Tsinghua University is located in Beijing Municipality. It was established in 1911, the third year of the reign of Emperor Xuantong of the Qing Dynasty, originally under the name Tsinghua Xuetang (Imperial College). It was renamed Tsinghua College in 1912. It was transformed into a university in 1925 and named National Tsinghua University in 1928. After the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression broke out across China in July 1937, the university moved to Changsha, Hunan Province, where it merged with National Peking University and Private Nankai University to form National Provisional University at Changsha. In April 1938, it was relocated to Kunming, Yunnan Province, with its name changed to National Southwest Associated University. In 1946, Tsinghua moved back to its original campus known as Tsinghua Yuan (Garden) in Beijing and reopened with 26 departments in the 5 schools of liberal arts, law, sciences, engineering, and agriculture. Amid a countrywide adjustment of colleges and departments of universities in 1952, Tsinghua was restructured as a polytechnic university focusing on cultivating skilled engineers. In 1999, Tsinghua merged with the Central Academy of Arts and Design, and in 2012, the Graduate School of the People's Bank of China also joined Tsinghua. The university is included in both the Project 211 and Project 985 (two national programs respectively aimed at raising research standards and promoting development and reputation of key universities), and is one of the 36 Class-A universities in the "Double First-Class University" program (the World First-Class University and First-Class Academic Discipline Construction, a tertiary education development initiative of the Chinese government).

The Old Gate of Tsinghua University

Guided by the motto of "self-discipline and social commitment" and the spirit of "actions speak louder than words," Tsinghua University aims to integrate arts and sciences in China and foreign countries by bridging the past and present. In cultivating scholars with political consciousness and professional competence in an all-round way, the university carries forward its dedication to the nation, pursuit of excellence, and constant renewal of the humanities. At present, it has 59 departments in 21 schools including those of architecture, economics and management, civil engineering, and public policy and management. Tsinghua offers 82 undergraduate programs, 60 master and doctoral degree programs in first-level disciplines, and 50 postdoctoral research mobile stations. Furthermore, it boasts 22 first-level and 15 second-level national key disciplines, 2 national key cultivated disciplines, 1 national research center, 13 national key laboratories, 11 national engineering laboratories, 16 key laboratories under the Ministry of Education, and 19 Beijing municipal key laboratories. Its library holds more than 5.48 million books in its collection.

As of December 2020, Tsinghua had 3,641 faculty members and 9,598 staff members, including 2,836 doctoral supervisors, 54 members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and 35 members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. The university had 16,287 undergraduate students, 19,726 master degree candidates, and 17,289 doctoral degree candidates.