Aurora University (, ) was a
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
university in
Shanghai
Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
from 1903 to 1952.
History
The university was founded on 27February 1903 by
Ma Xiangbo and French
Jesuits
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
. In 1905, Ma resigned to establish
Fudan University
Fudan University (FDU) is a public university, national public university in Yangpu, Shanghai, Yangpu, Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education (China), Ministry of Education and is co-funded with the Shanghai Municipal ...
, and Aurora was thereafter run by French Jesuits until the success of
Communist Revolution
A communist revolution is a proletarian revolution inspired by the ideas of Marxism that aims to replace capitalism with communism. Depending on the type of government, the term socialism can be used to indicate an intermediate stage between ...
. From 1908 onwards, it was located in Shanghai's
French Concession. "By the 1940s, the institution had grown to become one of the largest, if not the largest, among Shanghai’s private universities and included faculties of Law, Medicine, Sciences, Applied Sciences, and Literature, along with a Preparatory Course, Women’s College, nursing program, dental training, a renowned natural sciences museum (Le Musée Heude), and a number of associated collèges and lycées in Shanghai and other cities throughout Jiangnan."
In 1952, Aurora University merged into
East China Normal University
East China Normal University (ECNU) is a public university in Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education (China), Ministry of Education and co-funded with the Shanghai Municipal People's Government. The university is part of ...
and Fudan University, while the chemistry department was absorbed by the newly founded
East China Institute of Chemical Technology and the medical school joined the
Shanghai Second Medical College.
Notable alumni and faculty
* Brother
Octavius William Borrell, Marist brother who taught at the university and who studied the flora of Shanghai in the 1940s and 1990s.
*
Yosef Tekoah
Joseph Tekoah (; 4 March 1925 – 14 April 1991) was a senior Israeli diplomat and the President of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (1975–1981). He was instrumental in the Israeli settlement in disputed DMZ territories with Syria, serving ...
, former president of the
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) (, ''Universitat Ben-Guriyon baNegev'') is a public university, public research university in Beersheba, Israel. Named after Israeli List of national founders, national founder David Ben-Gurion, the unive ...
.
*
Liu Na'ou, Taiwanese writer and filmmaker, studied there in 1926.
See also
*
List of Jesuit sites
This list includes past and present buildings, facilities and institutions associated with the Society of Jesus. In each country, sites are listed in chronological order of start of Jesuit association.
Nearly all these sites have be ...
References
Aurora University (Shanghai)
Defunct universities and colleges in Shanghai
Catholic universities and colleges in China
Universities and colleges established in 1903
1903 establishments in China
1952 disestablishments in China
Educational institutions disestablished in 1952
{{China-university-stub