• Profile of Peking University

• Peking University - International Students

• Academic Exchange and International Cooperation

• Peking University's Distinguished Guests

• Peking University's Major Collaborations

Founded in 1898, Peking University (PKU) was originally named the Imperial University of Peking. It was the first national comprehensive university and supreme administrative organ for education in China at that time. The university's establishment marked the beginning of China's modern history of higher education.

In 1912, after the 1911 Revolution, the Chinese government decided to further promote higher education, hence placed PKU at the top of the agenda, with the intent of making it a world-class university.

Peking University has continually been a pioneer in the course of China's progress towards modernization. Throughout its one hundred years history, Peking University has emphasized diligence, conscientiousness, truthfulness and innovation.

Peking University is a comprehensive university comprised of multiple disciplines including: Natural Sciences, Humanities, Social Sciences, Medicine, and Information & Engineering. The University has 30 colleges, 12 departments, and 216 research centers.

The university offers a large spectrum of undergraduate programs and the most PH.D programs in China to students: 93 undergraduate programs, 199 postgraduate programs and 173 doctoral programs. The University also plans to further broaden and offer all forms of continuing education.

The University has 4574 full-time faculty members, of whom 1188 are professors and 1503 are associate professors. The University has produced many outstanding graduates.

At present, Peking University has 46,074 students consisting of over 15,000 undergraduates, 8,000 postgraduates, 4,000 doctoral candidates, and 19,000 correspondence and part-time study students. There were also about 1800 long-term and 2600 short-term international students enrolled in the university from 80 countries around the world.

To raise comprehensive quality and encourage students' independent thinking and judgment, the Peking University actively promotes educational reform, constructs academic disciplines, and develops teaching materials.

The guiding principle applied in the reforms aims to "strengthen the foundations of knowledge, encourage cross-field learning, teach students in accordance with their aptitudes, and bring out every individual's potential."

The Peking University is building up a targeted concept for quality education and lifelong learning, with an emphasis on 21 st century oriented curriculum and course setup. It also strives to keep pace with the world's current educational developments so as to bring in an international dimension for students' training.

back to top

The Peking University is among the first universities in China to develop programs for international students. It has trained over 20,000 international students over the past five decades. With a strong focus on education and transference of knowledge, the Peking University has become a major player in providing Chinese language training and culture dissemination to foreign students.

back to top

The Peking University has also placed great importance on academic exchange and international cooperation with foreign universities, signing agreements with more than 200 universities in 50 countries and regions; thus cultivating a worldwide network for academic exchange and collaboration.

Each year over 300 foreign experts are invited to teach, research or participate in conferences at the Peking University. At the same time, Peking University's faculty and staff make over 5000 overseas visits annually for the same purposes. This enables cross sharing of information between PKU and the rest of the global academic community on the latest cutting-edge developments, with a clear mission of bridging the Peking University with the International community.

back to top

As an increasingly international community, the Peking University attracts about 20,000 visits annually to the campus. Among them are predominantly university presidents and eminent scholars. Presidents and Vice Chancellors from renowned institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge, Munich, Moscow, Tokyo and so forth, have made their footprints at the Peking University.

Based on its outstanding tradition and international reputation, the Peking University has also become an international forum for heads of foreign statesmen, social celebrities and business leaders. Over fifty world famous statesmen, directors of international academic organizations, and famous scientists and Nobel laureates have been conferred with honorary doctoral degrees or professorship, thereby also raising the international profile of the Peking University.

back to top

The Peking University promotes a wide scope of cooperation with leading universities worldwide. It has joint programs with Harvard University and the University of Hawaii at Manoa in the US for training American Sinologists. It has also co-sponsored intensive training programs pertaining to Chinese society and culture with a number of renowned universities, such as Oxford and Cambridge in the UK, Waseda and Keio in Japan, and Stanford and Chicago in the US.

In addition, the Peking University has collaborated with the Moscow State University in Russia to establish a joint Graduate School to provide graduate education to both Chinese and Russian students in all kinds of discipline.

In 2003, the Peking University initiated a regular undergraduate student exchange program with the University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology.

back to top