XJTU houses five state key laboratories, four state special laboratories, and two state engineering research centers.[5] Two of its eight affiliated teaching hospitals are ranked among China's top 100 hospitals.[6] It is the hub of the University Alliance of the Silk Road, an international academic alliance under the umbrella of China's Belt and Road Initiative that aims to build educational collaboration and fuel economic growth in countries along the Silk Road Economic Belt and key partners worldwide.[7][8][9]
In 1896, the Nanyang Public School (南洋公学) was founded in Shanghai based on an imperial edict issued by the Guangxu Emperor, under the Business and Telegraphs Office of the imperial government. Four schools were established: a normal school, a school of foreign studies, a middle school, and a high school. Sheng Xuanhuai, the mandarin who proposed the idea to the Guangxu Emperor, became the first president and is regarded as the founder of the university, along with John Calvin Ferguson, a missionary educator.[citation needed]
The university underwent a series of transitions. In 1904, the Ministry of Commerce took over the school, and in 1905 changed its name to Imperial Polytechnic College of the Commerce Ministry. In 1906, the college was placed under the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs, and its name was changed to Shanghai Industrial College of the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs. When the Republic of China was founded, the college was placed under the Ministry of Communications and its name was once again changed, this time to Government Institute of Technology of the Communications Ministry.[citation needed]
The Republic of China founded the School of Management in 1918. In 1920, the Government Institute of Technology of the Communications Ministry merged with two other colleges and changed its name to Nan Yang College of Chiao Tung. In 1938, the Ministry of Education took over the university and renamed it, National Chiao Tung University (Chinese: 国立交通大学). During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the university moved to the French Concession, and in 1940 the state-run branch of Jiaotong University was set up in Chongqing. In 1941, to prevent the Wang puppet government from taking over the university, it continued operations under the name of Private Nanyang University. In 1942, the Wang government took over Shanghai School. So the Education Department of Guomin Government chose Chongqing Branch as the headquarters of Jiaotong University.[citation needed] In 1943, the graduate school was founded. After the anti-Japanese War was won, Chongqing headquarter went back to Shanghai and merged with Shanghai School. In 1946, the name of state-run Jiaotong University was recovered.[10]
After the Kuomintang were defeated in 1949, a part of the faculty retreated to Taiwan with Chiang Kai-shek and, in 1958, formed the eponymous National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan. The institution that remained in Shanghai was renamed Chiao Tung University to reflect the fact that all universities under the new socialist state would be public. In the 1950s, the pinyin romanization system was developed in Mainland China and Chiao Tung University changed its English name to Jiao Tong University.[citation needed]
The first students and teachers started to move to Xi'an in 1956
The national strategy adopted in 1956 dictated that the majority of Jiao Tong University would be moved to Xi'an, Shaanxi (Chinese: 交通大学西迁). During the movement, the national strategy was changed and there were questions on necessity of the move. Since the majority of the facilities, staffs, faculties and students had already arrived in Xi'an and the campus had started operated, the university decided to operate two campuses, one in Xi'an and another in Shanghai. However, the operation with two campuses were difficult and moving the Xi'an campus back to Shanghai was impossible. Thus, from July 31, 1959, with the approval from State Council of the People's Republic of China, two campuses became independent. The Xi'an campus changed its name to Xi'an Jiaotong University and the Shanghai campus changed its name to Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Xi'an Jiaotong University was immediately listed as a National Key University. Later, it became one of a handful of universities built according to the "Seventh Five-Year Plan" and "Eighth Five-Year Plan." In 2000, the State Council approved a merger of Xi'an Medical University and the Shaanxi Institute of Finance and Economics into Xi'an Jiaotong University.[citation needed]
XJTU's faculty and staff of more than 5500 includes twelve members of the Chinese National Academy of Engineering, nine of whom are also members of the Chinese National Academy of Sciences[citation needed]; 38 Changjiang (Yangtze River) Scholars; and 25 National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars award winners.[citation needed] From the perspective of teaching, XJTU's faculty and staff include five recipients of national teaching awards, 142 participants in the Ministry of Education's "New Century Program for Promising Young Talent", and 547 recipients of government stipends for outstanding contributions to China.[5]
Qian Xuesen Library, the main library of the Xingqing campus
XJTU's student body comprises 30,000 people, including 15,000 graduate students. The school offers 84 undergraduate majors, 200 master's degree disciplines, and 115 doctoral disciplines. Among these, eight are designated as first-order key disciplines by the Chinese government. At present,[when?] there are more than 400 international students at XJTU, predominantly from Pakistan, Malaysia, Russia, Bangladesh, Nepal, ASEAN countries, Gulf countries, Central Asian countries, Australia, New Zealand and European countries.[citation needed]
Campus
On-campus student dormitory
XJTU's four campuses (Xingqing, Yanta, Innovation Harbor, and Qujiang) cover over 250 hectares.[11] The Qian Xuesen Library (Xingqing campus) houses 5 million books, 4,100 current periodicals, 30,000 electronic periodicals, and more than 1 million electronic books. The library's computer system is fully integrated with the campus network, CERNET, and the Internet.[5]
XJTU's Internet Education School was founded in 2001 as one of 15 experimental universities approved by the Chinese Ministry of Education to establish distance education. The university partners with a number of leading universities in China for this project. XJTU was involved in a number of nationwide experiments and pilot projects including the Ministry of Education "Demonstration Project of Internet Education Based on Satellite and Terrestrial Networks"; "Tenth Five-Year Plan" key project "real-time teaching system"; and the National Science Fund projects "Study of Individual and Interactive Virtual Collaborative Learning Environment" and "Study and Application of Personality Mining in E-Learning".[15]
As of 2022, Xi'an Jiaotong University is ranked among China's top-10 research comprehensive universities and ranked first in Western China region, with a combined population of almost 300 million.[28]
Xi'an Jiaotong graduates are highly desired in China and worldwide. In 2017, its Graduate Employability rankings placed at #101 in the world in the QS Graduate Employability Rankings.[35] Internationally, XJTU is regarded as one of the most reputable Chinese universities by the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings where it ranked 176-200th globally.[36]
Research
Regarding scientific research output, the Nature Index 2023 ranked XJTU the No.24 university in the Asia Pacific region, and 56th in the world among the global universities.[37] The 2023 CWTS Leiden Ranking ranked XJTU 10th in the world by total publications and 37th in the world based on the number of their scientific publications belonging to the top 1% in their fields for the time period 2018–2021.[38]
As the major trading site of the Silk Road, Xi'an has emerged as the site of a major international university alliance associated with the One Belt, One Road initiative. The program was initiated by the principal Shuguo Wang, and it has held forums for it since 2015. The university is home to a vigorous international program of research and exchange, centered around the University Alliance of the Silk Road that was formed in 2015.[39]
