Universities

Founded in 1953 and based in Beijing, China University of Petroleum has grown into a national university focused on energy science and engineering. It operates sixteen colleges offering undergraduate, master’s and doctoral programmes across petroleum engineering, geosciences, mechanical and electrical engineering, environmental science, and emerging areas including clean energy and energy policy. The university hosts two national key laboratories and over twenty ministerial research institutes, supporting work in deep-water technology, safety engineering and sustainable energy systems. Its academic staff includes nearly 1,400 teachers, among them professors and researchers recognised by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering. With more than 15,000 students—including over 800 from abroad—the university maintains strong ties with major energy enterprises worldwide. Its campuses combine long-standing expertise in oil and gas with expanding engagement in broader energy transitions.

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.

Qilu University of Technology (QLUT) is in Jinan, Shandong — known as the City of Springs — between the Yellow River to the north and Mount Tai to the south. The main campus covers more than 2,000 acres in the Western University Science Park. History: founded in 1948; upgraded as Shandong Polytechnic University in 1978; among the first bachelor’s degree-granting units in 1982; master’s degree-granting from 1998; Master of Fine Arts authorization in 2009; among Shandong’s first “Featured University Cultivating Applied Talents” cohort in 2012; renamed Qilu University of Technology on 18 April 2013 with Ministry of Education approval. Disciplines: 71 undergraduate majors across Engineering, Science, Liberal Arts, Economics, Management, Law, and Art )

Qingdao Binhai University is a private university in Qingdao, Shandong, established in 1992. It offers undergraduate programmes across applied disciplines with an emphasis on practical skills. International students can enrol where the university opens overseas intake.

Qingdao University sits on a coastal campus at the foot of Fushan Mountain, with views across to the Yellow Sea. Founded in 1987, it is one of China’s earlier institutions approved to enrol international students and hosts an HSK test centre. The university comprises 22 colleges offering 94 undergraduate majors, alongside 35 doctoral and 178 master’s programmes across disciplines including medicine, engineering, law, arts, and social sciences. Its student body exceeds 40,000. Qingdao’s mild climate, seaside setting, and layered cultural history—shaped by German colonial architecture, maritime trade, and modern academic life—form part of the university’s everyday context. International engagement is embedded in its structure, with formal partnerships spanning over 20 countries and regular teaching contributions from visiting academics worldwide.

Qingdao University of Science and Technology (QUST) in Qingdao is known for chemistry, chemical engineering, and related science and technology programmes.

Shandong Jianzhu University (SJU), founded in 1956, is in Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province and a historic cultural city. It has grown into an applied research university focused on engineering, especially civil engineering and architecture, with coordinated development across engineering, science, management, literature, law, agronomy, and art. The campus covers more than 160 hectares with about 700,000 square meters of buildings. There are 20 schools (departments), 64 undergraduate programs, 4 research (design) institutes, and over 26,800 full-time students. SJU is described as the only university in China designated to cultivate doctoral talent for green architecture to meet special national needs, and the only university in Shandong that has passed national professional evaluation (certification) for all civil engineering majors. It was the first undergraduate university in Shandong in the national industry–education integration demonstration project. ESI engineering ranks among the top 1% worldwide. Architecture and civil engineering are first-class disciplines in Shandong; architecture is listed as a high-level advantageous and characteristic discipline. Civil engineering, building environment and energy application, urban and rural planning, and water supply and sewerage engineering are provincial high-level application key construction majors. Architecture, civil engineering, electrical engineering and automation, and environmental design have been rated national characteristic majors. The university has strong research strength in new urbanization, building industrialization, green building, smart city, and ancient building fields )

Shandong Jiaotong University was established in 1956 and is described as the only university in Shandong offering bachelor’s degrees focused on highway and waterway transportation. It has three campuses (Jinan, Changqing, and Weihai), covering more than 2,200 Chinese mu, with floor area about 0.39 million m². Equipment and facilities valued around 154 million yuan; library about 1.53 million volumes. Thirteen schools/colleges and four teaching departments include Automotive Engineering; Transportation and Logistics Engineering; Mechanical Engineering; Civil Engineering; Information Science and Electronic Engineering; Finance and Economics; Management; Humanity and Law; Foreign Studies; Science; Maritime; Material Science and Engineering; Northern International College; plus Social Science, Physical Education, Continuing Education, and Vocational Technology College. Forty-two bachelor’s programs (examples: Traffic Transportation, Vehicle Engineering, Civil Engineering, Engine Engineering, Navigation, Ships and Oceanographic Engineering) across liberal arts, science, engineering, economics, management, law, and art, with engineering as the key discipline )

Shandong Normal University was established in 1956 in Jinan, capital city of Shandong Province. It operates across two campuses and maintains a strong academic focus on teacher education and humanities, with additional programmes in social sciences, natural sciences, and management. The university integrates elements of Qilu cultural tradition into its teaching and research environment. Its library holds extensive collections, and it hosts multiple discipline-specific research centres. Student enrolment spans undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral levels across several schools and faculties.

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.

Shandong University of Science and Technology (SDUST), founded in 1951 in Qingdao, is a multidisciplinary university with particular strength in engineering and the sciences.

Shandong University of Technology (SDUT), established in 1956, is a key comprehensive university in Shandong Province with a focus on science and engineering. It is in Zibo, historically the capital of the Qi State during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. The campus covers 240 hectares and is about 1.5 hours from Qingdao by high-speed rail and about 2.5 hours’ drive from Qufu. SDUT has 21 academic schools, about 33,000 full-time undergraduates, and over 2,600 graduate students. Disciplines span engineering, science, economics, management, literature, law, history, pedagogy, and arts. Programs include 75 undergraduate, 98 graduate, and 13 doctoral offerings. Notable fields cited include Chinese Language and Literature, International Economy and Trade, Finance, Accounting, Mechanical Manufacturing and Automation, Vehicle Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Automation, Energy and Power Engineering, and Civil Engineering. SDUT is an HSK examination center approved by Hanban (Confucius Institute Headquarters) and works with the International Society of Chinese Language Pedagogy on Chinese language teacher training and testing (Certificate of Accreditation in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language). It accepts Chinese Government Scholarship and Shandong Provincial Government Scholarship students and has cooperative relationships with more than 60 universities in 17 countries )

It focuses on applied talent cultivation and offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs, with the right to recommend postgraduates exempt from admission examinations. Jinan is the provincial capital (“city of springs”), near Mount Tai and the Yellow River; Shandong is described as China’s third-largest economic province and the home of Confucianism. The university has four campuses covering over 2.43 million square meters, 26 schools, and 3 post-doctoral research centers. Disciplines include Economics, Law, Education, Literature, History, Science, Technology, Management, and Art. Six disciplines, including Chemistry and Material Science, are in the ESI top 1%. It has cooperative relationships with 120 international counterparts in countries including the US, UK, Germany, France, Canada, Australia, Russia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore. More than 4,000 international students have graduated from the university.

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