Xi'an Jiaotong – Liverpool University

Xi'an Jiaotong – Liverpool University (XJTLU) is a new international university jointly founded by Xi'an Jiaotong University China and the University of Liverpool UK as a joint venture. As an independent Sino-Foreign cooperative university, it captures the essence of both prestigious parent universities and is the first and only one of its kind approved by the Ministry of Education in China. The University offers undergraduate degree programmes in the fields of science, engineering and management, and awards both its own Chinese degree and a degree from the University of Liverpool.

Located in Suzhou – a city which has been known as "paradise on the earth" since ancient times, XJTLU grows up in a beautiful environment where there is a harmonious coexistence of the city's rich cultural traditions and its rapid economic development. Suzhou is one of the most developed cities in China with an average annual growth of 15% and it keeps ranking among the top 5 cities in China in terms of GDP. Suzhou Industrial Park, in particular, where a large cluster of World Top 500 companies, transnationals and R&D centres, has provided favorable social, economic as well as geographic conditions for the sustainable growth of XJTLU.

Centring around the ideology of "a happy life and a successful career", XJTLU makes it a central aim to protect and enhance viability of human beings and bases its values upon diversity, discipline, innovation, liberty and trust. In keeping with the development trends of the world, XJTLU, by virtue of a resilient management structure and innovative educational model, is able to integrate the cultural and educational essence of the west and the east and produce world citizens with international perspectives and competiveness, on the way to exploring new models for higher education that will exert a strong influence on the development of education in China and the world.

XJTLU upholds the same high standards as world-famous universities in hiring faculty members. It currently has 500 academic staff, 80% of them holding foreign nationality and all subject staff have to hold a Doctorate degree from a well-known university in the world and have rich teaching and research experience. In 2011, XJTLU began to cooperate with international head hunting companies to hire top-notch talents from all over the world. For instance, Professor David O' Connor, President of British Society for Proteome Research has joined XJTLU as a full-time member.

XJTLU looks to draw first-tier students from China and abroad to both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. At present, the University has over 8,000 registered students (including those who are completing study at the University of Liverpool). There are currently almost 60 degree programmes in the fields of science, engineering, business, finance, architecture, urban planning, language, culture and all are taught in English except for general & basic courses.  

XJTLU is committed to creating an internationalized educational environment, in which, education quality is being stringently monitored and students are encouraged to self-manage their life in the University while receiving support and guidance from the University's quaternity tutorial system. In XJTLU, students are treated as "young adults" which calls for them to be independent, self-motivated and cooperative and they are expected to grow up as world citizens with international perspectives and competitiveness. 

Students of XJTLU have a commendable presence at a host of international competition events such as the Mathematic Contest in Modeling and IBM University Business Challenges, with remarkable success; Among the first cohort of graduates, 96% were admitted into world-famous universities for postgraduate and doctoral studies, of them more than 10% into universities ranking among the top 10 in the world (according to The Times University Ranking 2010); 90% of graduates from the second cohort received postgraduate admission certificates from well-known universities in the world and among them 10% advanced into top 10-ranking universities (according to The Times University Ranking 2011); There were also students who were employed or served internships in world-leading companies, including Morgan Stanley, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Charted Bank, HSBC Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Ernst & Young and KPMG.

XJTLU takes it its vision to become a research-led international university in China. By virtue of being able to draw on the high-quality resources of two highly regarded parent universities, we have constructed a series of first-class research facilities such as state-of-the-art Biological Science Labs. In 2009, the University was selected by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) as a supporting unit. Since it was founded 6 years ago, XJTLU has undertaken more than 50 research programs all the way from municipal and provincial up to the national level. It was chosen as a member unit of the national "863 Program" in 2012.  

Since May 2006, when the University was founded, it had made tremendous educational explorations before it creatively came up with "Five-Star" model, through implementation of which, we have continuously upgraded our student development system and our university management and operation mechanism in response to the new demands of society. Over time, XJTLU has won wide recognition for its highly internationalized environment, advanced educational conceptions and high-quality talent cultivation and was awarded the titles of "Model Sino-Foreign University" and "Pioneer of Higher Education Reform in China". 

The population of on-campus students is expected to reach 14,000 by 2019, of whom, 10% to 20% are postgraduate students and another 10% overseas students; The number of faculty members will increase to between 700 and 800; degree programmes help to fulfill the vision of "becoming a research-led international university in China and a Chinese university recognized internationally for its unique features".

Official website: http://www.xjtlu.edu.cn/en/