Southwest Jiaotong University (SWJTU) is known as the “Cornell of the East”, thanks to its role in shaping the education system of China. It was particularly influential in railway engineering.
The university was founded in 1896 to meet the need for rail specialists as the country started developing its infrastructure. Throughout its history, the university has had three names, two of which reflect its particular expertise in railways: Imperial Chinese Railway College at Shanhaiguan by Beiyang Railway Bureau, Tangshan Jiaotong University and Tangshan Institute of Railway.
The university is also known for its teaching and research in general transportation, mining and metallurgy and civil engineering.
The modern SWJTU still has faculties specialising in mechanical engineering and transport, but it also has a comprehensive offering of subjects in the arts and communication, foreign languages, political science and over a dozen other schools. 75 majors are on offer.
SWJTU is located in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province. The region is the natural habitat of the giant panda. While rarely seen in the wild, Chengdu’s panda research and breeding centres offer the chance to see the elusive creatures.
Sichuan is well known for its flaming hot food, its sacred mountains and its Buddhist temples, and is a popular tourist destination for Chinese natives and foreigners alike.
The university has three campuses in Jiuli, Xipu, and Emei Mountain. The latter is located at the base of a mountain in a scenic area listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
The university motto is “Diligence, Ambition, Decisiveness, Loyalty
Southwest Jiaotong University (SWJTU) was founded in 1896 and is one of China’s oldest higher education institutions. Known as the cradle of China’s railway engineers and “the Cornell of the East”, SWJTU is the birthplace of China’s modern education in transportation, mining & metallurgy and civil engineering. Through its history, the university has adopted different names such as “Imperial Chinese Railway College at Shanhaiguan by Beiyang Railway Bureau”, “Tangshan Jiaotong University” and “Tangshan Institute of Railway”.
Since its establishment over 100 years ago, SWJTU has weathered storms amongst China’s warring past. It has undergone 18 relocations and despite the difficulties has sustained its belief in educating the young for the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. It upholds the mission of focused education in culture and transport, spreads the spirit of educating talents to breathe new life into the Chinese nation and of unremitting self-improvement, and maintains the tradition of academic excellence and meticulous planning and research. Thus far, the number of graduates from the university has reached nearly 300,000.
Currently, SWJTU is committed to the implementation of “Three Major Strategies”, to enhance the strength of the university by means of talent nurturing, internationalization and big data. It is also dedicated to carrying out the “Four Action Plan”, namely, pushing forward engineering to its peak of development, promoting the revitalization of science, realizing the prosperity of liberal arts and facilitating the rapid development of life science.
The alumni include 59 academicians recognized by national governments, top research institutions and academies from both home and abroad. Among them, three are winners of China’s “Two Bombs and One Satellite Meritorious Award” and nine are engineering design pioneers. The alumni also include top researchers in the fields of academia and engineering, renowned public figures, government officials, industry leaders, entrepreneurs and numerous experts, professors and scholars who enjoy acclaim both in China and overseas. These people contribute a great deal to the nation’s rejuvenation and prosperity and benefit China’s development in railway and transportation undertakings.
The late leader of China, Deng Xiaoping, once applauded the university’s academic achievements by saying that SWJTU was the birthplace for many talents such as Yang Xingfo, Zhu Kezhen and Mao Yisheng. Yang Xingfo was one of China’s famous revolutionaries who sacrificed his life for the nation; Lu Xun, China’s greatest modern writer, mourned his death by composing a poem specially dedicated to him. Zhu Kezhen was the founder of phenology and Mao Yisheng was an expert in bridge building who designed the Qiantang River Bridge, the first of its kind in modern China.
