Soochow University

Soochow University is located in Suzhou, a renowned historical and cultural city known as “paradise on earth.” It is a key national Project 211 university, one of the first institutions selected for the 2011 Plan and a Double First-Class university, jointly supported by the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense and the Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government. It is a key comprehensive university administered by Jiangsu. Its predecessor was Soochow University, founded in 1900, which pioneered Western-style education and combined the best of Chinese and Western cultures. It was China’s earliest university organized around a modern university disciplinary system. In Chinese higher education history, it was the first university to offer legal education in Anglo-American law, among the earliest to provide postgraduate education and award master’s degrees, and the first to establish a university academic journal. During the 1952 restructuring of university departments in mainland China, the humanities and science schools of Soochow University, Sunan College of Culture and Education, and the mathematics and physics departments of Jiangnan University merged to form Sunan Teachers College, renamed Jiangsu Teachers College that same year. In 1982, it resumed the name Soochow University. Suzhou College of Sericulture in 1995, Suzhou Institute of Silk Textile Technology in 1997, and Suzhou Medical College in 2000 were subsequently incorporated. From the brilliant scholars of the Republican period to pioneering innovation in the People’s Republic, from preserving teacher education traditions to returning to a comprehensive university, and from rapid growth through mergers to renewed pursuit of excellence, it has made a prominent mark in China’s higher education history.

For more than a century, generations of its community have upheld the motto “Cultivate the Righteous Spirit of Heaven and Earth, Follow the Exemplary People of Past and Present.” They prioritize scholarship and practical application, advocate freedom, openness, inclusiveness and excellence, and value broad learning, earnest practice and the highest good. They seek to develop model citizens with a free spirit, outstanding ability, independent character and social responsibility. It has supplied society with more than 500000 professionals, including distinguished figures Xu Deheng, Zhou Gucheng, Fei Xiaotong, Lei Jieqiong, Sun Qimeng, Zhao Puchu, Qian Weichang, Dong Yinchu, Tsung-Dao Lee, Ni Zhengyu, Zheng Pijiang, Yang Ti-liang and Louis Cha (Jin Yong), and over 30 members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering, including Tan Jiazhen, Chen Ziyuan, Yu Mingfang, Song Daxiang and Zhan Qimin. They have made important contributions to national construction and social development.

It covers twelve categories: philosophy, economics, law, education, literature, history, science, engineering, agriculture, medicine, management and art. It has 26 schools and departments, with 27136 full-time undergraduates, 11959 full-time master’s students, 1726 in-service professional master’s students, 1788 full-time doctoral students, 2146 clinical doctoral students and 2207 international students of various categories. It has 131 undergraduate programs, 51 first-level master’s fields, 24 professional master’s fields, 28 first-level doctoral fields, 1 professional doctoral field, and 29 postdoctoral research stations. It has 1 national first-class discipline, 4 national key disciplines, 20 Jiangsu university advantageous disciplines, and 9 Jiangsu key disciplines under the 13th Five-Year Plan. Nine disciplines rank in the ESI global top 1%: Chemistry, Physics, Materials Science, Clinical Medicine, Engineering, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Biology and Biochemistry, Neuroscience and Behavior, and Molecular Biology and Genetics. Chemistry and Materials Science rank in the global top 1‰.

It has 2 national talent training bases, 1 national innovative talent training demonstration base, 3 national experimental teaching demonstration centers, 1 national virtual simulation experimental teaching demonstration center, 2 national experimental zones for innovative talent training models, and 1 national off-campus practical teaching base for university students. It leads 1 national 2011 collaborative innovation center and has 1 Ministry of Education key research base in the humanities and social sciences, 1 national key laboratory jointly supported by province and ministry, 1 national engineering laboratory, 2 national-local joint engineering laboratories, 2 national international joint research centers, 3 national public service platforms, 1 national university science park, 1 national key laboratory cultivation base, 1 Jiangsu university national key laboratory cultivation development site, 4 Jiangsu university collaborative innovation centers, 19 provincial or ministerial key research bases in philosophy and the social sciences, 30 provincial or ministerial key laboratories, 11 provincial or ministerial public service platforms, and 4 provincial or ministerial engineering centers.

