Beijing jiaotong University

Beijing Jiaotong University (BJTU) can trace its history back to 1896 when the Nanyang Public School, the common origin shared by China’s five Jiaotong universities, namely, Beijing, Shanghai, Xi’an, Southwest and Hsinchu Jiaotong Universities, was founded in Shanghai under the order of the imperial court of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). BJTU grew out of the Beijing Railway Management Institute, China’s first higher educational institute which was committed to fostering railway management talents and initiated modern China’s education in railway management and telecommunication. BJTU has achieved distinction in offering a range of academic programs thanks to its development in over one hundred years. The university has been closely connected with the nation’s railway industry since its establishment. The faculty and students of BJTU have made great contributions to the growth of China’s railways, having participated in almost all the major events in different stages of development of the industry, from the movements for protecting railway rights and saving the nation in the 1900s to the great endeavor of building railways after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, from the massive industrial development movement in China’s southwest interior in the 1960s to the six railway speed-raising campaigns in recent years, from the completion of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway and the application of heavy-haul trains on the Datong-Qinhuangdao Railway to the building of high-speed railways and modern urban rail transit systems throughout the country in contemporary times. While improving its unique strength in such disciplines as Traffic and Transportation, Communications and Information, Economics and Management as well as Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, BJTU has fostered a strong sense of collaboration and innovation to improve its quality of education. The university has become an important base to turn out talents, especially outstanding talents in information technology and urban rail transit, for the economic and social development of China. It has also remained an influential institution which can help to solve significant technological and policy-making problems encountered in the development of the country’s economy, society and modern transportation systems. BJTU has witnessed great changes since its founding. What remains unchanged is its emphasis on the principle of learning for practical application, meticulous scholarship, pursuit of innovation and practical and realistic work style. Inspired by these traditions, BJTU has maintained high academic standards and has been devoted to producing talents who can have both a firm footing in the basics and a strong sense of how the knowledge can be applied in the real world. The 10th Beijing Jiaotong University Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was successfully held in April, 2012. BJTU has become a university administered and supported jointly by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Railways and the Beijing People’s Municipal government since April 26, 2012 when an agreement was signed among the three parties. A plan for developing a new campus, an innovation center for rail transit as well, in Pinggu on the outskirts of Beijing has been conceived and gained strong support from the Ministry of Education and the local government. Sticking to its motto “to learn and to practice” and seizing the opportunities of development, BJTU has been steadily advancing toward its goal of building itself into a world-renowned university with high-level distinction in the mid-21st century.