A University in Your Dreams: Tsinghua University

Utku Güngör
13 April 2025

Tsinghua University is known as the best university in China and Asia. According to the Times Higher Education ranking, it is 12th in the world when evaluated in terms of education, research environment, research quality, industry ties, and international outlook. In cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin, it is not as difficult to get into one of China’s two top universities (Peking University and Tsinghua University) as it is for students taking the exam in other provinces. For example, a student taking the Gaokao (college entrance exam) in Henan Province competes with over 1 million people, while in Beijing, the number is around 60,000. Therefore, students living in provinces like Henan say, “Getting into Tsinghua is harder than climbing to the sky (比登天还难).”

When I first stepped into the university, I said aloud:
“If a country has a Tsinghua University, it will never experience an Opium War again. If a country has a Tsinghua University, it will never again be invaded by eight countries. If you don’t have a Tsinghua University, your future is a dim twilight…”

History and Campus Life

In 1909, the Qing government established the American Educational Affairs Office (游美学务处) to send Chinese students to the U.S., and a school (游美肄业馆) under its administration was opened. In April 1911, this school was renamed Tsinghua School (清华学堂), and on April 29, 1911, it began its first classes in Tsinghua Garden (清华园). In 1912, the name was officially changed to Tsinghua University.

In 1906, the president of the University of Illinois, James, wrote a letter to the U.S. president stating:
“We can now be sure that we can completely and skillfully control China’s development — by influencing the minds and intellects of China’s leaders. It is more reliable to achieve intellectual dominance than to follow military conquest with trade.”

On May 9, 1919, after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, a “National Humiliation Memorial Meeting” was held in the gymnasium of Tsinghua University. At the meeting, it was decided to send a telegram to the Paris Peace Conference, demanding that the Chinese delegates refuse to sign the treaty.

In 1926, Tsinghua was divided into 17 academic departments. In 1935, the Ministry of Education approved the establishment of 27 research institutes nationwide, and 10 of them were at Tsinghua. If you have a chance to visit Tsinghua today, you’ll feel its history deeply. For instance, the 3rd floor of the North Library has exhibits about the Opium War. Due to the Treaty of Versailles, Tsinghua became a center of patriotic youth movements. Other universities in Beijing, such as Peking University and Beijing Normal University, also saw mass movements.

After the “September 18 Incident” in 1931, Tsinghua’s faculty and students supported the anti-Japanese resistance in various ways — from raising funds and sending morale to the front lines, to developing gas masks and smoke bombs. Some students even joined the army directly. Three days after the incident, the Faculty Association of Tsinghua founded the Anti-Japanese Resistance Committee, launching a wave of resistance activities. In the “December 9 Movement” of 1935, underground party organizations and patriotic students and teachers from Tsinghua played a leading role.

Tsinghua University is located in Beijing’s Haidian District and has a vast campus. It hosts four major libraries: the Main Library, North Library, West Library, and Old Library. In addition, there are specialized branch libraries, including ones for Fine Arts, Finance, and Law. The university has nearly 6 million physical resources, more than 70,000 square meters of space, and 4,000 study seats. Tsinghua also provides extensive online resources, with free access to leading academic sites like Nature and ScienceDirect, and licenses for various software.

Academic Excellence

At the university’s opening ceremony, the president said:
“We will not compromise academic ethics and will conduct research to international standards. We are currently the 12th best university in the world, and we aim to become number one within 30 years. For students admitted to such a special institution, focusing on research throughout their academic life is essential for success.”
At Tsinghua, a doctoral student must publish at least two papers in Q1 or Q2 level journals before defending their dissertation — though standards can vary by professor.

The academic ecosystem is excellent. For example, we are developing a project on lithium batteries with Huawei. The main decisions were made in 2020, and both the company and universities received significant incentives. Under this framework, “Project A” is presented to the university’s automotive faculty. The professor is granted a three-month fund, during which the company outlines specific goals. If the goals are met, the project continues, with funds provided to students and academics. The goal is to publish at least two scientific papers. If the goals are not met, funding is cut. If Huawei also cannot sustain the project, it receives no government support.

This ecosystem — nourishing and collaborative — is characteristic of top global universities. Renowned Chinese EV scholar Prof. Ouyang emphasizes that universities alone aren’t enough. When asked what to do, he replies:

“We started pushing innovation and entrepreneurship. Over the years, student startups have launched over two dozen ventures. We set up several innovation hubs focused on incubating student entrepreneurship and hired top engineering students. We found young people with industry experience who also wanted to pivot into entrepreneurship and work with us. Without these student entrepreneurs, we’d be clueless about what’s happening on the industry’s front lines.”

Ouyang attributes success to these ventures and believes universities lag behind the industry. Universities focus on academic research and publications, while the industry evolves rapidly, presenting new needs requiring immediate solutions. Students working in startups with companies can respond swiftly to these needs.

China’s Priority: High-Quality Education

On March 13, Xinhua News Agency released the full report on the implementation of the 2024 central and local budgets and the 2025 draft budget. The report states that investments in education will further increase. Accordingly, the central government’s education spending for 2025 was set at $245 billion — a 5% increase.

The following goals were outlined:

Support the national development strategy through science and education.
Advance the “Strong Education Nation” strategy.
Promote equitable and quality development in compulsory education.
Eliminate regional inequalities.
Support the development of highly talented individuals.
Improve the infrastructure and teaching conditions of local universities.

Let’s elaborate. University education is not free in China, but with an average annual cost of 10,000 yuan (approx. 55,000 TL), Chinese students can cover both tuition and accommodation. Dormitories are available for all students, and daily meals cost around 40 yuan (approx. 200 TL). Students with financial difficulties can receive scholarships or take out interest-free loans, which they repay after graduation. While not astronomical sums, these costs are still out of reach for some families, so central and local policies aim to reduce inequalities.

So how much support does a university get from the central government? Tsinghua University receives approximately $5.5 billion annually, ranking first in total and per capita funding. Following Tsinghua are Zhejiang University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University with budget revenues of 32.881 billion yuan ($4.3 billion) and 28.158 billion yuan ($4 billion), respectively. These universities have made significant strides in scientific research and academic reputation, closely linked to their investments. Peking University ranked fourth, with its budget rising from 22.247 billion to 24.33 billion yuan last year.

Photo 1: Annual education budgets of China’s 985 universities in 2023–2024. Tsinghua University tops the list with 38.5 billion yuan (~$5.5 billion).

Conclusion

Those who attribute China’s rapid and high-quality growth solely to cheap labor are mistaken. China cannot be equated with other low-wage countries. Over the past 76 years, China has skillfully organized both its education and industry. Unlike Turkey, it did not make decisions that would negatively impact the university ecosystem. Of course, every country has its own culture and governance style. Each nation is built and managed based on its unique foundations. China’s most important success lies in placing science not at the margins, but at the very center of life. That’s what makes China what it is today.