Shanghai University

Shanghai University is a Shanghai municipal comprehensive university receiving priority development under the national “211 Project.” It is jointly developed by the Ministry of Education and Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, and by the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense and Shanghai Municipality. It was selected by the Ministry of Education for discipline development under the national World-Class Universities and First-Class Disciplines initiative, known as “Double First-Class.”

In October 1922, the Kuomintang and Communist Party cooperated to establish Shanghai University, with Yu Youren as president and Qu Qiubai as dean of academic affairs. In 1983, the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government re-established Shanghai University, referred to as the former Shanghai University, from branch institutions of Fudan University, Shanghai International Studies Institute, East China Normal University and Shanghai University of Science and Technology, the light industry branch of Shanghai Institute of Mechanical Engineering, and Shanghai Fine Arts College.

In May 1994, the new Shanghai University was formed by merging Shanghai University of Technology, founded in 1960; Shanghai University of Science and Technology, founded in 1958; the former Shanghai University, founded in 1983; and Shanghai College of Science and Technology, founded in 1959.

Professor Chien Wei-zang, a renowned scientist, educator, outstanding public figure and senior academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, became president of Shanghai University of Technology in 1983 and served as president of Shanghai University from 1994 to 2010. His distinctive educational ideas and governance opened a new period of intellectual openness and academic prosperity and advanced all areas of the university.

The university’s Baoshan, Yanchang and Jiading campuses form a structure of “one body and two wings.” It covers nearly 2 million square meters, with 1.19 million square meters of buildings. The library is stated to have a floor area of 5.4 square meters and over 4.01 million printed documents; the library’s floor area is also stated as 54000 square meters, with 4.01 million books. It subscribes to 1828 print newspapers and periodicals and 69 electronic literature databases containing 55000 electronic journal titles and 1.9 million e-book titles. A fast, convenient information network covers the university. Its sports facilities are advanced and fully functional, and it has developed advanced teaching experiment centers and multimedia classrooms.

The university offers a full range of disciplines including philosophy, economics, law, literature, history, science, engineering, management and arts. It has 25 schools, 1 faculty in preparation and 2 university-administered departments. It has nearly 40000 full-time students, including 20902 undergraduates, 14310 postgraduate students and 4361 international students.

Today’s Shanghai University ranks among China’s leading universities in educational standards, social influence, facilities and teaching quality. Its mottos, “Strive Unceasingly for Self-Improvement” and “Be the First to Worry about the World’s Troubles and the Last to Enjoy Its Happiness,” and its ethos of “Truth-Seeking and Innovation” continue to inspire teachers and students.

Looking ahead, Shanghai University will carry forward its traditions, seize opportunities and pursue reform. It will study and practice Chien Wei-zang’s educational ideas, implement strategies for internationalization, talent development, interdisciplinarity, industry-education-research alliances and regional cooperation, and improve its distinctive educational model. It will continually improve educational quality and social service, creating talent cultivation and knowledge and technology innovation systems suited to Shanghai’s status and needs as a modern international metropolis. It will strive to become a world-class comprehensive research university with distinctive strengths.