class A first-class applied university. In 2023, it became the first university in Fujian to undergo a new round of undergraduate education and teaching evaluation as a ministry-provincial collaborative pilot. In July of the same year, the renaming of Xiamen University of Technology to Xiamen University of Technology (Xiamen Ligong Daxue) was included in the provincial '14th Five-Year Plan' for higher education institution setup. As of March 2020, the university has three campuses: Xiaruan, Siming, and Jimei. As of June 2025, the campus covers approximately 1,800 mu (about 120 hectares), with total teaching and research equipment valued at about 800 million yuan, and a library collection of 2.128 million paper books. It has 19 secondary colleges (departments), 59 undergraduate programs, about 2,200 full-time master's students, about 17,000 undergraduate students, and over 1,200 full-time teachers. The predecessor, Lujiang Vocational University, was established in October 1981 with a new system of full-time day study, self-paid tuition, and no job assignment. It aimed to serve the special economic zone by providing locally trained talent. Its strength lay in aligning with the city's industrial layout and talent needs, such as offering majors in machinery, civil engineering, foreign trade, planning and statistics, English, and Japanese in its first year to meet the urgent demand for foreign trade, construction, foreign languages, and customs personnel. In 2005, the university held a summit consultation on program offerings, letting the market decide on 19 new majors. In recent years, it has closely aligned with Xiamen's 'Double Thousand Billion' project and 12 key industrial chains, developing eight disciplinary program groups: electronic information, equipment manufacturing, software and information services, materials application technology, urban and rural construction and environmental protection, cultural industries, creativity and design, and commerce and financial services. In May 2007, it passed the evaluation for bachelor's degree authorization and programs. In October 2009, it became the first university in mainland China to propose building an 'industry-friendly university.' In 2010, it was included in the first batch of Fujian universities for cross-strait joint talent cultivation programs with Taiwan. In 2011, it was selected for the Ministry of Education's Excellent Engineer Education and Training Program and became one of the first national pilot universities for professional master's degree education for special national needs. In 2012 and 2013, it passed the Ministry of Education's undergraduate teaching qualification evaluation and was approved as a Fujian Provincial Key University. In 2016, it was selected for the National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Education's '13th Five-Year Plan' project for industry-education integration development in applied undergraduate universities. In 2017, it was rated as one of the first national demonstration universities for deepening innovation and entrepreneurship education reform (99 universities nationwide) and a national model university with distinctive experience in deepening innovation and entrepreneurship education reform (66 universities nationwide). In 2018, it was approved as a master's degree-granting unit, selected as a Fujian First-Class Discipline Construction University and a Fujian demonstration applied undergraduate university, and in 2021, it was approved as a doctoral degree-granting unit cultivation project.