Universities

Founded in 1924, Ocean University of China is located in Qingdao, a coastal city on the Shandong Peninsula with a mild climate and historic maritime character. Its position by the Yellow Sea informs its long-standing emphasis on marine science, atmospheric science, and related disciplines, while also maintaining teaching and research programmes in economics, law, engineering, pharmacy, agronomy, and the humanities. The university operates across two campuses in Qingdao, each embedded within the city’s academic and cultural environment. It hosts approximately 27,000 students, including over 1,300 international students from more than fifty countries, and is staffed by around 2,500 faculty members. Academic work spans eight disciplinary areas, with degrees offered at undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral levels. The university falls under the direct administration of China’s Ministry of Education.

Shandong University is among the founding institutions of modern Chinese higher education. Its main body, Shandong Imperial College (Shandong Da Xue Tang), was established in 1901 as the second national university in China after the Imperial University of Peking, and the first university founded and run under a chartered constitution. The university has 8 campuses in three cities — Jinan, Qingdao, and Weihai — covering over 533 hectares. It has 4 affiliated hospitals, 3 non-subordinate affiliated hospitals, and 11 teaching hospitals. Teaching and administrative staff number about 10,200 (including Weihai Campus and 3 affiliated hospitals). Full-time students total about 60,000: 41,437 undergraduates, 16,607 postgraduates, and 2,456 international students. Faculty include 1,107 professors, among them 907 Ph.D. supervisors. As a comprehensive university, it covers 13 general disciplines: philosophy, economics, law, education, literature, history, science, engineering, agriculture, medicine, military science, management, and fine arts. It has 40 first-level doctoral programs, 55 first-level master’s programs, 28 professional doctoral and master’s programs, 116 undergraduate programs, and 38 mobile post-doctoral research stations. Key discipline figures include 2 national key first-level disciplines (including 8 second-level), 14 national key second-level disciplines, 3 key national second-level disciplines (incubating), and 70 provincial key disciplines )

Shandong University of Finance and Economics is a provincial university in Jinan, capital of Shandong Province, formed in 2011 through the merger of two earlier institutions founded in 1952 and 1986. It operates across four campuses and comprises 24 schools delivering 62 undergraduate, 73 graduate, and 9 doctoral programmes. The university hosts around 33,000 full-time students and employs over 1,900 academic staff, including more than 900 professors and associate professors. Its teaching and research focus strongly on economics, finance, management, and related social sciences, with 16 provincial-level key disciplines and several dedicated research bases in regional economic development, public finance, and service industry innovation. Faculty members hold national and provincial honours, including Taishan Scholar titles and recognition under national talent programmes. SDUFE maintains an open approach to academic collaboration, supporting domestic and international exchange as part of its institutional ethos.

Yantai University (YTU) was established in 1984 with support from Peking University and Tsinghua University and is a key provincial comprehensive university. The campus covers more than 220 hectares on the coast of the Yellow Sea. There are 22 schools with 55 undergraduate and 54 graduate programs. Faculty number 1,158, including 611 full and associate professors; 317 hold doctoral degrees (27.5%) and 545 hold master’s degrees (47.1%); 74.6% of teachers hold a master’s degree or above. Notable appointments mentioned include 1 CAE academician, national outstanding teachers and New Century talent awardees, 12 experts with State Council special allowance, and other provincial honors. Over 300 nationally and internationally known scholars and 13 part-time academicians teach across disciplines. The library covers 43,800 square meters with about 1.7 million books, 0.8 million electronic books, 11,000 video tapes, and 10,000 Chinese and foreign dictionaries, plus 34 databases and campus internet access