Today’s SWJTU is situated in Chengdu, capital of southwest China’s Sichuan province. The city is dubbed as the land of abundance, the homeland of the giant panda and the place of fortune and success. The university has a total area of approximately 333 hectares and has three campuses. They are the Jiuli campus, the Xipu campus and the Emei campus which is located in the Emei Mountain Scenic Area, a famous tourist destination included in the World Heritage List by UNESCO. SWJTU is a premier engineering university and is on the list of China’s first batch of 211 Project universities. It is also a university in the “985 Project Innovation Platform on Rail Transit & Transportation Engineering”. The university focuses on a balanced development of multidisciplinary subjects of engineering, science, business management, finance, arts and law. It is one of China’s top universities with a government ratified Graduate School under the direct administration of the Ministry of Education. The university leads the project to set up the “Rail Transit Safety Collaborative Innovation Center”, which is listed in the national “University Innovation Capability Enhancement Plan”, also known as the “2011 Plan”. The other titles granted by the Ministry of Education include being a member of the first batch of universities to pilot the “Excellent Engineer Education and Training Program” and the “Comprehensive Reform on Professional Degree Graduate Education”.
SWJTU boasts a well-developed student training system granting bachelor’s, master’s and PhD degrees. It consists of 24 schools to offer programs under 13 disciplines classified by the State Council, which fall into 4 main categories: engineering, science, life science and liberal arts. Among them, there are 2 The First-level National Key Disciplines, 10 The Second-level National Key Disciplines, 15 The First-level Doctoral Degree Programs, 43 The First-level Master’s Degree Programs and 11 Post-doctoral Research Centers. The university is home to 12 national-level key disciplines including Locomotives and Vehicle Engineering and has 11 national-level specialty majors and four majors listed in the pilot national comprehensive reform on major construction. The first-level discipline of Traffic Engineering tops the national list among all the universities and other leading majors are Geomatics Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Management Science & Engineering. Among a teaching faculty of 2500, there are five academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, thirteen academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, seventeen experts on the One Thousand Talents Scheme, three chief scientists on the National Basic Research Program (also called 973 Program), twenty-four specially-appointed professors and chair professors of the Cheung Kong Scholars Program of China, one Achievement Award winner of Cheung Kong Scholars Program and nineteen winners of National Outstanding Youth Foundation. The university has nine innovation research teams at national level recognized by the Ministry of Education. In addition, over 40 academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering work as part-time professors at the university’s invitation. The university has granted honorary professorship to Nobel laureates in economics, Robert A. Mundell and Reinhard Selten, and Nobel Prize winner in physics Douglas Osheroff. Its alumni who graduated after China resumed college entrance exams in 1976 have taken most seats in the field of rail transportation of both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering.
SWJTU was founded out of the need to construct China’s railway system and prospers in the process of serving the railway development. It has made great contributions to China’s landmark railway achievements, including the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, the first self-designed and self-built railway of China by a team headed by Zhan Tianyou; the Baoji-Chengdu Railway, the first electrified railway of China; the Chengdu-Kunming Railway which is widely known as one of the world’s toughest railway construction projects with complicated geographic features and the Qinghai-Tibet Railway completed in July 2006. The achievement list also includes the successful development of the first diesel locomotive and electric locomotive after the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949; the first manned high-temperature superconductivity model maglev train in the world; the first heavy-load railway Datong-Qinghuangdao Line and the first successful system debug of China’s first demo line for maglev trains. The university also participates vigorously in the design and construction of all subways in China and construction of key bridges including the famous Hangzhou Bay Bridge and Donghai Bridge, as well as numerous railway projects such as the Beijing-Tianjin intercity rail, Wuhan-Guangzhou Express Railway and Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Railway. SWJTU plays a key role in developing China’s rail transportation undertakings and is the most influential university in the field. It witnesses China’s rail transportation construction from the fledgling stage to maturity and prosperity, and numerous breakthrough achievements in the field originate here. Thus far, the university has formulated three systems in discipline construction, talent training and research to facilitate China’s rail transportation modernization process and serve regional economic development. The university is pushing forward collaborative innovation with social forces and various resources to step up innovation and generate collective wisdom towards China’s rail transportation development. It aims to cultivate high-quality talents with innovative spirit and competitive edge in order to provide technological and personnel support for the rail transportation construction and management and regional economic development in China.
