Institute Profiles

 

Why established the ZJU-UIUC Institute?

• Explore global collaboration for high education;

• Break tradition boundaries, cultivating new engineering elites with cross-disciplinary knowledge;

• Standing in China, blending Chinese and western Education, global views, cultivating international leaders.

ZJUI Overview

The Zhejiang University-University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Institute (the ZJU-UIUC Institute or ZJUI) is a jointly operated engineering college on the Zhejiang University (ZJU) International Campus in Haining, China. The institute is officially approved by Chinese Ministry of Education in February 2016. By introducing top engineering curricula and resources from UIUC, complemented with support from colleges and departments from ZJU, ZJUI provides a world-class engineering education. Committed to educating innovators in engineering and leaders of tomorrow, ZJUI strives to build a global engineering education and research system featuring interdisciplinary convergence.

 

1. Dual Degree

 

Students admitted to this degree program are enrolled in both Zhejiang University and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 

Students who successfully complete the program and meet the requirements of both universities will receive two bachelor’s degrees in their respective major fields:

▪Bachelor of Science from the University of Illinois

▪Bachelor of Engineering from Zhejiang University

 

2.  Curriculum Features

 

• Engineering classes and learning from the very first day. Conventional curriculum starts after two years

• Joint courses that converge disciplines throughout the program, in every term

• Cross-discipline advanced courses to provide a broad perspective

• Design that transcends the disciplines

• Ongoing creativity, entrepreneurship and leadership learning and opportunities

   

3. Interdisciplinary Innovation Cultivation

 

Today’s most important engineering challenges require expert teamwork across many disciplines.  ZJUI students learn the deep knowledge and fundamentals that define their core discipline, and work together across all disciplines on design projects and comprehensive problems.  Advanced classes in systems-oriented topics, student teams built around major international competitions, and visitors from all over the world help to demonstrate convergence and cooperation.  Students are engaged in engineering challenges from their very first semester.  The engagement in design and in broad engineering challenges begins immediately and progresses throughout the curriculum.  By their final year, students are organizing and working on multidiscipline design teams to invent a solution to a problem they have chosen.

 

4. Elite Education 

 

·First-class faculty members are recruited worldwide. Faculty members from ZJU and UIUC also participate in our programs. The undergraduate student-faculty ratio at ZJUI is no higher than 8:1.

·Faculty-student interaction is emphasized. Courses combine lectures, discussions, and experiments.  Visitors and faculty are involved in an active seminar series.  Laboratory facilities are built to follow the best global practices.

·We are seamlessly connected to our partners. Programs, curricula, core teaching materials, quality standards and outcome-based evaluations are drawn from our partners. Each curriculum features a broad range of courses and meets general education requirements of UIUC and of ZJU.  All courses are taught in English.

·First-term students participate in Introduction to Engineering.  This orientation and project course includes weekly seminars and team design activities. Elite scientists and engineers from academia and industry worldwide are invited to give seminars that broaden students’ horizons.  Student teams study broad design challenges, presenting their proposals to the full group.

·We value the integration of theory and practice.  We seek to build scientific foundations and address broad technology applications. We strengthen question-oriented learning, research, and practical training. Students participate in research projects both in the classroom and alongside faculty members and graduate students. We also provide a wide range of internship opportunities, and build our students’ capacity for innovation, invention and entrepreneurship. 

 

5. Residential college model and All-rounded Cultivation

 

The International Campus emphasizes a Residential College housing system. Each residential college provides a friendly and supportive learning-and-living environment. Each student has a private bedroom, shared bathroom and common living space. Each College offers library facilities, study rooms, discussion and interactive spaces, laundry facilities, activity spaces, and fitness rooms. Each close-knit community serves as a microcosm of International Campus’s diverse student population, allowing students to have the cohesiveness and intimacy, the residential colleges are also the most significant in the everyday lives of ZJUI’s students. The colleges provide an exceptional opportunity to meet and learn from students, tutors and professors with different interests – people students might not otherwise encounter in their courses or extracurricular activities. 

The Master of the Residential College, Professor Lap-Chee Tsui, is a famous educator who was President of the University of Hong Kong for 12 years. The Fellows, Tutors and Counselors in each College are ready to help students make the most of their learning experience, through general education, personal development, extracurricular activities, and events.  The program seeks to help students become well-rounded people with knowledge, leadership skills, competence, creativity, morality, and individuality. A trained support team is available on campus 24 hours a day.

 

6. First-Class Campus

 

The International Campus provides faculty and students with a first-class environment for living and learning.

·First-class support and services are provided by the Campus Operation & Service Center and the Student Center.

·First-class teaching facilities include classrooms equipped with interactive integrated teaching systems, classrooms with flexible furniture and configurations, small meeting and discussion rooms, and world-class laboratories.

·First-class academic support through the library, outstanding information technology, and access to information and study facilities.

·First-class sports and activity facilities include music rooms, game rooms, a massive sports center, and student activity rooms.

 

 

University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign

 

Founded in 1867, the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign (UIUC) has earned a reputation as a world-class leader in research, teaching, and public engagement. A founding member of the Big Ten Conference and a member of the Association of American Universities, UIUC is also listed as a "Public Ivy." With its land-grant heritage, UIUC pioneers innovative research that tackles global problems and expands the human experience. Its transformative learning experiences, in and out of the classroom, are designed to produce alumni who desire to make a significant societal impact. UIUC currently has more than 33,000 undergraduates, 15,000 graduate students, and 2700 faculty members, and  there have been 24 Nobel laureates and 27 Pulitzer Prize winners from UIUC faculty and alumni. It is a global leader for engineering education and research, with its engineering programs ranked 6th in the U.S. Best Universities Rankings published by US News & World Report in 2024.

 

 

 

Zhejiang University

 

Zhejiang University (ZJU)  is one of China’s top higher education institutions, as well as one of its oldest, with its roots traced back to the founding of Qiushi Academy in 1897. Located in Hangzhou – one of the most picturesque cities in China – the University consists of seven faculties and 39 schools. It is home to more than 4500 full-time faculty members, including 30 members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and 31 members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. ZJU has more than 29,000 undergraduate and 43,000 graduate students as of 2022. In the latest list released by China in February 2022, ZJU has 21 disciplines selected for China’s “Double First-class” Initiatives. With acclaimed fame to to many areas of research excellence, ZJU currently ranks among the top three universities in the Chinese mainland and top 100 in the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings and QS World University Rankings.