Beijing Jiaotong University

Beijing Jiaotong University is a national key university directly under the Ministry of Education and jointly established by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Transport, the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, and China Railway Group Limited. It is a university included in the “211 Project”, “985 Project Advantage Discipline Innovation Platform”, and “Double First-Class” initiative.

Beijing Jiaotong University, as one of the three origins of Jiaotong University, traces its historical origins back to 1896. Its predecessor was the Railway Management Training Institute founded by the Qing government. It was the first institution of higher learning in China dedicated to training management talents and served as the birthplace of modern railway management and telecommunications education in China. In 1917, it was reorganized into the Railway Management School and the Post and Telecommunications School. In 1921, it merged with Shanghai Industrial Specialized School and Tangshan Industrial Specialized School to form Jiaotong University. After the reorganization of Jiaotong University in 1923, the school was renamed Beijing Jiaotong University. In 1950, the school was renamed Northern Jiaotong University. Chairman Mao Zedong inscribed the name of the school, and Mao Yisheng, a renowned bridge expert, served as the president. In 1952, the school was renamed Beijing Railway Institute. In 1970, the name “Northern Jiaotong University” was restored. In 2000, it merged with Beijing Electric Power College and was transferred from the Ministry of Railways to the direct management of the Ministry of Education. In 2003, the name “Beijing Jiaotong University” was restored.

The school has established two campuses, one in the east and one in the west, in Haidian District, Beijing, known as the “academic mecca”. The total area of these campuses is nearly 1,000 acres, with a construction area of over 1 million square meters. It also has a Weihai campus in Weihai City, Shandong Province, featuring Sino-foreign cooperative education and covering an area of over 1,000 acres. Each campus is equipped with comprehensive teaching and research facilities, and the campus environment is beautiful. The school has established the Beijing Jiaotong University Seaside Rail Transit Comprehensive R&D Experimental Base in Huanghua City, Hebei Province; built an international first-class integrated innovation base for rail transit “industry-university-research-application” in Fengtai District, Beijing; established the Tangshan Research Institute in Tangshan City, Hebei Province, focusing on creating a demonstration area for technology research and development and achievement transformation; and established the Shenzhen Research Institute, Yangtze River Delta Research Institute, and Weihai Research Institute, making positive contributions to expanding social resources and promoting talent cultivation and scientific research at the school. Currently, the Xiong’an campus has begun large-scale construction, marking a new stage in the coordinated development of the school’s multiple campuses.

After over 120 years of development, the university has established a comprehensive disciplinary training system, with strengths in information and management disciplines, and a specialty in transportation science and technology. The university boasts 21 colleges, including the College of Automation and Intelligence, the College of Electronic Information Engineering, the College of Computer Science and Technology, the College of Economics and Management, the College of Transportation, the College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, the College of Mechanical and Electronic Control Engineering, the College of Electrical Engineering, the College of Mathematics and Statistics, the College of Physical Science and Engineering, the College of Languages and Communication, the College of Software, the College of Marxism, the College of Architecture and Art, the College of Law, the College of Environment, the College of Systems Science, the College of Cyberspace Security (National Security College), the Zhan Tianyou College (Smart Transportation Future Technology College), the National Excellent Engineer College, and the Weihai International College.

The school boasts strong academic strength and continuously improves its discipline construction level. The first round of “Double First-Class” construction tasks was completed with high quality, and significant achievements have been made in the construction of the “Smart Transportation” first-class discipline field. The new round of “Double First-Class” construction is being further promoted. The school has steadily improved in well-known academic rankings both domestically and internationally. 15 disciplines have been shortlisted for the soft science world-class discipline ranking, with the discipline of transportation engineering ranking first in the world for six times; 17 disciplines have been shortlisted for the U.S. News world university discipline ranking; 12 disciplines have entered the QS world top discipline ranking; 24 disciplines have been shortlisted for the soft science China’s best discipline ranking, with transportation engineering and systems science continuing to rank first in the country; 8 disciplines have entered the ESI top 1%, among which engineering and computer science have entered the world’s top 1‰. There are 17 postdoctoral research stations and 1 workstation; there are 21 doctoral programs in first-level disciplines and 7 doctoral professional degree authorization categories; there are 33 master’s programs in first-level disciplines and 19 master’s professional degree authorization categories.

The school regards the construction of a high-quality teaching staff as the key to enhancing its educational strength and vigorously implements the strategy of strengthening the school through talents. There are 3,296 in-service faculty and staff members in the school, including 2,113 full-time teachers (1,519 with deputy senior professional and technical titles or above, and 2,035 with master’s degree or above). The school has 2 CAS Members, 2 CAE Members, 1 foreign CAE Member, 8 national-level teaching masters, 6 members of the Discipline Review Group of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council, 84 teachers selected in various national talent plans, and 2 talents in the “Four Batch” plan of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee.