SWJTU attaches great importance to the nurturing of creative students. In 2000, the university won the honor of being one of the 16 universities nationwide to meet the assessment standards for excellent undergraduate education set by the Ministry of Education. In 2007, it passed the national undergraduate education assessment with top rating scores. The university has put “Excellent Engineer Education and Training Program” in place to beef up reform on student training with pilot bases of the Mao Yisheng and Zhan Tianyou Honors Colleges. Courses on general education are offered in the university and large-scale open online courses are available to students. The university won government grants and opened a host of national-level quality online courses and resource-sharing courses, as well as demo classes for career guidance. The university has uploaded its first three MOOCs courses on the EWANT online course platform, which is jointly established by the five Jiaotong universities in China. Mechanical Design is the first MOOCs course given by universities of west China. In recent years, SWJTU has reaped six first prizes for national-level teaching achievement award, ranking No.1 in Sichuan province and No.9 nationwide.
SWJTU is a role model in nurturing students’ spirit in creativity and innovation. The “Jiaoda Award” cross-strait university student innovative competition is a platform to facilitate students to establish businesses. The university has taken the lead in setting up seven national-level pilot teaching demonstration centers. During the student competition round of the 8th World Congress on High Speed Rail, two graduate students from SWJTU defeated contestants from MIT and TUB to win the first prize in the category of “causes of limitation in high speed railway operation”, which is Chinese students’ greatest ever achievement. Meanwhile, undergraduate students at SWJTU take an active part in all kinds of hands-on practices, such as the national training program on innovation and business start-ups, Student Research Training Program, open day program for key laboratories and on-campus innovation competitions. The total number of program applicants and award winners is among the first tier of universities in the province. Liu Congzhi, an undergraduate student from the School of Mechanical Engineering, won the 8th Chinese Youth Science and Technology Innovation Prize. He is the second student from SWJTU to win this prize. Zhong Qiu, a graduate student from the School of Arts and Communication, won the 29th Chinese Television Flying Apsaras Award.
SWJTU achieves remarkable results in cultivating internationalized talents. It has forged long-term partnership with 186 universities and institutions across 56 countries and regions including the International union of Railways, the University of Leeds, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Technical University Munich. It runs overseas programs in cooperation with the US and France, and a contract university of programs administered by the China Scholarship Council (CSC). The international and exchange programs benefit students of all kinds. In 2016, over 700 international students came to study at SWJTU from 65 countries, among whom 287 won CSC grants and are majored in the discipline of rail transportation. The SWJTU-Leeds Joint School, the first Chinese Foreign Cooperation in Running School at SWJTU, was officially unveiled in 2015 and the first batch of 192 program students have begin their new life journey since this August.
SWJTU is a specialist in training rail transportation personnel via its courses targeted at professionals and senior practitioners in the field. The university organizes training for all the high speed train drivers across the nation.
SWJTU has achieved the goal of having national-level platforms for all traditional specialty disciplines of civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, traffic & transportation engineering and surveying & mapping. The university has set up nearly 30 technology innovation bases at or above the provincial and ministerial level, with exemplary labs of the Rail Transportation National Laboratory, the State Key Laboratory of Traction Power, the Research Center of National Rail Transportation Electrification and Automation Engineering, the National Engineering Laboratory for Land Transport Geological Disaster Preparedness and Control, the National-local Collaboration Engineering Laboratory for Comprehensive Traffic and Transport Intelligence, and the National-local Collaboration Engineering Laboratory for High-speed Operation Safety Information Technology. The construction of the Rail Transportation National Laboratory was initiated in 2004 and put in use in 2011. SWJTU strives to provide strong support to boost the international profile of China’s high speed rail and enhance development of China’s rail transportation undertakings based on its academic excellence and research competitiveness in the field.
