Jilin University (JLU) is a public university in the city of

Changchun Changchun is the capital and largest city of Jilin, Jilin Province, China, on the Songliao Plain. Changchun is administered as a , comprising seven districts, one county and three county-level cities. At the 2020 census of China, Changchun ha ...

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, China. It is affiliated with the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

. The university is part of

Project 211 Project 211 ( zh, c=, links=no, s=211工程) was a higher education development and sponsorship scheme of the government of China for "preparing approximately 100 universities for the 21st century", initiated in November 1995. There were 115 ...

Project 985 Project 985 () was a higher education development and sponsorship scheme of the Chinese central government for creating world-class higher education institutions, initiated in May 1998. There were 39 universities selected to be part of this ...

, and the

Double First-Class Construction The World First-Class Universities and First-Class Academic Disciplines Construction (), together known as Double First-Class Construction (), is a higher education development and sponsorship scheme of the Chinese central government, initiated ...

History

Founded in 1946 as the Northeast College of Administration in

Harbin Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...

Heilongjiang Heilongjiang is a province in northeast China. It is the northernmost and easternmost province of the country and contains China's northernmost point (in Mohe City along the Amur) and easternmost point (at the confluence of the Amur and Us ...

, Jilin University merged with many universities and colleges and changed its name many times. In May 1948, the Northeast Administration College merged with the Harbin University and was renamed Northeast Academy of Science. In November 1948, the Northeast Academy of Science moved to

Shenyang Shenyang,; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly known as Fengtian formerly known by its Manchu language, Manchu name Mukden, is a sub-provincial city in China and the list of capitals in China#Province capitals, provincial capital of Liaonin ...

Liaoning ) , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = Clockwise: Mukden Palace in Shenyang, Xinghai Square in Dalian, Dalian coast, Yalu River at Dandong , image_map = Liaoning in China (+all claims hatched).svg , ...

and restored the name of Northeast Administration College. In 1950, it was renamed as Northeast People's University. During the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

it was relocated to

. In 1958, it was renamed Jilin University. In 2000, Jilin University, Jilin University of Technology, Norman Bethune University of Medical Sciences, Changchun University of Science and Technology (established 1951), and Changchun Institute of Posts and Telecommunications combined to form the current Jilin University. On August 29, 2004, University of Military Logistics also merged into Jilin University. In April 2006, an institute dedicated to projects of military interest was created within Jilin University.

Academics

It is a comprehensive and national key university. There are 6,657 faculty members in total, among which there are 2,110 professors and 1,618 doctoral advisors. There are 43 members of

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; ) is the national academy for natural sciences and the highest consultancy for science and technology of the People's Republic of China. It is the world's largest research organization, with 106 research i ...

Chinese Academy of Engineering The Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE, ) is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for engineering. It was established in 1994 and is an institution of the State Council of China. The CAE and the Chinese Academy of Sciences a ...

(including 33 adjunct members).

Rankings and reputation

As of 2024, the

CWTS Leiden Ranking The CWTS Leiden Ranking is an annual global university ranking based exclusively on bibliometric indicators. The rankings are compiled by the Centre for Science and Technology Studies ( Dutch: ''Centrum voor Wetenschap en Technologische Studies' ...

table 2024 ranked Jilin University at 19th in the world based on their publications for the time period 2019–2022. In 2024, it ranked 55th among the universities around the world by ''

SCImago Institutions Rankings The SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR) since 2009 has published its international ranking of worldwide research institutions, the SIR World Report. The SIR World Report is the work of the SCImago Research Group,Nature Research Nature Portfolio (formerly known as Nature Publishing Group and Nature Research) is a division of the international scientific publishing company Springer Nature that publishes academic journals, magazines, online databases, and services in scien ...

, that measure the high-quality research published in 82 high-quality science journals. The

University Ranking By Academic Performance The University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP) is a university ranking developed by the Informatics Institute of Middle East Technical University. Since 2010, it has been publishing annual national and global college and university ranking ...

2024/25 ranked Jilin University at 74th globally. Jilin University ranked 194th worldwide and 42nd in Asia the Center for World University Ranking (CWUR) 2025.

People

Notable alumni

Du Qinglin Du Qinglin (born November 1946 in Panshi, Jilin City, Jilin) is a politician of the People's Republic of China. He formerly served as vice chairman of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and a Secretary of the Secretaria ...

