Nanjing University (NJU) is a

public university A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant funding from a government. Whether a national university is considered public varies from o ...

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

, China. It is affiliated and sponsored by 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 ...

. The university is a member of the

C9 League The C9 League is an inter-university seminar composed of nine public universities in China. It was established on May 4, 1998, at the 100th anniversary of Peking University. These elite universities are associated with academic excellence and ...

. Established in 1902 as Sanjiang Normal School, Nanjing University underwent a number of name changes, such as Nanjing Higher Normal School, National Southeastern University and National Central University, until it was renamed Nanjing University in 1950. It merged with the University of Nanking in 1952. Nanjing University has four campuses: the Xianlin campus in the northeast of

, the Gulou campus in the city center of Nanjing, the Pukou campus in the

Pukou Pukou District (), is one of 11 districts of Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province, China, lying northwest across the Yangtze River from downtown Nanjing. The district was formerly the southern terminus of the Tianjin-Pukou Railway; railcars ...

District of Nanjing, and the Suzhou campus in the city of

Suzhou Suzhou is a major prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. As part of the Yangtze Delta megalopolis, it is a major economic center and focal point of trade and commerce. Founded in 514 BC, Suzhou rapidly grew in size by the ...

Faculties

Its faculty, including part-time faculty, includes more than twenty Nobel Laureates engaged in teaching. The university is a Double First-Class Construction university in 15 academic disciplines.

Culture

Motto

Nanjing University's motto is "Sincerity with Aspiration, Perseverance with Integrity".() The first part of the motto, "Sincerity with Aspiration," originated during the university's period as the historical

National Central University National Central University (; abbreviated NCU; ) is a public research university based in Taiwan. It was founded in 1902 in Nanjing; initially located in Miaoli after moving to Taiwan, it relocated to Zhongli in 1962 and developed into a com ...

, while "Perseverance with Integrity" draws inspiration from classical Chinese aphorisms. Historically, Li Ruiqing, president of Liangjiang Higher Normal School, the precursor to Nanjing University, inscribed the motto "One who chews on the roots of vegetables can accomplish great things" (). Later, during the National Central University era, President

Luo Jialun Luo Jialun (; December 21, 1897 - December 25, 1969), was the former Chinese Minister of Education, historian, diplomat and political activist. A noted scholar, he was one of the leaders of the May Fourth Movement in 1919. Subsequently, being d ...

formally adopted "Sincerity with Aspiration" as the university's motto. Following the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Nanjing University underwent a series of reorganizations and consolidations, and a formal motto was not established for an extended period. The current motto, "Sincerity with Aspiration, Perseverance with Integrity", was adopted during the university's centennial celebration in 2002 under the leadership of then-President

Jiang Shusheng Jiang Shusheng (; born April 1940 in Wuxi, Jiangsu) is a Chinese physicist and politician. He served as President of Nanjing University from 1997 to 2006. He was, from 2005 to 2012, chairman of the China Democratic League, one of eight legally r ...

, following extensive consultation with faculty and students.

Song

The school song of Nanjing University was composed in 1916 and originally served as the school song of Nanjing Higher Normal School, with the lyrics written by

Jiang Qian Jiang Qian (; 1876–1942), courtesy name Yiyuan (), art name Yangfu (), was an influential Chinese scholar and educator. Biography In his early years, Jiang studied at the Ziyang Academy in Huizhou, Anhui, and Wenzheng Academy in Nanjing. In ...

and melody composed by

Li Shutong Hong Yi (23 October 1880 – 13 October 1942; , also romanized ''Hong-it''), or Yan Yin () was a Chinese Buddhist monk of the Nanshan Vinaya school (''Nanshanlü-zong''). He was also an artist, and a musician. Born Li Shutong (李叔同 and � ...

(Hong Yi).

Rankings

As of 2025, Nanjing University ranked 7th in China, 14th in Asia and 65th globally by

Times Higher Education World University Rankings The ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'', often referred to as the THE Rankings, is the annual publication of university rankings by the ''Times Higher Education'' magazine. The publisher had collaborated with Quacquarelli Symon ...

. It also ranks 9th in China, 15th in Asia and 82nd globally by the 2024

Academic Ranking of World Universities The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong Universi ...

. Nanjing University consistently features in the top 150 global universities as ranked by the

, the

QS World University Rankings The ''QS World University Rankings'' is a portfolio of comparative college and university rankings compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analytics firm. Its first and earliest edition was published in collaboration with '' Times ...

, the

, and the U.S. News & World Report. Nanjing University was ranked 7th in China, 15th in Asia and 75th worldwide in 2024 in terms of aggregate performance from the three most widely observed university rankings (

THE ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

ARWU The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong Universi ...

