International Exchange and Cooperation

The cooperation between Tongji University and Germany has a long history. The history of Tongji can be traced back to 1907 when Tongji German Medical School was founded by Erich Paulun, a German doctor in Shanghai. Five year later, the school was expanded to include engineering in its programs and got its new name as Tongji Medical and Engineering School. The name "Tongji"suggests cooperating by riding the same boat. It was recognized as a university in 1924 and was renamed as National Tongji University in 1927. It then grew to be a comprehensive university which offered programs in science, engineering, medicine, arts and law, and enjoyed a good reputation at home and abroad.

Following a nationwide campaign of reorganizing schools and departments between universities in 1952, Tongji University became a university with strength in engineering, esp. in civil engineering. Since initiating the Reform and Opening Policy in 1978, the university gradually developed to be a comprehensive university strong in engineering which also offered programs in science, economics, management, arts and law. The traditional cooperation with Germany continued and developed. Tongji University became “the Window to Germany”.

During the 30 years’ development, our university has set up good relations with over 30 German universities. The foundation of Deutsch-Kolleg in early 1979, and Institute of Vocational and Technical Education, the Sino-German College for Graduate Study, and the Sino-German College of Applied Sciences since 1990s are all supported by the Chinese and German governments. The Chinese-German Friendship Hospital, which is supported by the governments and companies of both countries, is currently being planned. The areas of cooperation expanded from linguistics on the first stage to various fields such as architecture and urban planning, vehicle engineering, mechanical and electrical engineering, economics and management, environmental engineering, civil engineering, humanities and social sciences, marine geology, medicine and life science etc.