- politician, vice chairman of

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s United front (China), united front system. Its members adv ...

, Head of the

United Front Work Department The United Front Work Department (UFWD) is a department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) tasked with " united front work". It gathers intelligence on, manages relations with, and attempts to gain influence over ...

of the Central Committee. *

Hu Huaibang Hu Huaibang (; born 25 September 1955) is a Chinese former banker. He was chairman of the China Development Bank, a Fortune Global 500 company. He was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party in January 2020 and sentenced to life in prison in J ...

- chairman of

China Development Bank China Development Bank (CDB) is a policy bank of China under the State Council. Established in 1994, it has been described as the engine that powers the national government's economic development policies.

. *

Li Congjun Li Congjun (; born October 1949) is the former President of China's Xinhua News Agency. He retired in December 2014 and was replaced by Cai Mingzhao. Biography Li was born in Liu'an, Anhui Province. He started working in October 1968, and joine ...

-former president of China's

Xinhua News Agency Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: ),J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. It is a ...

. *

Liu Qibao Liu Qibao ( zh , s = 刘奇葆 , p = Liú Qíbǎo ; born January 1953) is a Chinese retired politician. He was a member of the 18th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, a Secretary of the Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party, as well ...

- head of the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee. *

Liu Xiaobo Liu Xiaobo (; 28 December 1955 – 13 July 2017) was a Chinese literary criticism, literary critic, human rights activist, philosopher and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who called for political reforms and was involved in campaigns to end Ch ...

2010 Nobel Peace Prize The 2010 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to imprisoned Chinese human rights activist (1955–2017) "for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China". The laureate, once an eminent scholar, was reportedly little-known i ...

winner *

Liu Yandong Liu Yandong (; born November 1945) is a retired Chinese politician. She recently served as the Vice Premier of China, and was a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party from 2007 to 2017, a State Councilor between 2007 and 201 ...

Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China The vice premiers of the State Council of the People's Republic of China serves as a deputy leader within the State Council. In terms of administrative hierarchy, the Vice Premier holds a position superior to that of ministers, commission dir ...

* Lü Fuyuan - first minister of the

Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China The Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) is an executive department of the State Council of the People's Republic of China responsible for formulating policies on foreign trade, export and import regulations, foreign direct investments, consumer pro ...

. *

Wang Gang (politician) Wang Gang (; born October 1942) is a retired Chinese politician. He served in prominent leadership positions in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after 1999, including Director of the General Office of the CCP and Secretary of the Secretariat. ...

-Director of the

General Office of the Chinese Communist Party The General Office of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, often referred to as the Central Office (), is an office directly under the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in charge of providing support for the Cent ...

Wang Gongquan Wang Gongquan () is a billionaire liberal activist in China. He is a main leader and financial backer of the New Citizens' Movement. He was arrested on 13 September 2013 for allegedly "disturbing order in public space". Biography Wang Gongqu ...

- liberal activist, main leader and financial backer of the New Citizens' Movement *

Wang Yongqing Wang Yongqing ( zh, c=汪永清, p=Wāng Yǒngqīng; born September 1959) is a Chinese politician. From 2013 until March 2018, he served as the Secretary-General of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Chinese Communist Par ...

- Secretary-General of the

Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission The Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission (CPLC), commonly referred to as ''Zhongyang Zhengfawei'' (, literally "Central Poli-Legal Commission") in Chinese, is the organization under the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Part ...

Wang Jiarui Wang Jiarui (; born September 1949) is a Chinese politician and senior diplomat who served as the Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from 2013 to 2018. He served as head of the International Department of th ...

- Vice Chairman of the

, director of the

International Liaison Department of the Chinese Communist Party The International Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, also known as the International Liaison Department (ILD), is an agency under the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in charge of establishing and ...

from 2003 to 2015. *

Xu Shaoshi Xu Shaoshi (; born October 1951) is a Chinese politician, and former chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission of the People's Republic of China. Early life Xu was born in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province. He joined the Chinese Communi ...

- former chairman of the

National Development and Reform Commission The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) is the third-ranked executive department of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, which functions as a macroeconomic management agency. Established as the State Planning C ...

of the People's Republic of China, party chief of

Minister of Land and Resources The Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation () is a governmental ministry of Nepal responsible for land administration and management activities which ensures efficient and effective administration and sustainable manage ...