SWJTU eyes building a comprehensive university with a balanced development in engineering science and arts. It is making efforts to address issues that are relevant to the well-being of the country and the people in both theoretical and practical ways. The research centers of modern design and culture study, American study and Vietnam study have been set up and in collaboration with Tsinghua University, SWJTU took part in a project to establish a cooperative innovation center for the design and manufacturing of sophisticated equipment. SWJTU’s research teams participated in two high-speed train design projects and won the Red Star Design Award. Furthermore, an international center for technology and social innovation has been jointly built with Cornell University.
SWJTU is consolidating support for the service industry and the development of different regions. It cooperates with renowned enterprises such as the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway Co., Ltd, the China CSR Corporation Limited and the China CNR Corporation Limited, and forms strategic partnership with Shenhua Group, while seeking cooperation with International union of Railways, Caterpillar Inc. and Rockwell Automation. By making use of its disciplinary advantage and substantiating its aim to serve national interest and regional development, the university plays a leading role in China’s construction of a new Silk Road, a Yangtze River economic zone, Chengdu-Chongqing economic zone and a traffic hub in the west.
SWJTU is committed to contributing to the nation’s strategic development. It gives support to the development of Tibet Autonomous Region, especially Tibet University. Yu Zhengsheng, chairman of China’s top political advisory body, acclaimed the university’s contribution to the region. In December 2013, the university co-sponsored “Summit on Globalization Strategy of China’s High Speed Railway” with Guangming Daily, which garnered wide attention from both home and abroad.
SWJTU sets culture and soft power construction as one of its top priorities, aiming to provide a favorable environment for teaching and learning. The university library is on the list of key Chinese classic protection sites at provincial level. The library has a collection of rare ancient works with high academic and cultural value, such as books dating back to 1705 during the ruling of Kangxi Emperor (1661 – 1722) and documents published in 1908 under the regime of Guangxu Emperor (1871 – 1908). To honor distinguished alumni from the 1933 in-take, Yan Kai, Zhang Wei, Lin Tonghua and Liu Huixian, who were among the first academicians in China, the university held a series of campaigns for commemoration. Bronze statues were erected, a university history museum and locomotive museum built and books on university history published. The university’s education platform for cultural attainment appeals to a group of experts, scholars and public figures who give lectures and help prosper the campus life.
As one of China’s top universities and the most influential in the discipline of rail transportation, SWJTU values the strategy of propelling development via talent education and recruitment. The university continues to further its internationalization efforts to popularize cultural education, attract overseas talents and encourage scientific research. The university aims to become a hub to host personnel with prestige and a frontier in academic research, manifesting its spirit of innovation, creativity and pursuit of academic excellence.
Etant l’université importante du niveau national relevant directement du Ministère de l’Education, l’université ‘Double niveau avancé’, ‘Projet 211’, ‘Projet 985’, ‘Programme 2011’ du pays, l’Université Jiaotong du Sud-ouest est un institut à vocation et recherche muni d’école des étudiants, et se trouve à Chengdu, ville historique et culturelle et ville centrale de Chine.
Créée en 1986, l’université s’appelait dans le passé l’Institut de Chemin de Fer Impérial de Chine qui était le premier établissement d’enseignement supérieur de Chine, et aussi le berceau d’enseignement supérieur de Génie civil, travaux de communication et travaux de mine et sidérurgie, l’université est d’origine de deux établissements : Université Jiaotong de Tangshan et Institut de Tangshan, il est connu pour « Cornell de l’Orient », le président Mao Zedong a intitulé le nom de l’université. Depuis la création, l’université porte successivement la Faculté des Travaux de l’Université Jiaotong de Tangshan, le Campus du Guizhou de l’Université Jiaotong de Chine, l’Université Jiaotong de Chine, et l’Institut de Chemin de Fer de Tangshan etc. En 1952, suite à la restructuration des universités de Chine, certains départements de l’université sont fusionnés avec l’Université Qinghua et l’Université de Tianjin etc. en 1964, l’université s’est déménagées au Sichuan pour répondre à l’initiative de la construction de la ligne tertiaire du pays, en 1972, l’université porte son nom actuel et en 1989, elle s’est déménagée à Chengdu. L’université comporte à ce jour trois campus (Jiuli, Xipu et Emei) et occupe une surface de plus de 5000 Mus, le campus de Xipu est celui principal.
