Zhejiang University History

Zhejiang University was founded as the Quishi Academy in 1897 during the Qing dynasty. Qiushi, meaning to "seek the truth," was originally a Confucian academy devoted to the study of science and technology, and one of its wooden buildings, with distinctive upturned eaves and brackets, still survives today in the eastern part of the city on Old Zhejiang University Road. Qiushi Academy was formally designated National Chekiang University in 1928 and moved to its current location near West Lake in 1936, when it was reputed to be "The Cambridge of the East." In 1998 Zhejiang University amalgamated with former Hangzhou University, Zhejiang Agricultural University, and Zhejiang Medical University to become one of the largest institutions of higher learning in the country, with six campuses located throughout the city of Hangzhou. In 2004 it was ranked fourth among the most prestigious universities in China.

Zhejiang University is the most comprehensive university in the country, with fields of study in eleven disciplines, namely philosophy, literature, history, education, science, economics, law, management, engineering, agriculture and medicine. As the first university in China to establish a graduate school authorized to confer masters and doctoral degrees, Zhejiang University today has twenty-one colleges offering a total of 110 undergraduate programs, 264 master degree programs and 181 doctoral programs. There are over 8,000 faculty and staff, including over 3,000 full and associate professors. Presently, the total number of fulltime students has reached well over 42,000, including over 25,000 undergraduates and over 16,000 graduate students.

Zhejiang University is actively involved in numerous intercollegiate exchange programs and has established academic agreements with more than one hundred foreign universities and businesses from around the world. Every year more than 1,500 foreign students from eighty countries come to one of Zhejiang University’s six campuses to study Mandarin language or to enroll in a degree program.

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