+ QS) as reported by the ''Aggregate Ranking of Top Universities''. Regarding scientific research output, the

Nature Index The Nature Index is a database that tracks institutions and countries/territories and their scientific output since its introduction in November 2014. Originally released with 64 natural-science journals, the Nature Index expanded to 82 natural-sci ...

Annual Table 2022 ranked Nanjing University the 5th university in China and the Asia Pacific region, and 8th in the world among global universities. The joint ''

THE-QS World University Rankings The ''QS World University Rankings'' is a portfolio of comparative college and university rankings compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analytics firm. Its first and earliest edition was published in collaboration with ''Times Hig ...

'' 2007 ranked Nanjing University 4th in China (after

Peking Beijing, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's most populous national capital city as well as China's second largest city by urban area after Shanghai. It is l ...

, Tsinghua and

Fudan Fudan University (FDU) is a national public university in Yangpu, Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education and is co-funded with the Shanghai Municipal Government. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, ...

), 17th in Asia and 125th in the world. The ''

'' 2011 placed Nanjing 120th in the world, 16th in Asia and 4th in China. In 2017, Nanjing University was ranked 91-100 for World Reputation Ranking by

Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The THES''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...

, and 114 by

. In 2017, its Graduate Employability rankings placed at #101 globally in the QS Graduate Employability Rankings. Nanjing University has been consistently ranked among the top 20 universities in the world by

since 2016 by

Nature Portfolio 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 ...

. Chinese university ranking, conducted since 1999 by the higher education publisher Netbig, consistently ranked the university among the top 3 before 2005, and in the most recent ranking among the top 5.

, conducted since 2003 by

Shanghai Jiaotong University Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) is a public university in Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction. It is a membe ...

, suggested a domestic rank of number 2 to number 7.

Academics

List of schools and departments

Notable alumni and people

* Nanjing University ranks No.1 in the number of alumni elected as academicians of Chinese Academy of Sciences and/or Chinese Academy of Engineering graduated in recent more than 30 years since college admission entrance examination system was recovered in 1977 after Cultural Revolution. * In the first time Examination for senior civil service post of Republic of China (as recovery of and equivalent to

Imperial examination The imperial examination was a civil service examination system in History of China#Imperial China, Imperial China administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the Civil service#China, state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureau ...

) in 1931, top 100 were selected, all were males, among them 25 are graduates of Nanjing University, including

Zhuangyuan ''Zhuangyuan'', or ''jangwon'' in Korean and ''trạng nguyên'' in Vietnamese, variously translated into English as principal graduate, primus, or optimus, was the title given to the scholar who achieved the highest score on highest level of the ...

(principal graduate) Chow Bangdao, who was later president of China Medical College and Political Deputy Ministry of Examination, ROC, and the school in the second place is Peking University, with 8 graduates. In the second time exam held in 1933, there were females passed, half of whom graduated from Nanjing University, as well as Zhuangyuan Lee Hsuehteng, who graduated from law school and later became Chief Justice of ROC Supreme Court. One-fourth of Chief Justices in the early 60 more years of Republic of China are National Central University (Nanjing University) alumni. * Of 53 first-time elected academicians of

Academia Sinica Academia Sinica (AS, ; zh, t=中央研究院) is the national academy of the Taiwan, Republic of China. It is headquartered in Nangang District, Taipei, Nangang, Taipei. Founded in Nanjing, the academy supports research activities in mathemat ...

in natural science including mathematics, 28 were graduates or once faculty members of Nanjing University.NU people of first-time (in 1948, and also the only time in mainland China) elected academicians of Academia Sinica in natural science: Wu Youxun, Ye Qisun, Zhao Zhongyao, Yan Jici, Wu Xuezhou, Zhuang Changgong, Zeng Zhaolun, Zhu Jiahua, Li Siguang, Huang Jiqing, Xie Jiarong, Zhu Kezhen, Zhou Ren, Mao Yisheng, Wang Jiayi, Wu Xianwen, Bing Zhi, Chen Zhen, Tong Dizhou, Hu Xiansu, Zhang Jingyue, Qian Chongpeng, Dai Fanglan, Luo Zongluo, Wu Dingliang, Cai Qiao, Li Xianwen, Deng Shuqun.

Notes

References

External links

Nanjing University

General Alumni Association of Nanjing University

Nanjing University Alumni Association - US

Official English Website
{{Authority control Ancient universities Educational institutions established in the 3rd century 258 establishments Universities and colleges established in 1902 Universities and colleges established in 1915 1915 establishments in China Project 211 Project 985 Plan 111 Vice-ministerial universities in China C9 League Universities and colleges in Nanjing 1902 in Nanjing