Tour in Shanghai

Tongji University began recruiting foreign students since the 1950s. It is one of the first universities that accept foreign students in China.

From the 1950s to early 1980s, the majority of the foreign students studying at Tongji University were supported by the Chinese government to study in non-degree undergraduate programs. And most of them majored in architecture or civil engineering, from Vietnam, Nepal, Cameroon, Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Laos and so on.

Tongji University began to accept international master candidates in 1985, while self-sponsored international students enrolled in 1986, and doctoral candidates in 1989. It was in 1995 that the university began to offer one year Chinese language training programs to foreign students sponsored by the Chinese government scholarship.

With the deepening reform of Chinese higher education and the continuous expanding of international exchange, Tongji University also enters a new phase of development in its education for international students.

Currently, the international students at Tongji are from over 100 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, doctoral candidates, general scholars, senior scholars and advanced Chinese language 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.

The different colleges and faculties are in charge of providing appropriate education to the international students. The "Freshman School for International Students" was established in 2005. Aiming at the weakness of the international students, the school provides freshmen with the fundamental courses such as mathematics, physics for architectural majors and the Chinese language majors of economics and trade-orientated. In 2008, a Fundamental Course Platform for International undergraduates was constructed in the system of undergraduate teaching information management, and all the common basic courses and Chinese language course was open to the international students studying in every schools.

With the promotion of management, the education for international students goes on progressively. The number of international students studying at Tongji came to more than 2400 by year 2008.

At present the international students at Tongji University are studying in nearly 20 colleges, schools and faculties.

Tongji University has set up several Scholarships to award the international students who have done well in their studies for a degree at Tongji University.