Fudan University is a top-ranked public university in Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education and is co-funded with the Shanghai Municipal Government. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction.
The university was originally founded by the Chinese Jesuit priest Ma Xiangbo in 1905. It is a member of the C9 League.
The school's predecessor was Fudan Public School (复旦公学) founded in 1905, by the Chinese Jesuit priest Ma Xiangbo. It was one of the earliest privately-founded colleges and universities in China.
The predecessor of Shanghai Medical University (上海医科大学) was the Fourth National Sun Yat-sen University School of Medicine (国立第四中山大学医学院) founded in 1927. In 2000, Fudan University merged with Shanghai Medical University to form the new Fudan University.[4][5]
In December 2019, Fudan University changed its constitution, removing the phrase "academic independence and freedom of thought" (學術獨立和思想自由) and including a "pledge to follow the Communist party's leadership" (學校堅持中國共產黨的領導), leading to protests among the students.[6][7] It also said that Fudan University had to "equip its teachers and employees" with "Xi Jinping Thought", leading to concerns about the diminishing academic freedom of Fudan.[8][9]
The university set up a 1 billion yuan fund of funds for start up innovation in 2023 as well as launching what it claims to be China’s largest cloud-based scientific research computing platform CFFF.[10][11]
The Hungarian government made an agreement to open the first campus of Fudan University outside China in Budapest in 2024.[12] The expansion would cost 540 billion HUF, of which 450 billion would be paid by the Hungarian state from a Chinese loan. The construction would be mainly done by Chinese companies.[13] Hungarian education professionals and politicians denounced the investment, citing economics, higher education and national security concerns.[14]
Fudan has five undergraduate colleges – Zhide (志德), Tengfei (腾飞), Keqing (克卿), Renzhong (任重), and Xide (希德).
The university has four campuses in Shanghai – Handan (邯郸), Fenglin (枫林), Zhangjiang (张江), and Jiangwan (江湾) – which share the same central administration. It also has 17 affiliated hospitals.
As of 2024,[update] Fudan has joint MBA programs in the School of Management with MIT Sloan School of Management in the US (since 1996, leading to a Fudan degree), BI Norwegian Business School in Norway (since 1996, leading to a BI Norwegian Business School degree), and the University of Hong Kong in Hong Kong (leading to a University of Hong Kong degree), Washington University in the US (leading to a Washington University degree).[15] There are also a double degree in international management with Bocconi University and Luiss University in Italy (since 2005, leading to a master's in international management from one of the Italian universities), an executive MBA with National Taiwan University, and a global master's in management with London Business School (leading to degrees from both institutions).[15]
Fudan University School of Economics has had a partnership with Durham University Business School in England to deliver a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree awarded by Durham University since 2006, with the first students starting in 2007.[16] As of 2024,[update] Fudan remains the main location, but some elements of the course are also delivered at Durham and in San Francisco, USA.[17][18]
Fudan, Korea University Business School in Korea, and the National University of Singapore in Singapore have collaborated on the S3 Asia MBA since 2008, with students spending six months at each of the institutions.[19] Fudan students receive a dual degree from Fudan and one of the other universities in the collaboration.[20]
Regarding research output in natural science and life science, the Nature Index Research Leaders 2024 ranked Fudan the No.9 university in the Asia Pacific region, and 12th in the world among the global universities.[35] The 2024 CWTS Leiden Ranking ranked Fudan 11th in the world based on their publications for the time period 2019–2022.[36]
Since 1952, Fudan University has a total of 95 academicians alumni, second only to Peking University and Tsinghua University in China.[37] Fudan's notable alumni include:
Chen Yinke, historian, linguist, orientalist, politician, and writer.
Chen Wangdao, scholar and educator recognized as the first and only person to translate the Communist Manifesto into Chinese completely
Chen Zhili, politician
Chu Coching, geologist and meteorologist
Kerry Chen, entrepreneur, founder and CEO of ATRenew
Yan Fu, military officer, newspaper editor, translator, and writer known for introducing western ideas to China in the late 19th century
Yu Youren, educator, scholar, calligrapher, and politician
Wang Huning, political theorist and a top leader of the Chinese Communist Party.[38][39]
A video circulating this week showed students at Shanghai's Fudan University singing the school song – which extols "academic independence and freedom of thought" – in an apparent protest.{...}Besides removing "freedom of thought", the ministry adds to the charter "arming the minds of teachers and students with Xi Jinping's new era of socialist ideology with Chinese characteristics". It also obliges faculty and students to adhere to "core socialist values" and build a "harmonious" campus environment – a code phrase for the elimination of anti-government sentiment.
31°17′56″N 121°29′57″E / 31.29889°N 121.49917°E / 31.29889; 121.49917 (Fudan University)