Peking University is a comprehensive and national key university. The campus, known as "Yan Yuan"-- the gardens of Yan, is situated at the  northeast of the Haidian District at the western suburbs of Beijing. It stands near the Yuan Ming Gardens and the Summer Palace.

The University consists of 6 colleges and 29 departments, with 85 specialties for undergraduates, 3 specialties for the second Bachelor's degree, 146 specialties for Master candidates and 97 specialties for Doctoral candidates. While still laying stress on basic sciences, the university has paid special attention to the development of applied sciences.

At present,  Peking  university has 45 research institutes and 52 research centers, and there are 2 national engineering research centers, 42 key national disciplines, 5 national key laboratories, and 6 national key laboratories and 4  state special laboratories are still under construction.

The university has made an effective combination of the research on important scientific  issues with the training of personnel with high level specialized knowledge and professional skill as demanded by the country's socialist modernization. It strives not only for the simultaneous improvements in teaching and research work, but also for the promotion of  interaction and mutual promotion among various subjects.

Thus Peking University has become a center for teaching and research and a university of the new type, consisting  of diverse branches of learning such as pure and applied sciences, social sciences and the  humanities, and sciences of management and education. Its aim is to rank among the world's  best universities.

History

Peking University, the former Jing Shi Da Xue Tang (the Metropolitan University) of  the Qing Dynasty, opened in December 1898. The Metropolitan University was then the most prestigious institution of higher learning and the highest administrative organization of education in China. In May 1912, the Metropolitan University was renamed "Peking University". In 1917, its presidency was taken up by Mr.Cai Yuanpei, scientist, educator, and democratic revolutionary, who played an active role in the reform and development of the university. By 1919, the university developed into the country's largest institution of higher learning, with 14 departments and an enrollment of more than 2,000 students.

Peking University has a revolutionary tradition. In 1919, the May 4th Movement was initiated from the university, which had been the center of the Chinese New-Culture Movement and the earliest base for the dissemination of Marxism in China. Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao and Mao Zedong, founders of the Chinese communist Party, as well as Lu Xun, a prominent writer, thinker and chief leader of the Chinese New-Culture Movement, all either taught or held offices in   the  university.

During the War of Resistance Against Japan, Peking University moved to Kunming, a city in Yunnan Province, together with Tsinghua University and Nankai University, formed the National Southwestern Associated University. In 1946, after the war, Peking University moved back to Beiping (then the name of Beijing). At that time, the university comprised six schools (Arts, Science, Law, Medicine, Engineering and Agriculture), and a research institute for the humanities. The total enrollment of student grew to 3,000.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the government carried out, in 1952, a  nationwide readjustment of colleges and universities with the aim to promote higher education and quicken the training of personnel with specialized knowledge and skill by pooling the country's manpower and material resources. After the readjustment, Peking University became a university comprising departments of both liberal Arts and Sciences and emphasizing the teaching and research of basic sciences. By 1962, the total enrollment grew to 10,671 undergraduate students and 280 graduate students. Since 1949, Peking University has trained  for the country 73,000 undergraduates and specialty students, 10,000 postgraduates and 20,000 adult-education students, and many of them have become the "backbones" on all fronts in China.

Faculty

At present, Peking University has over 2,100 teachers, 1,600 of whom are full or associate  professors. Among the teachers are not only a number of senior professors of high academic standing and world fame, but also a host of creative young and middle-aged experts who have been working at the forefront of teaching and research.

Enrollment

At present, Peking University has 21,402 students:

• 8,686 undergraduates
• 80 candidates for a second Bachelor's degree
• 2,780 candidates for a correspondence courses or study at the night school
• 747 international students from 62 countries and regions
  

Teaching

Peking University has made reforms in its teaching. It has revised its teaching project in an all-round way with the aim to cultivate the students' practical ability and creative power.  As a result, the teaching of basic courses is strengthened,  the content of courses is enriched and renewed and favorable conditions have been created for students to develop themselves in extracurricular activities.

In order to apply the principle of teaching the students in accordance with their aptitude, the university has put into practice a credit system, which allows the students to select their own courses provided that they fulfill the requirements for their majors.  This system encourages the students to select courses out of their respective majors or departments.

According to the system, students who have earned enough credits ahead of the required time are allowed to graduate earlier. Undergraduates of good character and scholarship can be recommended in their graduating year to continue their study for Master's degrees without taking qualifying examinations, The style of "being diligent, rigorous, realistic and creative" in learning is energetically advocated on the campus.

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