It has 5197 faculty and staff, including 2489 with associate senior or higher titles. These include 1 Nobel laureate, 7 members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering, and 4 academy members from developed countries. It has 27 National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars recipients, 36 National Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholars recipients, 1 outstanding talent, 8 leading science and technology innovation talents and 3 top young talents under the Ten Thousand Talents Plan, and 6 State Council Academic Degrees Committee discipline appraisal group members. It has initially developed a strong, well-structured faculty.

It places talent training at the center of its work and fostering virtue and educating people as its foundation. It aims to develop outstanding people with responsibility, innovation, practical capabilities and an international outlook. Guided by integrating general and professional education, it focuses on overall student development, solid professional foundations and innovation and entrepreneurship. It deepens systematic reform and continually improves training quality. Its College of Nano Science and Technology was selected among the first 17 national pilot schools, becoming a special zone for higher education institutional reform. It has established two residential colleges to explore new training models: Jingwen College provides a “second classroom” beyond professional education, while Tang Wenzhi College offers liberal education in the “first classroom.” In recent years, students have received more than 200 national award selections annually. In 2013, it successfully hosted the 13th Challenge Cup National University Student Science and Technology Academic Competition and again won a Victory Cup, ranking second nationwide in total team points. In the 2018 Creating Youth entrepreneurship competition’s special events, it won 1 gold and 2 bronze awards. Across the last four Olympic Games, students Chen Yanqing, Wu Jingyu, Sun Yang and Zhou Chunxiu won five gold, one silver and one bronze medal. IOC President Jacques Rogge sent a special letter of thanks.

It implements a science and technology innovation strategy combining frontier ambition with practical service and has achieved substantial research results. As of the reporting point in 2018, humanities and social sciences projects included 34 national awards of funding, with 1 major and 3 key projects. Five achievements received Jiangsu Outstanding Theoretical Achievement Awards, 18 received Jiangsu Educational Science Research Achievement Awards, including 3 first and 8 second prizes, and 1 received the seventh Lu Xun Literature Prize. In natural sciences, it received 311 National Natural Science Foundation projects, ranking 19th among all Chinese universities and first among local universities, remaining in the national top 20 for seven consecutive years. In 2017, 1 achievement received a second prize in the National Science and Technology Progress Awards; 7 received Ministry of Education Outstanding Scientific Research Achievement Awards for Higher Education Institutions, comprising 1 first and 2 second prizes in natural sciences, 1 first and 2 second prizes in science and technology progress, and 1 second prize in technological invention. Ten achievements received Jiangsu Science and Technology Awards, including 4 first prizes. It published 4089 papers indexed in the three major citation databases, including 2485 SCIE-indexed papers and 1234 Chinese Excellent International Science and Technology Papers, ranking 23rd and 20th among Chinese universities respectively for the latter two measures. In 2017, it filed 1336 intellectual property applications and obtained 1033 grants, including 80 international patent applications and 8 grants. According to 2017 Nature Index and Lens platform data, it ranked first among mainland Chinese universities among the world’s innovative research institutions and universities.

Following the approach of using international recognition to advance domestic excellence, it comprehensively deepens educational internationalization. It has inter-university exchange relationships with over 180 universities and research institutions in more than 30 countries and regions. Each year, it admits more than 3000 international student enrollments from over 60 countries and regions. Since 2007, it has jointly operated the Confucius Institute at Portland State University in the United States. In 2010, it joined the Ministry of Education’s China-Africa Universities 20+20 Cooperation Plan and supported the University of Lagos in Nigeria. In 2011, it successfully established China’s first overseas university, Soochow University in Laos, which has become an important link and cultural calling card in the national Belt and Road strategy.