* Xu Xianming - China's leading authority on human rights law *

Yin Weimin Yin Weimin (; born January 1953) was a Chinese politician who served as the Minister of Human Resources and Social Security and a deputy head of the Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party. Biography Born in Lingshou, Hebei Pr ...

Minister of Human Resources and Social Security The minister of human resources and social security of the People's Republic of China is the head of the Minister of Human Resources and Social Security of the People's Republic of China and a member of the State Council. Within the State Coun ...

and a deputy head of the

Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party The Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party is the human resource management department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that c ...

. *

Zhang Jun (politician) Zhang Jun (; born October 1956) is a Chinese lawyer and politician, who is currently the president of the Supreme People's Court. Between 2018 and 2023, he served as the procurator-general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and the Ministe ...

- Chinese politician and former judge, serving currently as the

Deputy Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection The Deputy Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection () is the deputy to the Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also tra ...

the country's top anti-corruption body, and the Minister of Justice. He formerly served as Vice Minister of the

Ministry of Justice of the People's Republic of China The Ministry of Justice of the People's Republic of China is a government ministry under the State Council of China which is responsible for legal affairs. The range of responsibilities include judicial process, drafting legislation, deve ...

and Vice President of the

Supreme People's Court The Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China (SPC) is the highest court of the People's Republic of China. It hears appeals of cases from the high people's courts and is the trial court for cases about matters of national ...

Notable faculty

Andrey Baykov Andrey Anatolievich Baykov (; born 1984) is a Russian international relations scholar, Vice-Rector of Moscow State University of International Relations (MGIMO), editor-in-chief of the ''International Trends'', Director of the Academic Forum on ...

- Russian international relations scholar, Vice-Rector of Moscow State University of International Relations. *

Barry Buzan Barry Gordon Buzan, FBA, FAcSS (born 28 April 1946) is a British political scientist. He is an Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and a honorary professor at the University of Copenhagen and Jilin ...

- Emeritus Professor at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

, fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the sa ...

Yury Gogotsi Yury Georgievich Gogotsi (born December 16, 1961) is a scientist in the field of material chemistry, professor at Drexel University, Philadelphia, United States since 2000 in the fields of Materials Science and Engineering and Nanotechnology. Di ...

- leading Ukrainian scientist in the field of material chemistry, professor at

Drexel University Drexel University is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony Joseph Drexel, Anthony J. Drexel, a financier ...

, founder and director of the A.J. Drexel Nanotechnology Institute * Chen Jia'er - nuclear physicist, an

accelerator physicist An accelerator physicist is a scientist who contributes to the field of accelerator physics, involving the fundamental physical mechanisms underlying beams of charged particles accelerated to high energies and the structures and materials needed to ...

and an academician of the

. *

Han Dayuan Han Dayuan (, born October 1960) is Professor of Constitutional Law and the Dean of Renmin University of China Law School. He is also the President of the Chinese Constitutional Law Society. Biography Han Dayuan was born in a Korean family in Jil ...

- President of the Chinese Constitutional Law Society in

Renmin University of China The Renmin University of China (RUC) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. The university is affiliated with the Ministry of Education, and co-funded by the Ministry of Education and the Beijing Municipal People's Government. The ...

Huai Jinpeng Huai Jinpeng (; born December 1962) is a Chinese computer scientist and politician. He is the current Minister of Education, party secretary of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) and an academician of the Chinese Academy of ...

- computer scientist, party secretary of the

China Association for Science and Technology The China Association for Science and Technology (CAST; ) is a people's organization of Chinese scientists and engineers, which is composed of multiple national professional societies and hundreds of branches at various local and international ...

* Loide Kasingo - member of the

South West Africa People's Organization The South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO ; , SWAVO; , SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former independence movement in Namibia (formerly South West Africa). Founded in 1960, it has been ...

and

National Assembly of Namibia The National Assembly is the lower chamber of Namibia's bicameral Parliament. Its laws must be approved by the National Council, the upper house. Since 2014, it has a total of 104 members. 96 members are directly elected through a system of cl ...

, Deputy Speaker of Parliament. * Kai Li - professor at the department of Computer Science in

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

Li Siguang Li Siguang (; 26 October 1889 – 29 April 1971), also known as J. S. Lee, was a Chinese geologist and politician. He was the founder of China's geomechanics Geomechanics (from the Greek ''γεός'', i.e. prefix ''geo-'' meaning "earth"; and " ...

