Jointly founded by Shanghai Municipal People’s Government and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 2013, ShanghaiTech University aspires to be a small-scale, high-standard, international university oriented towards research and innovation, for nurturing the next generation of innovative scientists, inventors, and entrepreneurs. On February 14, 2022, ShanghaiTech joined the list of China’s World-Class Universities Project as the youngest university in that list. With the backing and support of our two co-founding institutions, ShanghaiTech is committed to tackling the challenges that China and the world are facing in the fields covering artificial intelligence, biology, biomedical engineering, data science, electrical engineering, energy, environment, human health, materials, and others.

As a small-scale university, ShanghaiTech currently has 1,979 undergraduate students, 2,891 master students, and 1,698 doctoral students on campus. Our students benefit from the student-centered educational approach and are encouraged to conduct cross-disciplinary research in an international environment. The curriculum system is structured with international benchmarks. More than 80% of major courses are provided in Chinese and English combined, or in English completely. Undergraduates are encouraged to join a research group from the first year—about 82% of undergraduates do so before their third year while 100% of them do so in their last year. To develop students’ international perspective, ShanghaiTech provides them with rich study-abroad opportunities at top universities around the world, including Harvard University, Yale University, UC Berkeley, University of Oxford, University of Pennsylvania, Leiden University, and others. Overall, about 84% of ShanghaiTech’s Class of 2024 undergraduates pursue further studies in postgraduate programs, and 25.9% do so overseas.

ShanghaiTech’s tenure-track system is attracting talented faculty with a wealth of experience from world-leading universities and institutes. Currently there are 388 faculty members including tenure-track/tenured professors and teaching professors, 80% of whom have overseas study or work experiences and around 14% are foreign nationals. Our team of 275 adjunct professors includes four Nobel Prize winners, 38 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE).

With a focus on STEM fields, ShanghaiTech has established the following schools, institutes, one center and a research hospital:

-School of Physical Science and Technology

-School of Life Science and Technology

-School of Information Science and Technology

-School of Entrepreneurship and Management

-School of Creativity and Art

-Institute of Humanities

-School of Biomedical Engineering

-Shanghai Institute for Advanced Immunochemical Studies

-iHuman Institute

-Institute of Mathematical Sciences

-Center for Transformative Science

-Institute of Carbon Neutrality

-Shanghai Clinical Research and Trial Center (research hospital)

Located in Shanghai’s Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, ShanghaiTech plays an important role in the development of the Zhangjiang Comprehensive National Science Center, in partnership with CAS institutes. The proximity of neighboring facilities offers numerous opportunities for scientific collaborations. The world-class scientific facilities include: National Center for Protein Science (Shanghai), Shanghai HIgh repetitioN rate XFEL and Extreme light facility (SHINE), Shanghai Superintense Ultrafast Laser Facility (SULF), Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF), Shanghai Soft X-ray Free Electron Laser Facility (SXEFL), and others. These facilities welcome not only ShanghaiTech staff and students, but also other researchers from China and the world.

Currently, there are over 300 research groups at ShanghaiTech. Since 2016, ShanghaiTech faculty and students have published 32 papers as the first authors in Cell, Nature and Science, and the university’s multiple achievements are recognized at the national/municipal level, including two awards among Top 10 Scientific Advances in China, one award among Top 10 S&T Advances in Chinese Universities, six awards among Top 10 Advances in Life Sciences in China, and one 1^st prize of the Shanghai S&T Awards, etc.

ShanghaiTech ranks top in the Report on Tech Transfer Achievements in China (Higher Education Institution¹) from 2019 to 2022. Since the birth of the first spinoff company in 2016, ShanghaiTech has incubated 50 spinoffs, spanning the areas of biomedicine, IT&AI, high-end manufacturing and new energy. Not only the faculty, but also the students become founders of those spinouts. Further, dedicated incubators inside and outside the campus serve as vital “powerhouses” of innovation practices and bridges for connecting technical, market, policy and capital resources.

*The data above is as of December 2024