Situated in the historical and picturesque city of Suzhou, a metropolis well reputed in the world for its classic gardens, Soochow University is a national key institute listed in the Project 211, a first-class member in the 2011 Program and a top comprehensive university in Jiangsu Province. Under the same school name, the predecessor of Soochow University was founded in the year 1900 as the first Chinese university that had a modern disciplinary system, alaw major (Anglo-American Laws) and an academic journal, and also as the first university that offered postgraduate education for master
Situated in the historical and picturesque city of Suzhou, a metropolis well reputed in the world for its classic gardens, Soochow University is a national key institute listed in the Project 211, a first-class member in the 2011 Program and a top comprehensive university in Jiangsu Province. Under the same school name, the predecessor of Soochow University was founded in the year 1900 as the first Chinese university that had a modern disciplinary system, alaw major (Anglo-American Laws) and an academic journal, and also as the first university that offered postgraduate education for master degrees. Throughout the Century, the University has made significant contributions to the development of the country and society by cultivating over 400,000 experts and talents in various fields. Generations of students and teachers of the university have lived up to the school motto of Unto a Full Grown Man, and devoted to nurturing model citizens with free spirit, excellence, independence and social responsibility.
Composed of three major campuses, namely Tiancizhuang Campus, Dushu Lake Campus, and Yangcheng Lake Campus, Soochow University encompasses an area of 250 hectares. As a comprehensive research-oriented institute, the university spans 12 academic disciplines ranging from philosophy, economics, law, education, literature, history, to science, engineering, agriculture, medicine, management and art, which are offered in 24 colleges, schools, and departments to over 50,000 full-time students. More than 5,000 faculty members are working in 134 undergraduate programs, 254 graduate programs, 196 disciplines authorized to offer doctorate degrees and 29 postdoctoral research stations. For now, eight of the disciplines have been ranked in top 1% worldwide in Essential Science Indicators (ESI) Rankings, namely Chemistry, Physics, Material Science, Clinical Medicine, Engineering, Pharmacology & Toxicology, Biology& Biochemistry, and Neuroscience and Behavioral science, among which chemistry and material science are ranked in the top 1‰ of ESI.
With the goal of fulfilling its fundamental mission of morality education, Soochow University enhances the excellence of talents by focusing on their comprehensive quality, horizon, competency and creativity. By sticking to indomitable spirits in scientific and technological strategies and focusing on the advanced technology worldwide, Soochow University follows the national major strategies and contributes to regional industrial development by conquering scientific problems and creating new system for cooperation. The University now operates 10 national level platforms, 76 provincial level platforms and over 10 entity-like scientific centers together with Welcome Trust Sanger Institute and the University of Waterloo in Canada. With the increasing capacity in undertaking major scientific programs, 335 research projects from Soochow University are granted by the Natural Science Foundation of China in 2017, bringing the institute to the top 20 among all the funded universities for the sixth consecutive year. The number of research papers published by Soochow scholars on high level academic journals has witnessed the same growth as well. In the index of papers with excellent performance, the University has been ranked in the first place for two consecutive years. Besides, since the year of 2007, Soochow University has been awarded with 175 provincial level awards or above in scientific areas, including 7 National Prize for Progress in Science and Technology. The University has also completed nearly 200 transformations of intellectual properties and has incubated 116 high-tech firms, including 3 listed companies, with SVG Optronics being the first university-based enterprise in Jiangsu province listed on the GEM. Soochow University was acknowledged as the most improved university in Nature Index 2016.
Soochow University keeps an open and flexible education system with the purposes of achieving development through providing service, gaining supports via making contributions and obtaining win-win outcomes by enhancing collaborations. By seizing the opportunity of civil-military integration, the University is selected for cooperative development between Jiangsu Province and the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense under the 13th Provincial Five-year Plan. Meanwhile, as response to the regional development of the Suzhou Municipal, the University launched the program of Renowned City, Renowned University together with Suzhou Government by establishing a normalized cooperation system. Among all the co-built organizations, the Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano-science and Technology initiated by Suzhou Industrial Park has been included in the first group of national Collaborative Innovation Centers set under the 2011 Program, together with another 13 peer institutes nationwide, which contributed to Suzhou’s being recognized as a key city in the innovation of Nano-science and Technology and its related industries in China. In addition, in order to promote services in different places, Soochow University has also initiated a long-term cooperative relationship with governments, universities, hospitals and scientific centers in other provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.
Adhering to the strategy of Building a Top University in China by Promoting its Reputation in the World, Soochow has established partnerships with over 180 universities and institutes in more than 30 countries and regions. Through the collaborations with the University of Victoria in Canada and University of Manchester in Britain, Soochow has developed 4 international programs for its undergraduate education, which enroll over 2000 overseas students from about 60 countries and regions each year. In 2007, by cooperating with Portland State University, Soochow established the Confucius Institute in Portland. Selected as a member institute in the 20+20 Cooperation Plan of Chinese and African Institutions of Higher Education launched by the Ministry of Education, Soochow supported the establishment of the University of Lagos in Nigeria in 2010. Besides, Soochow University in Laos was also founded in 2011, which was the first Chinese university with an overseas branch.
Thanks to the joint efforts of the faculty and students, Soochow University has witnessed dramatic development in its comprehensive strengths and international influence. The overall ranking of the University maintains in the 26th place in China according to the Evaluation of Universities in China released by China Academy of Management Science. Besides, the University was also ranked as a top-30 university in China in some authoritative international ranking lists, such as the Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings and the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). In 2016, Soochow University was ranked as the top ten Fastest Rising Universities in the world by Nature Index. One year later, on the list for the most innovative universities and institutes released by Nature, Soochow ranked in the first place, surpassing all other universities, colleges and institutes in China.
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