Located in an ancient town that is referred to locally as ‘Paradise on Earth’, Soochow University, in China’s Jiangsu Province, was founded in 1900.
The development of study at the university has focused on 12 major disciplines: philosophy, law, education, history, literature, engineering, science, medicine, agriculture, art, and management science.
The university is also part of the national Project 211, which was rolled out by the government in the 1990s to establish academic excellence in research in the best Chinese universities. Of the 116 universities in China, Soochow is in the top six that benefits from this project.
Home to nearly 40,000 students, both undergraduate and graduate, the university offers 124 undergraduate degrees plus a wide range of postgraduate ones, which include professional programmes and dual programmes.
It is made up of three major campuses, the main campus, the Dushu Lake campus and the Yangcheng Lake campus. Between them, the three campuses cover a vast area in the region of three million square metres. The total area covered by the universities buildings is more than 182 million square metres.
Its campus are often hailed as the most beautiful in the country for their inclusion of features common to the Classical Gardens of Suzhou, a UNESCO World Heritage grouping of gardens dating back to the 6th century that combine craftsmanship with artistry and traditional Chinese culture.
Soochow University maintains multiple international partnerships with universities around the world, including Athabasca University in Canada, the US Cornell Law School and the Bucerius Law School in Germany.