East China Normal University, one of China’s key universities under the direct auspices of the Ministry of Education, is sponsored by the prestigious national program “Project 211” and “Project 985”.
ECNU is a high level normal university founded in October 1951, based on the former Great China University and Kwang Hua University, incorporated with part of Fudan University and Tongji University etc. ECNU was one of the first 16 universities officially graded as National Key Universities in 1959. This status was reaffirmed in 1978. ECNU was also one of the first 33 higher education institutions authorized, by the State Council in 1986, to establish their graduate schools. In 1996, ECNU passed the prerequisites appraisal and became one of universities sponsored by the major national program “Project 211”. In 2006, the Ministry of Education and Shanghai Municipality signed into a partnership for co-sponsoring the development of the university, qualifying ECNU as a member of the “Project 985” and facilitating ECNU’s efforts and progress towards a world-renowned high level research university.
ECNU’ boasts a faculty body of over 4500, among whom there are 1986 full time teachers (including over 1100 professors or associate professors), 11 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences or Chinese Academy of Engineering (6 of them are academicians of both Academies), 11 members of the “State Council Academic Appraisal Committee”, 8 specially hired professors or lecture professors for the “Yangtze Scholar Award Program” sponsored by the Ministry of Education, 9 “state level talents” chosen by the “New-Century Talents Project,” 10 “National Outstanding Youth Fund” award winner, 80 specially hired professors or lecture professors for ECNU’s “Zijiang Scholar Award Program”, and 105 tenured professors. At present, the total number of students is more than 49,000, with over 14,000 full-time undergraduate students and over 15,000 graduate students (including those in a Master’s program), among them more than 5,000 are international students.
East China Normal University attaches great importance to the internationalization in its development and enjoys a wide influence and reputation in the world. The University has established strategic cooperative partnership with many world-renowned universities, such as ENS Group in France, the University of Pennsylvania and New York University in USA, Tokyo University and Kobe University in Japan, and the University of Melbourne in Australia, etc., and has been carrying out academic exchanges with over 100 universities and institutions of Great Britain, France, German, Japan, the United States, Canada, Australia, Korea, and Russian, etc. More than 180 famous scholars have been conferred / invited as honorary professors, advisory professors, visiting professors, or adjunct professors of ECNU. The Ministry of Education’s Training Center for Secondary School Principals located at ECNU is a state base for the training of secondary school principals in Mainland China and advanced studies of those in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. It enjoys the reputation as the “Huangpu Military School” for secondary school principals.
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