Listen to this articleTongji University（同济大学：Tónɡjì Dàxué） is one of the leading universities directly under the State Ministry of Education in China. It offers degree programs both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The history of Tongji University can be traced back to 1907 when Tongji German Medical School was founded by Erich Paulun, a German doctor in Shanghai. The name Tongji suggests cooperating by riding the same boat. The school was expanded to include engineering in its programs and got its new name as Tongji Medical and Engineering School in 1912. It was formally established as a university in 1923 and was renamed as National Tongji University in 1927.
Tongji was successful in its application for the 211 Program which provided universities with substantial government fund. In 1995 the university became one to be jointly built by the State Education Commission and the Shanghai Municipal Government. In 1996 the university merged with Shanghai Institute of Urban Construction and Shanghai Institute of Building Materials. The merger was hailed by the State Council as Tongji Model in the system reform of higher institutions in China. In April 2000, the expanded Tongji merged again with Shanghai Railway University. Now Tongji University has become a comprehensive university which offers a wide range of programs in sciences, engineering, medicine, arts, law, economics and management.
Tongji University has School of Sciences, School of Architecture and Urban Planning, School of Civil Engineering , Mechanical School, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, School of Material Science and Engineering, School of Electronics and Information Engineering, School of Traffic and Transportation, Medical School, School of Liberal Arts and Law, School of Foreign Languages, School of Economics and Management, School of Software Engineering, School of Ocean and Earth Science. In addition, there are Institute of Further Education, Institute of Higher Technology, Institute of Vocational and Technical Education, Institute of E-Education, Women’s College, Institute of Automobile Marketing and Sino-German Institute which is authorized by Chinese and German governments to run postgraduate courses. There are also six university hospitals located in different campuses.
Tongji University now registers over 50,000 students at all levels from certificate and diploma courses to Bachelors Degrees, Masters, PhD programs and post doctoral attachments. There are over 4200 academic staff for teaching and/or research, among whom there are 6 Members of Chinese Academy of Science, 7 Members of Chinese Academy of Engineering, over 710 professors and 1500 associate professors. The university offers diverse courses in its 82 Bachelors Degrees, 218 Masters, 94 PhD programs and 16 post doctoral mobile stations. As one of the state leading centers for scientific research, the university has 22 state key laboratories and engineering research centers.