The school has always adhered to the fundamental task of cultivating students through moral education, and has achieved remarkable results in educational and teaching reform and construction, cultivating a large number of talents for the development of the country and industry. The school has 3,489 doctoral students, 10,712 master’s students, 17,105 undergraduate students, 1,867 international students who come to China throughout the year, and 5,179 adult students. In the recent three undergraduate teaching achievement awards, the school has won 2 national first-class awards and 7 second-class awards; in the graduate teaching achievement awards, the school has won 1 national first-class award and 1 second-class award; in the graduate education achievement awards of the China Association for Degree and Graduate Education, the school has won 1 first-class award and 2 second-class awards. The school was selected as one of the first pilot universities for the “101” plan by the Ministry of Education, with its computer science base approved as a national-level top-notch student training base for basic disciplines, and its software college approved as a national-level characteristic demonstration software college. The school has 47 national-level first-class undergraduate major construction sites, 11 national-level characteristic majors, 7 national-level comprehensive reform pilot majors, 8 majors in the national excellent engineer education and training program, 13 majors that have passed the national engineering education professional certification, 3 majors that have passed the national civil engineering professional assessment, and 3 international training projects for innovative talents approved by the China Scholarship Council. The school has 6 national-level experimental teaching demonstration centers, 3 national-level virtual simulation experimental teaching centers, 3 national-level virtual simulation experimental teaching projects, 3 national-level off-campus practice bases for college students, and 7 national-level engineering practice education centers; it has also established a national-level teacher teaching development demonstration center. Three joint graduate training bases have been awarded the “National Demonstration Base for Joint Training of Engineering Professional Degree Graduates”. The school has been awarded 67 national-level first-class undergraduate courses, 25 national-level quality resource sharing courses, and 6 national-level quality video open courses; it has also been awarded 4 chief editors of the first national high-quality textbooks and 1 team for the construction of the “14th Five-Year Plan” higher education textbook system in strategic emerging fields by the Ministry of Education; it has been approved for 248 industry-university cooperation collaborative education projects by the Ministry of Education, including 3 excellent cases. The school implements the “Plateau” and “Peak” top-notch talent training programs, relying on the Zhan Tianyou College to carry out a talent training model that integrates undergraduate and graduate education, cultivating top-notch talents in basic discipline scientific research and leading talents in advantageous discipline technological innovation; it implements the “Knowledge and Action” joint industry-university training program, focusing on the urgent needs of national development to cultivate excellent engineering talents. The school continuously improves the teaching quality assurance system and successfully passed the first-class assessment of the new round of undergraduate education teaching review and evaluation in 2024. The employment rate of students remains above 95%, and the further education rate of undergraduates exceeds 70%. The school was among the first to be awarded the National Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Practice Base, the National Model University for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and the National Model University for Graduate Employment. The student art troupe’s rehearsal of the college version of “Long March Song Cycle” and the original drama “Mao Yisheng” have become effective carriers for the school’s ideological and political education. The school’s sports activities have flourished, with high-level sports teams and ordinary student representative teams achieving remarkable results. In 2024, the school won 7 national championships, 7 second places, and 3 third places, as well as 38 Beijing championships, 35 second places, and 41 third places.

The school has always aimed at the forefront of technological development and the major strategic needs of the country, fully participating in major historical events in China’s rail transit development such as the great railway speed-up, the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the heavy-haul transportation of the Daqin Railway, the magnetic levitation train, the high-speed railway, the construction of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway, and the independent research and development of core technologies for urban rail transit. It has achieved a series of original and significant achievements with completely independent intellectual property rights and at the international advanced level, making positive contributions to serving the transportation, logistics, information, new energy, and other industries as well as Beijing’s economic and social development. It has become an important force supporting and leading the technological innovation and development of the country, industry, and region. The school is a pilot unit for building a strong transportation country under the Ministry of Transport and a vice chairman unit of the New Type Think Tank Alliance for Transportation under the Ministry of Transport. It regularly hosts the China Transportation High-Level Forum, the Capital High-End Think Tank Beijing Transportation Development Forum, the National Economic Security and Development Forum, the Jiaotong University Lecture Hall, and the LISS and IEIS International Academic Conferences. The school has fully achieved gigabit network coverage to the desktop, with full coverage of wired and wireless networks. The in-depth application of new-generation information technologies such as high-performance computing, big data, artificial intelligence, and 5G has strongly supported and promoted the development, reform, and innovation of the school’s undertakings. The existing teaching and scientific research equipment assets amount to 1.84 billion yuan. The library has a total of 17.714 million volumes of paper books, electronic books, and online resources, and has a transportation-specific database. It also has a Ministry of Education Science and Technology Novelty Search Workstation and a National Intellectual Property Information Service Center for Colleges and Universities.

The school regards strengthening cooperation and exchanges as an important way to improve its educational level. It actively responds to the national “the Belt and Road” initiative, establishing cooperative relationships with 273 universities and institutions in 52 countries including the United States, Britain, Germany, and France. It actively promotes Chinese culture, with a Confucius Institute established in Campinas, Brazil. The school initiated the establishment of the Global University Alliance for Sustainable Transportation, joined the International Railway Union, the International Railway Cooperation Organization, and the China-Central and Eastern European Countries University Association, and became the leading unit of the China-Russia University Presidents Alliance, the China-ASEAN Rail Transit Education and Training Alliance, and the UIC High-Speed Railway University Alliance, continuously enhancing its influence and discourse power in the international railway field. It strengthens international scientific research cooperation, leading the establishment of high-speed rail research centers between China and the United States, China and Russia, China and the United Kingdom, and China and Indonesia. It fully utilizes the roles of alumni associations, foundations, and boards of directors, establishing strategic partnerships with nearly 400 enterprises in the transportation, information, energy industries, and technological innovation enterprises, with 85 director units; 65 alumni organizations at home and abroad; and the Beijing Jiaotong University Education Foundation has been rated as a 4A-level social organization.

“We should remember where our water comes from and honor our school with patriotism.” Beijing Jiaotong University, adhering to the school motto of “Knowledge and Action”, is shouldering new missions and marching towards the goal of becoming a world-class university with distinctive characteristics with a more pioneering and enterprising spirit.