Overview
Chinese Name: 苏州大学
English Name: Soochow University
Abbreviation: 苏大(Suda); SUDA
Established: 1900
Location: Suzhou
Website: https://www.suda.www.cn/
Brief introduction of Soochow University
Soochow University is a University jointly built by the Ministry of education and the people’s Government of Jiangsu Province, a national “double first-class” University, the first batch of universities selected in the national “Project 211211工程” and “2011 plan2011计划”, a key comprehensive university in Jiangsu Province, and selected in the national “Plan 111111计划”, the national innovative experiment plan for college students, the national innovative talent training demonstration base, and the overseas high-level talent innovation and entrepreneurship base, Chinese government scholarship institutions for receiving overseas students in China, etc.
Soochow University, formerly known as Soochow University founded in 1900, is the first university in China to establish a modern university discipline system. It is the first university in China to carry out professional education in law (Anglo American Law), the first to carry out postgraduate education and award a master’s degree. It is also the first university in China to establish a journal.
In 1952, the College of Arts and Sciences of Soochow University, the College of culture and education in southern Jiangsu, and the Department of mathematics and physics of Jiangnan University merged to form Southern Jiangsu Normal University, which was renamed Jiangsu Normal University in the same year.
In 1982, the school was renamed Suzhou University. Subsequently, Suzhou sericulture College (1995), Suzhou Silk Institute of Technology (1997), and Suzhou Medical College (2000) were successively incorporated into Soochow University.
As of November 2021, the school has four campuses: Tianci village天赐庄, Dushu Lake独墅湖, Yangcheng Lake阳澄湖, and the future未来. There are 36 colleges (departments) and 132 undergraduate majors.
Education Achievements and Rankings
As of November 2021, the university has 36 colleges (departments) and 132 undergraduate majors, covering 12 university disciplines such as philosophy, economics, law, pedagogy, literature, history, science, engineering, agriculture, medicine, management, and art.
As of March 2020, Soochow University has 132 undergraduate majors; 49 first-class discipline master’s degree authorization points, and 33 professional degree master’s points.
There are28 first-class discipline doctoral degree authorization points, 1 professional degree doctoral point, and 30 post-doctoral research mobile stations.
There are 5 national key disciplines, 1 provincial key discipline, 20 advantageous disciplines in Jiangsu Universities, 12 provincial-level key disciplines (including 2 cultivation disciplines), 5 Jiangsu provincial key sequence disciplines, and 15 Jiangsu provincial-level key disciplines during the 13th five-year plan“十三五”规划.
As of 2021, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings ranked Soochow University 601st-800th in the world and 44th in China & the Asia-Pacific.
The U.S. News & World Report ranked Soochow University 327th in the world.
QS World University Rankings ranked Soochow University 651st-700th in the world.
As of July 2018, Soochow University has established intercollegiate exchange relations with more than 180 universities and research institutions in more than 30 countries and regions. The school annually enrolls more than 3000 international students from more than 60 countries or regions.
Since 2007, the university has cooperated with Portland State University to establish the Confucius Institute of Portland State University. In 2010, it was selected for the “20+20 cooperation plan between Chinese and African universities” of the Ministry of education to assist in the construction of Lagos University in Nigeria.
In 2011, the Soochow University of Laos, the first overseas university in China, was successfully established in Laos, which has become an important post station and cultural card in the national “Belt and Road Initiative一带一路”.
Famous Alumni
In the past century, Soochow University has had a large number of outstanding alumni, including Tan Jiazhen谈家桢, an international geneticist and the founder of modern genetics in China. Tan Jiazhen has been engaged in genetics research and teaching for more than 70 years and has published more than 100 academic papers. The discovery of “mosaic dominance镶嵌显性” of Ladybug stain inheritance is considered to be an important supplement to the development of classical genetics and a key argument of modern comprehensive evolution theory.
In the 1950s, he established China’s first major in genetics, the first Institute of genetics, and the first college of life sciences at Fudan University复旦大学, known as “Morgan of China中国的摩尔根”.
Fei Xiaotong费孝通, a sociologist, anthropologist, ethnologist, and social activist, is one of the founders of Chinese sociology and anthropology.
Under the guidance of his mentor Malinowski, Fei Xiaotong completed his doctoral thesis “the economy of Jiangcun”, which is known as “a milestone in the development of anthropological field investigation and theoretical work”, and has become a classic in the international anthropological community.
Fei Xiaotong has conducted field investigations in the Yellow River Delta黄河三角洲, and Pearl River Delta珠江三角洲 in China, and put forward important development ideas and specific strategies that are not only in line with local reality but also of overall significance.
Zhou Gucheng周谷城, a famous Chinese historian, educator, and social activist, learned Esperanto in his early years and was enthusiastic about the publicity and promotion of Esperanto世界语.
In 1981, he initiated the friends of Esperanto with celebrities such as Hu Yuzhi and Chu Tunan and later attended the Symposium of friends of Esperanto.
