Chongqing University is one of the leading universities in South West China. It was established in 1929, and in 1960 was designated one of the country’s key “national” universities.
In 2000, the institution merged with the Chongqing Jianzhu University and the Chongqing Architectural College, and in 2010 it became the ninth member of China’s prestigious “Excellence League” – an alliance of high-performing Chinese universities.
One of five universities in the city of Chongqing, CQU is particularly noted for its engineering, technology, built environment and business departments. Classes are organised across 35 schools, under six faculties: Science, Social Sciences, Humanities, Engineering, Built Environment, and Information Science and Technology.
With four campuses covering more than 3.8 km², the university lies west of both the city centre and the Jialing River, a tributary of the Yangtze; and south of Gele Mountain. The institution has educational exchange links with more than 100 other universities in 20 countries, including the UK, France, the US, Germany, Canada, Italy, Japan and South Korea.
The university’s large library collection includes more than 4 million volumes, and a number of programmes are now taught in English.
Alumni of CQU include a number of well-known physicists and politicians, Huawei Technologies founder Ren Zhengfei, and the playwright Yan Su. The economist Qian Rongkun and the actor Fang Paidi also attended Chongqing University.
Chongqing itself is one of China’s five core cities, and has one of the highest populations in the country. It is a port city,and its climate is humid for most of the year, with long, hot summers and relatively mild winters.
