govt.chinadaily.com.cn

Higher Education

Fudan University

Updated: Apr 9, 2018 fudan.edu.cn Print
Share - WeChat

Fudan University was established in 1905 as Fudan Public School. It was the first institution of higher education to be founded by a Chinese person, renowned modern educator Ma Xiangbo. The school’s name was chosen from the “Biography of Yuxia” in the Classic of History (《尚书大传 虞夏传》), where the two characters fù复 (“return”) and dàn旦 (“dawn”) are found in the famous lines “Brilliant are the sunshine and moonlight, again the morning glory after the night,” signifying continuous self-renewal, and expressing the hope that China could become a country with a strong higher education system run by Chinese intellectuals. In 1917 the name was changed from Fudan Public School to Fudan Private School; in 1937 after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the school moved to Beipei in Chongqing, and in 1941 it became state-run; in 1946 it moved back to its original location in Jiangwan, Shanghai. After the nationwide restructuring of institutions of higher education in 1952, Fudan University became a comprehensive university of arts and sciences; in 1959 it became one of the first National Key Universities along with Shanghai First Medical College (later known as Shanghai Medical University).

Shanghai Medical University was founded in 1927. It was the first medical school to be founded by a Chinese person. It was originally named Fourth Sun Yat-sen University Medical College.

Fudan University was merged with Shanghai Medical University in 2000, forming a new, stronger Fudan University with a broader set of disciplines: medicine, sciences, and arts. As one of the first participants in the 211 and 985 Projects, Fudan has developed into a comprehensive research university, with Departments of Philosophy, Economics, Law, Education, Literature, History, Science, Engineering, Medicine, and Management.

Fudan is home to 14,100 undergraduates and associate degree candidates, 14,800 graduates including 3000 foreign degree candidates, 2,700 staff and 3,100 full-time teaching faculty members. Fudan hosts 46 members of Chinese Academy of Science and members of Chinese Academy of Engineering, 99 Chair Professors of Chang Jiang Scholars Program, and 30 National Key Basic Research Program of China (also named “973 Program”)  PIs. There are 28 schools and independent departments with 70 bachelor degree programs, 35 doctoral degree programs of Level I academic disciplines, 154 doctoral degree programs, 224 master degree programs, and 29 post-doctoral programs. There are 11 Level I national key academic disciplines and 19 Level II national key academic disciplines. Fudan hosts around 300 research institutes including 5 national key labs, 38 ministerial or provincial key labs and engineering centers, 5 “Project 985” Science and Technology Innovation Platforms and 7 “Project 985” Arts and Social Sciences Innovation Bases.

The campus is laid out as a main area consisting of the Handan Street Campus and Jiangwan New Campus areas, along with two side campuses, Fenglin Campus and Zhangjiang Campus, covering a total area of 2.4432 square kilometers. The total area of all school buildings is 1.4923 square kilometers. Eleven hospitals are also affiliated with the school, including Zhongshan Hospital and Huashan Hospital, with a total of 15,000 doctors, nurses, and personnel.

Fudan University celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2005. Chinese president Hu Jintao sent a letter of congratulations, expressing his hopes that the school will continue its tradition of excellence while developing and innovating into the future, building itself into a world-class comprehensive university, fostering development of persons of talent, ability, and integrity, and putting forth a new, even greater contribution towards building a prosperous society and realizing the Chinese people’s great revival.

Over the past hundred years, the school has made outstanding contributions to the country by developing talent, innovating in science and technology, carrying forward civilization, and serving society. Students and teachers of Fudan always keep in mind the school motto “Rich in knowledge and tenacious of purposes, inquiring with earnestness and reflecting with self-practice,” maintain the school spirit of “civilized, healthy, united, rousing,” practice the school traditions of being “hard working, rigorous, result-oriented, and innovative,” and develop the Fudan spirit of “patriotic service, academic independence, a diversity of approaches, and pursuit of excellence.” They make great contributions to the liberation and development of the people, the construction and development of the nation, and the civilization and progress of society.

International student education is an important direction in Fudan University’s turn towards internationalization. Fudan was one of the first universities to accept foreign exchange students since the Communist Revolution. Fudan was the first university in the nation to found an exchange student center in 2003, and the whole school worked towards establishing exchanges. It was the first school in the nation to promote uniformity in management of study for foreign students, establishing a foreign exchange student education system that links Fudan with the world while still according with the conditions of development in China.

Fudan University has the largest international student population in China’s comprehensive universities. Every year around 7,000 person/time international students from 120 countries and regions study at Fudan. 42% of the international students and about 3,000 persons are here for degree programs and the rest are for non-degree or exchange programs. Among all the international students, over 1,000 of them are master or doctor candidates and over 1,900 are bachelor candidates, up to 14.8% of the total international student population. There are 15 Engligh-taught master degree programs at Fudan, including Chinese Politics and Diplomacy and Chinese Economy. There is also an English-taught bachelor degree program for clinical medicine. Fudan has established a comprehensive foreign language course system that is catered to international students with four modules and over 180 courses every year.

Fudan University pays high attention to the quality of international student programs and is committed to raise the percentages of international degree program students and of international graduate students. To achieve that , the University admits students by tests and interview after reforming the admission process. Currently, over 15% of the international student body receives various scholarship from Chinese government programs.

Foreign exchange students have already become an important component of Fudan’s school culture, and they participate extensively in all areas of study, practice, and community organizations, with 19 officially registered foreign exchange student clubs. The Fudan University Foreign Exchange Student Alumni Association has definite influence among international alumni.

For more detailed information about FU's programs, please click http://www.campuschina.org/universities_art/index.html?key=47CF466BE16A0EA7

Copyright©2024 China Daily. All rights reserved.

京ICP备13028878号-6

京公网安 京公网安备 11010502032503号