Pendant 121 ans d’enseignement, l’université insiste toujours sur sa mission universitaire pour servir le pays, et son esprit est de cultiver les talents et former la mentalité d’auto-développement, la tradition est d’être sérieux à l’enseignement et au comportement, la devise est « Diligent, déterminant, persévérant et fidèle au travail », l’université a formé plus de 300 000 talents pour le pays dont Mao Yisheng, Zhu Kezhen, Lin Yongyan et Huang Wanli, parmi les professeurs et les étudiants, il y a 3 qui ont contribué au développement de bombe atomique, bombe d’hydrogène et satellite artificielle, 59 académiciens et 24 maîtres de reconnaissance et études de niveau national, depuis la réforme et l’ouverture, 8 académiciens sur 9 dans le domaine de transport sur rail viennent de l’université. D’après M. Deng Xiaoping : ‘l’université a formé beaucoup de talents’.
L’université est connue pour le génie et dispose de 4 domaines « génie, science, lettres et biologie » et 26 facultés/départements, 1 école de coopération internationale, 1 hôpital affilié (Hôpital populaire N°3 de Chengdu), 2 écoles des étudiants chercheurs dans les autres villes, (Qingdao et Tangshan) et exploite conjointement la faculté de médecine avec l’hôpital général de la Région militaire de Chengdu, l’université dispose de 2 disciplines importantes primaires du niveau national (travaux mécaniques et travaux de transport), 10 disciplines importantes secondaires du niveau national, 16 disciplines primaires de doctorat, 39 disciplines primaires de master et 11 station mobile de post-doctorat. La discipline d’Ingénierie de transport et de trafic occupe la première place en Chine et fait partie de projet national ‘Double niveau avancé’, les sciences de matières, l’ingénierie et l’informatique occupent la première place (1%) du monde d’ESI.
L’université dispose de 11 plates-formes de rénovation technologiques du niveau national dont le laboratoire national de transport sur rail (en préparation) et le laboratoire important du niveau national de force motrice de traction, et aussi de 32 bases de recherche de niveau provincial et ministériel qui composent le système complet de transport, le système de talents et le système recherche sur rail du monde, l’université met son importance sur le TGV, le transport magnétique, le rail urbain, la super grande vitesse dans le tuyau à vide (1000+) et le super TGV, et dispose de système de recherche élémentaire de force motrice de chemin de fer matérialisé par la Théorie Shen et la Maquette Zhai Sun, les résultats scientifiques ont été sélectionnés pour trois fois dans ‘Un des Dix Progrès Technologiques des Universités de Chine’. Dans le domaine de transport sur rail, l’université a remporté beaucoup de certificats et prix technologiques dont le nombre occupe la première place parmi tous les universités, instituts de recherche et entreprises de même domaine, et a apporté de contribution importante pour le développement de transport sur rail. D’ailleurs, l’université a obtenu également de résultats importants dans les domaines de technologie de défense nationale, fabrication intelligente, biologie et pharmacie, big data, science physique, science humaine et sociale etc.
L’université dispose actuellement 2477 professeurs à temps plein dont 7 membres de l’académie de science de Chine, 14 membres de l’académie de génie de Chine, 17 comptés dans le ‘Programme national de mille personnes d’élite’, 7 comptés dans le ‘Programme national de dix mille personnes d’élite’, 3 scientistes du projet ‘973’, 27 ‘Savants fleuve Yangtsé’, 20 bénéficiaires de Fonds de Jeunes d’Elite national, 8 équipes d’enseignement du niveau national, 6 professeurs d’enseignement connus du niveau national et 9 équipes d’innovation du niveau national, du ministère de l’éducation et du niveau des sciences et technologies. D’ailleurs, l’université a recruté 42 membres de l’académie de génie de Chine et de l’académie de science de Chine et 5 titulaires du prix Nobel comme professeurs à mi-temps (d’honneur).
