Education for International Students at TongjiUniversity

    It was as early as in 1950s, TongjiUniversity, one of the earliest Chinese universities, began to admit international students.
    Up to early 1980s, most international students at Tongji university were undergraduates, who were sponsored by Chinese government scholarship. And most of them majored in architecture and/or civil engineering, from Vietnam, Nepal, Cameroon, Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Laos and so on.
    TongjiUniversity began to accept master candidates in 1985, while self-sponsored international students enrolled in 1986, and doctor candidates in 1989. It was in 1995 that the university began to offer one year Chinese language training course for the undergraduate, master and doctor candidates..
    With the deepening reform of Chinese higher education and continuous expanding of foreign exchange, international education in TongjiUniversity has come into a new era.
    Currently, international students are from nearly 70 countries and regions such as Thailand, Germany, North Korea, the U.S.A., Britain, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Yemen, Switzerland, South Korea, Denmark, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Bulgaria, Malaysia, Turkey, Italy, Vietnam, Pakistan, Brazil, Columbia, Netherlands, Mali, Mauritius and Mongolia. The category of the international students includes undergraduates, master candidates, doctor candidates, general scholars, senior scholars and advanced Chinese language learners. Up to 2005, the university had more than 6000 students at various levels from 116 countries and regions , 3570 of whom were long-term learners.
    Academic affairs for international students are mainly managed by the colleges and faculties, while the lectures and routine work for the international students are principally carried out together with the local students, except for the part of master and doctor candidates who are taught by non-Chinese languages.
    A freshman school was set up in 2005. The school offers, aiming at the weakness of the international students, the fundamental courses such as mathematics, physics for architectural majors and the Chinese language majors of economics & trade-orientated.
    With the promotion of management, the education for international students goes on progressively. The number of international students studying at Tongji came to 2458 by year 2006.
    At present the international students at Tongji are studying in nearly 20 colleges, school and faculties.
    ‘Tongji President Scholarship’ is honorably published to encourage those excellent applicants.