Zhejiang University, abbreviated as ZJU or Zheda and formerly romanized as Chekiang University, is a national public research university based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. It is a member of prestigious C9 league and is the only university in Zhejiang selected into national higher education plans including Project 985, Project 211 and Double First Class University Plan. Consistently ranked among the top 5 academic institutions in mainland China, ZJU is ranked 5th in Asia and 42nd globally by the QS University Rankings as of 2022.
Founded as Qiushi Academy in 1897, it is the oldest university in Zhejiang and one of the oldest in China. The university was gradually closed after the Xinhai Revolution, but was re-established as National Third Chungshan University in 1927 and renamed as National Chekiang University (NCKU)[note 3] in 1928. During the presidency of Chu Kochen from 1936 to 1949, despite relocation due to World War II, the university became one of the famous four universities in China. British biochemist Joseph Needham hailed the university as “Cambridge of the East” during his visit to the university’s wartime campus in Meitan, Guizhou. After the Communist Revolution, the university removed “national” from its name and was divided and re-organized as an engineering-specialized university in 1952. In 1998, Zhejiang Medical University, Hangzhou University and Zhejiang Agricultural University, which were derived from former ZJU departments, merged with Zhejiang University and formed the present-day ZJU.
In 2021, with a budget of 22.82 billion Chinese yuan, the university had the second largest budget in China after Tsinghua. Regarding research output, the Nature Index 2020 ranks the university sixth in China, seventh in the Asia-Pacific and 18th in the world among the global academic universities. In the fourth round of China University Subject Rankings by the Ministry of Education released in 2018, ZJU had 31 subjects rated A, the most among Chinese universities, among which 11 subjects were rated A+, the third most after Peking and Tsinghua. ZJU is also a member of the elite C9 League, Yangtze Delta Universities Alliance, the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, the Worldwide Universities Network, the International Association of Universities, and the Global University Network for Innovation.
As a comprehensive university, ZJU holds seven faculties, 37 colleges, schools, and departments, offering more than 140 undergraduate and 300 graduate programs. Chu Kochen Honors College (CKC), named after the university’s former president Chu Kochen, is an elite undergraduate college of ZJU, which further select students from top students at ZJU or in Gaokao.[ The university also has seven affiliated hospitals, one museum, two international joint institutes, and boasts over 200 student organizations. The university is also deeply involved in and supports academic-industry collaboration and local industry innovations and development.
Among the faculty of over 4,000 at ZJU are 52 members from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 15 Distinguished Professors of Humanities, 101 Chang Jiang Scholars, and 154 recipients of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars. Notable ZJU alumni include political leader Chen Duxiu, physicists such as Tsung-Dao Lee, Chien-Shiung Wu and Qian Sanqiang, and entrepreneurs such as Shi Yuzhu, Colin Huang and Duan Yongping.