L’université compte actuellement un système de formation des personnes du talent ‘Valeur, qualité, compétente et connaissances’, il y a 25105 étudiants de licence, 17879 étudiants de master, 2863 étudiants de doctorat et 1100 étudiants étrangers. L’université dispose de 3 centres pédagogiques d’expérimentation virtuelles du niveau national, 8 centres d’exemple de pédagogie d’expérimentation du niveau national, se charge de réalisation de 3 projets de réforme de système pédagogique nationaux, a remportés 25 prix de résultats de pédagogie du niveau national dont 1 de niveau spécial et 6 de niveau I, ce qui occupe la 9ème place en Chine. L’université compte 36 matières d’élite de niveau national, 24 matières partagées des ressources d’élite de niveau national et 8 matières ouvertes en vidéo d’élite de niveau national. L’université pratique le système de formation des étudiants de licence par catégorie et dispose de faculté de Mao Yisheng (école de Tangchen), et de faculté de Zhu Kezhen pour former les étudiants d’innovation de top.
L’université met son importance sur la coopération international et a signé les conventions de coopération avec 190 universités et instituts de recherche de 57 pays et régions dont l’université Cornell des Etats-Unis, l’université nationale de Moscou (Russie) et l’université de Tokyo (Japon), l’université crée la SWJTU-Leeds Joint School en coopération avec l’université Leeds (Angleterre), et établit les projet d’étudier à l'étranger, de voyage d’étude et de visite d’étude couvrant toutes les années comme « projet 2+2 », « projet 4+1 couvrant cursus et master » et « projet 4+4 ». Comme l’université désignée par le gouvernement chinois, elle apporte son assistante à l’université de chemin de fer de l’Inde en coopération avec le ministère de chemin de fer de l’Inde. L’université compte 2 bases d’innovation des experts étrangers de niveau national et publie 3 magazines académiques.
L’université insiste sur l’innovation de synergie conjointe d’autorité, production, étude et recherche. L’université maintient la coopération étroite avec la General Electric Company, la CRRC, la CRCC et la CREC. L’université se coopère avec la municipalité de Chengdu pour créer une université de premier niveau du monde et la cité intelligente au tour de l’université Jiaotong pour transformer la ville de Chengdu comme la capital de transport sur rail. L’université est activement au service de stratégie national, et apporte son assistance au développement de l’université du Tibet et des districts Ma’erkang et Ebian. L’université compte 8 instituts de recherche dont celui de Shanghai, celui de Shenzhen et celui de nouvelle zone de Tianfu, elle a également le parc technologique et universitaire de niveau national, le centre de l’incubation des entreprises technologiques de niveau national, le centre de transfert technologiques de niveau national, a établi le mode de conversion des fruits mutuels ‘Technologie – incubation – industrie’, et développe en premier en Chine la réforme de régime mélange des fruits technologiques, elle est qualifiée comme ‘Expérimentation du village Xiaogang’ dans le domaine technologie.
Rester diligent, assurer le transport pratique du monde. Avec la Pensée du Socialisme à la Chinoise à nouvelle ère de Xi Jinping comme guide, l’Université Jiaotong du Sud-ouest approfondit la réforme, pousse la construction de ‘Double niveau avancé’, s’intègre aux stratégies nationales « Une ceinture et une route », « Construire un pays fort en transport » et « Développement en synergie Beijing – Tianjin – Hebei », s’efforce à devenir une université de recherche de premier niveau fort dans le domaine de transport, la première université dans le domaine de transport sur rail et apporter sa contribution pour la réalisation du rêve de redressement de la Chine.