- founder of China's geomechanics, first present of former Changchun Institute of Geology (now as College of Earth Sciences, Jilin University). *

Lawrence Lau Lawrence Lau Juen-yee, GBS, JP ( zh, t=劉遵義; born 12 December 1944) is a Hong Kong economist and the former Chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He was a non-official member of the Executive Council of Hong Kong from 2009 ...

- Hong Kong economist and the former vice-chancellor of the

Chinese University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public university, public research university in Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong. Established in 1963 as a federation of three university college, collegesChung Chi College, New Asia Coll ...

. * Long Yifei - Associate dean of

Renmin University of China Law School Renmin University of China Law School (), formerly Renmin University of China Department of Law (), is the school of law under Renmin University of China. It was founded as the Department of Law in 1950 and renamed to Law School in 1988. Acco ...

Alan MacDiarmid Alan Graham MacDiarmid, ONZ FRS (14 April 1927 – 7 February 2007) was a New Zealand-born American chemist, and one of three recipients of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2000. Early life and education MacDiarmid was born in Masterton, New ...

- winner of

Nobel Prize in Chemistry The Nobel Prize in Chemistry () is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outst ...

. * Wilma Olson - professor at the BioMaPS institute for Quantitative Biology at

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

, visiting professor at the Polymer Chemistry Department of Jilin University. *

Helmut Ringsdorf Helmut Ringsdorf (30 July 1929 – 20 March 2023) was a German polymer chemist. His work promoted cross-disciplinary discussions and collaborations in the field of polymer chemistry, biology, physics and medicine. Ringsdorf's major research wor ...

polymer Chemist Polymer chemistry is a sub-discipline of chemistry that focuses on the structures, chemical synthesis, and chemical and physical properties of polymers and macromolecules. The principles and methods used within polymer chemistry are also applicabl ...

, known for being the first to propose covalently bonding drugs to water-soluble polymers. *

Steve Smith (academic) Sir Steven Murray Smith, FAcSS, FRSA, FLSW (born 4 February 1952) is an English international relations theorist and long serving university leader. He is the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Exeter and Professor of International S ...

- international relations theorist, Vice Chancellor of the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of ...

and Professor of International Studies. * Song Yuquan, materials scientist, academician of the

. * Sun Weiguo - president of

Xihua University Xihua University (XHU; ) is a provincial public university in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. It is affiliated with the Sichuan Provincial People's Government. Foundation XHU was founded on April 16, 2003 when Sichuan University of Science and Techno ...

* Tang Aoqing or Au-Chin Tang, theoretical chemist, President of Jilin University, member of the

* Wang Xianghao - mathematician who introduced the Grunwald–Wang theorem, correcting an error in Wilhelm Grunwald's original statement and proof of this. *

Yevgeny Yasin Yevgeny Grigoryevich Yasin (; ; 7 May 1934 – 25 September 2023) was a Russian economist. He served as the economy minister of Russia from 1994 to 1997. Until July 2021, he was an academic supervisor at the National Research University Higher ...

- prominent Russian economist, academic supervisor at the

National Research University Higher School of Economics HSE University (), officially the National Research University Higher School of Economics () is a public research university founded in 1992 and headquartered in Moscow, Russia. Along with its main campus located in the capital, the university ...

. *

Ying Xu Ying Xu () is a computational biologist and bioinformatician, and a chair professor under the title 'Regents-Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar' in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the Institute of Bioinformatics a ...

- computational biologist and bioinformatician, chair professor in the Institute of Bioinformatics at the University of Georgia * You Xiaozeng -Chinese inorganic chemist, educator and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. * Zhou Ji (Tsinghua University) - "Changjiang Scholar" distinguished Professor, at the School of Materials Science and Engineering, of

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (THU) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Constructio ...

* Zhou Qifeng - Chinese chemist and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, President of

Peking University Peking University (PKU) is a Public university, public Types of universities and colleges in China#By designated academic emphasis, university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the Peop ...

. *

Zhu Wenxiong Zhu Wenxiong () was a Chinese linguist and scholar of the early 20th century. He is known books such as ''New Jiangsu letters'' (''Jiangsu xin zimu'') (1906), which was an influential works in modern Chinese linguistics. In regarding to language ...

- Chinese linguist. * Zhu Guangya - renowned Chinese nuclear physicist, head and first director of Jilin University Department of Physics