Tibet University (UTibet; ) is a regional public university in

Lhasa Lhasa, officially the Chengguan District of Lhasa City, is the inner urban district of Lhasa (city), Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region, Southwestern China. Lhasa is the second most populous urban area on the Tibetan Plateau after Xining ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. It is affiliated with the Tibet Autonomous Region and co-funded by the regional government and 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 ...

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 one of China's

national key universities National Key Universities () is a term previously used to refer to universities recognized as prestigious and which received a high level of support from the central government of the People's Republic of China. The term is no longer in official u ...

and the largest university in the Tibet Autonomous Region. With an internationally renowned department of Tibetan studies and a majority ethnic Tibetan student body, the university maintains a focus on local communities and cultures. The school has four campuses in Lhasa: Na Jin campus, He Ba Lin campus, Financial School campus, and Medical School campus.

History

The precursors to Tibet University were informal classes established by Tibet Military District Cadre School in 1951. In 1956, the school was renamed the Tibet Local Cadre School. In 1961, the Tibetan Administrative Cadre School was established on the basis of the former Tibetan Local Cadre School, with

Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme (; ; February 1, 1910 – December 23, 2009 ) was a Tibetan senior official who assumed various military and political responsibilities both before and after 1951 in Tibet. He is often known simply as Ngapoi in English sour ...

as its principal, and in October 1965, the school was renamed the Tibetan Teacher Training School, with 755 children of farmers and herdsmen enrolled in the following year. In 1975, the school was transformed into the Tibetan Teacher Training College, with departments of political science and language, mathematics and physics, and arts and physical education. In 1982, the Department of Tibetan Language was merged to the school. In May 1983, the

State Council of the People's Republic of China The State Council of the People's Republic of China, also known as the Central People's Government, is the chief administrative authority and national cabinet. It is constitutionally the highest administrative organ of the country and the e ...

officially approved the creation of the University of Tibet on the basis of the existing Teachers College in Lhasa. Tibet University was formally established on 20 July 1985, as one of 43 Aid Projects to Tibet. By 1989, it had eight departments of Tibetan language and literature, language, political history, art, Tibetan medicine, mathematics and science, chemistry, biology, economics and management, as well as a Tibetan language training department. Since 1999, various institutions of higher education, including the art school of the Tibet Autonomous Region, the Tibet Medical College, the Medical Department of the Tibet Institute for Nationalities and the Tibet Autonomous Region Finance School have all been incorporated into Tibet University, giving it a more rounded profile of academic departments. In March 2001, with the approval of the

, Tibet University and Tibet College of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry merged to form a new Tibet University. In December 2008, Tibet University was selected as a beneficiary of the national

. In 2017, the university was included by the central government of China in the Double First Class University Plan, with Double First Class University identity.

Student life

About 7,500 students are enrolled at the university. Nearly 20% of students study in the renowned Department of Tibetan Studies, which draws

international students International students or exchange students, also known as foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their Secondary education, secondary or tertiary education in a country other than their own. In 2022, there were over 6.9 m ...

as well as locals, although the majority of instruction is delivered in Chinese. The university requires all students to pass a

Tibetan language Tibetan language may refer to: * Lhasa Tibetan or Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dialect * Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard * Any of the other Tibetic languages See also * Ol ...

examination before graduation. TU started accepting foreign students in 1993. They can learn Tibetan as a foreign language and enroll in specific courses such as Tibetan music and fine arts.

Ranking and reputation

Tibet University is consistently ranked the best in Tibet Autonomous Region and since 2020, it has been ranked among the top 300 nationwide by the Best Chinese Universities Ranking. As of 2022, the Best Chinese Universities Ranking, also known as the " Shanghai Ranking", placed Tibet University 189th in China. Tibet University was ranked number 2111 in the world by the University Rankings by Academic Performance 2023–2024.

Administration

The university has 14 colleges: College of Letters, College of Science, College of Engineering, College of Medicine, College of Arts, College of Economics and Management, College of Foreign Languages, College of Political Science and Law, College of Education, College of Finance and Economics, College of Information Science and Technology, College of Marxism, College of Ecology and Environment, and Institute of Chinese National Community.

References

External links

* {{authority control Universities and colleges in Tibet Educational institutions established in 1985 Buildings and structures in Lhasa Nyingchi 1985 establishments in China Education in Lhasa 43 Aid Projects to Tibet