Gansu Province Silk Road Special Scholarship

About the university

Lanzhou Jiaotong University, located in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, is a high-level university jointly established by China State Railway Group Co., Ltd., the National Railway Administration, and the Gansu Provincial Government. It receives counterpart support from Tianjin University, Beijing Jiaotong University, and Southwest Jiaotong University. The university is part of the Midwestern Higher Education Revitalization Plan, the Excellent Engineer Education and Training Program, the National Demonstration University for Deepening Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Reform, and the Gansu Provincial First-Class Discipline Breakthrough Project for provincial universities. It is also a member of the Belt and Road University Alliance and the Sino-Russian Union of Transport Universities. Its origins can be traced back to the Shanhaiguan Beiyang Railway Official School founded in 1896 and the Beijing Railway Management Training Institute founded in 1909. In 1958, departments from Tangshan Railway Institute (now Southwest Jiaotong University) and Beijing Railway Institute (now Beijing Jiaotong University) were relocated to Lanzhou to establish the third railway university in China, Lanzhou Railway Institute, under the leadership of the Ministry of Railways. In 2000, the university adopted a management system of 'central-local co-construction with local government as the main manager,' and in 2003, it was renamed Lanzhou Jiaotong University. As of January 2026, the university has two campuses covering an area of 1,405 mu (about 93.7 hectares), with a building area of approximately 872,900 square meters. The library holds 2.21 million books, and there is one national university science park. It has 21 directly affiliated schools (departments), offering 67 undergraduate programs (63 enrolling students), 28 first-level master's degree disciplines, 16 professional master's degree programs, 7 first-level doctoral degree disciplines, 1 professional doctoral degree program, and 5 postdoctoral research stations. The university has 2,319 faculty and staff members, and a total of 31,029 full-time students, including 22,128 undergraduates, 7,801 master's students, 602 doctoral students, 328 international students, and 1,013 vocational college students. The historical origins of the university can be traced back to the Shanhaiguan Beiyang Railway Official School (predecessor of Tangshan Railway Institute) founded in 1896 and the Beijing Railway Management Training Institute (predecessor of Beijing Railway Institute) founded in 1909. The predecessor of Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou Railway Institute, was formed in 1958. In the winter of 1946, the Northeast Railway Staff School was established in the Northeast Liberated Area, later renamed Northeast Railway Institute and then Harbin Railway Institute, which was later merged into Beijing Railway Institute. In the summer of 1949, the Ministry of Railways of the Central Military Commission decided to merge the Tangshan Engineering College of Jiaotong University, the Beijing Railway Institute, and the newly established North China Communications Institute to form China Jiaotong University. In September 1950, the Government Administration Council of the Central People's Government decided to rename China Jiaotong University as Northern Jiaotong University, with the Beijing Management Institute of Jiaotong University renamed Beijing Railway Institute and the Tangshan Engineering College renamed Tangshan Railway Institute. In 1956, the Government Administration Council decided to relocate Tangshan Railway Institute to Lanzhou for construction, and the Ministry of Education designated the school to be built in Lanzhou with a planned capacity of 9,000 students. From 1956 onward, the Government Administration Council decided to move Tangshan Railway Institute to Lanzhou for construction.