Peking University

Overview

Peking University (PKU) is a distinguished public university located in the Haidian District of Beijing, China, east of the Summer Place and south of Yuan Ming Gardens. Founded in 1898, PKU is a member of the prestigious C9 League of universities in Mainland China. Also, being the first key national university in China, it has carved an indelible reputation for being one of the leading universities in China, Asia, and the world as a whole.

Peking University is the first comprehensive Chinese institution of higher learning focusing on basic sciences and arts. It’s also the birthplace of the country’s earliest dissemination of marxism and the first activity base of the Communist Party of China. The institution came into existence in 1898 as Jingshi University, with its main campus located in downtown Beijing. A year after the Chinese Revolution of 1911, the university changed to its current name and moved the main campus to its present place, Yan Yuan location.

Peking University lives up to its billing as one of China’s best institutions of higher learning. At present, the institution has five faculties, 70 directly affiliated departments, and 50 schools and colleges. It also has over 200 institutes and research centers, including one national engineering laboratory, two national engineering research centers, and 12 national key laboratories. Not to mention, at provision or ministry level, the institution has 61 institutes and laboratories.

As a world-class center for teaching and research, Peking University is home to more than 42,000 full-time students and over 3,500 foreign students. Some of the programs of study at the students’ disposal include 128 undergraduate programs, 244 master's programs, 301 Ph.D. programs, 81 national key disciplines, and four dual degrees. To streamline learning, the institution has over 8,600 faculty members (including administrative staff). Among its faculty, 48 members are of the prestigious Chinese Academy of Sciences, 21 academicians are of the Third World Academy of Sciences, and nine are members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Currently, Peking University has more than 300,000 alumni and the list includes some notable names. Actually, among all institutions of higher learning in China, Peking University has produced most of the high-profile public administrators. As of 2017, more than 80 alumni were serving in the Chinese government at vice-ministerial positions or higher. Besides, two of its alumni: Zhao Leji and Li Keqiang, are members of the seven-member committee of the Chinese Communist Party.

Another notable alumnus is Tu YouYou, the 2015 Nobel Prize winner. She claimed the award for her exceptional contribution to malaria treatment research. She is recognized as the first native Chinese scientist to claim the Nobel Prize for science.