Tsinghua University

Introduction
Tsinghua University is a research university located in Beijing and a member of the C9 League of Chinese universities. With its motto of Self-Discipline and Social Commitment, Tsinghua University is dedicated to academic excellence, the well-being of Chinese society, and global development. Tsinghua is ranked as one of the top academic institutions in China and Asia, placing 14th worldwide in the 2017 Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings.

Tsinghua University has been ranked as the best engineering school in the world, ranking 1st among 250 universities in the Best Global Universities for Engineering list, which consists of top universities from around the world that have shown strength in producing research and achievements on a variety of engineering topics, overtaking MIT. The university has also shown strong performances in other topics, achieving top 10 ranking worldwide in several subjects. It is one of the most cited institutions in the world, and has collaborated and partnered with many world leading universities, research institutes, and multinational enterprises.

History
Establishment and Development
In the aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion, American Secretary of State John Hay suggested that the US $30 million plus Boxer indemnity paid by China to the United States was excessive. After much negotiation with ambassador Liang Cheng, President Theodore Roosevelt obtained congressional approval in 1909 to reduce the Qing dynasty indemnity payment by US$10.8 million, on the condition that these funds would be used as scholarships for Chinese students to study in the United States. Using this fund, the Tsinghua College (????; Qinghuá Xuétáng) was established in Beijing, on 29 April 1911 on the site of a former royal garden, to serve as a preparatory school for students to be sent by the government to study in the United States. The faculty members for sciences were recruited by the YMCA from the United States and its graduates transferred directly to American schools as juniors upon graduation. In 1925, the school established its College Department and started its research institute on Chinese studies.

In 1928, Tsinghua changed its name to National Tsing Hua University (NTHU). During World War II in 1937, Tsinghua University along with Peking University and Nankai University, merged to form Changsha Temporary University in Changsha, and later National Southwestern Associated University in Kunming of Yunnan province. After the war, Tsinghua moved back to Beijing and resumed its operations.

After the communist revolution at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, which led to the creation of the People's Republic of China (PRC), Tsinghua University's then President Mei Yiqi, followed by many professors, fled to Taiwan where they established the National Tsing Hua Institute of Nuclear Technology in 1955, which later became National Tsing Hua University of Taiwan.

In 1952, the Chinese government regrouped the country's higher education institutions in an attempt to build a Soviet style system, with individual institutions tending to specialize in a certain field of study. When the Cultural Revolution began in 1966, many university students walked out of the classrooms, and some went on to be part of the Red Guards, resulting in the complete shutdown of the university. It was not until 1978, after the Cultural Revolution had ended, that the university began to take in students again. Even so, Tsinghua University remained in the top tier of schools in China.

Since the 1980s, the university has incorporated a multidisciplinary system. As a result, several schools were re-incorporated. These included the School of Sciences, the School of Economics and Management, the School of Life Sciences, the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Tsinghua Law School, the School of Public Policy and Management, and the Academy of Arts and Design. In 1996, Tsinghua School of Economics and Management established partnership with the Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. One year later, Tsinghua and MIT founded the MBA program Tsinghua-MIT Global MBA.

Present
Most national and international university rankings place Tsinghua amongst the best universities in Mainland China. Admission to Tsinghua is extremely competitive. According to a report in 2008, 215 out of 300 students who placed within the top 10 in the 30 tested provinces and regions chose Tsinghua and 21 out of the 30 top scorers in each province and region chose the university. Admission to Tsinghua's graduate schools is also very competitive, with, for example, only about 16% of MBA applicants admitted each year.

With its motto of Self-Discipline and Social Commitment, Tsinghua University describes itself as being dedicated to academic excellence, the well-being of Chinese society and to global development. The motto goes back to a speech with the title Gentleman given by Liang Qichao in 1914, in which he quoted the I Ching to describe a particular notion of an ideal gentleman.

Tsinghua alumni include the current General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and Paramount Leader Xi Jinping, who graduated with a degree in chemical engineering in 1979, as well as the CPC General Secretary and former Paramount Leader Hu Jintao, who graduated with a degree in hydraulic engineering in 1964. Tsinghua has a reputation for hosting some of the most distinguished guest speakers of any university in the world, with international leaders such as Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Henry Kissinger, Carlos Ghosn, Park Geun-hye, and Henry Paulson, all recently giving lectures to the university community.

As of 2003, Tsinghua University has 12 colleges and 48 departments, 41 research institutes, 35 research centers, and 167 laboratories, including 15 national key laboratories. In September 2006, Peking Union Medical College was renamed to Peking Union Medical College, Tsinghua University, although the Peking Union Medical College and Tsinghua University remain two separate institutions. The university offers 51 bachelor's degree programs, 139 master's degree programs and 107 PhD programs. Recently, Tsinghua has become the first Chinese university to offer a Master of Laws program in American law, through a cooperative venture with the Temple University Beasley School of Law. The university is a member of LAOTSE, an international network of leading universities in Europe and Asia. Each year, the University celebrates the Intellectual Property Summer Institute in cooperation with Franklin Pierce Law Center of Concord, New Hampshire. It has its own editorial, Tsinghua University Press.

Announced in 2013, the Schwarzman Scholars program will consist of 200 scholars to be chosen annually to work towards a one-year master's degree in Public Policy, International Relations, Engineering, Economics & Business. These scholars will live on the university campus at Schwarzman College, a residential college being built specifically for this program.

In 2016, Tsinghua's expenditures were RMB 13.7 billion, the largest budget of any in China.

Campus
The campus of Tsinghua University is located in northwest Beijing, in the Haidian district which was designated for universities and other academic institutes.

It is located on the former site of Qing Dynasty royal gardens and retains Chinese-style landscaping as well as traditional buildings, but many of its buildings are also in the Western-style, reflecting the American influence in its history. Along with its rival and neighbor the Peking University, it is known throughout China and the wider world for having one of the most beautiful campuses. Tsinghua University's campus was named one of the most beautiful college campuses in the world by a panel of architects and campus designers in Forbes in 2010; it was the only university in Asia on the list.

T. Chuang, a 1914 graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, helped design the campus grounds of the Tsinghua University with influences of American architectural style and architectures.

The University's Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology is on a separate campus in a northern suburb of Beijing.

Source: Wikipedia