Founded in Shanghai in October 1951, East China Normal University (ECNU) is one of the most prestigious universities in China sponsored by the national top university construction programs “Project 211” and “Project 985”. In 2017, ECNU was chosen as one of the 36 Class A universities on the list of Double First Class University Plan released by the central government of China.
With two beautiful campuses located in Minhang and Putuo districts of Shanghai, and covering a total area of more than 207 hectares, ECNU has long been known as a Garden University.
Since China opened up to the outside world in 1978, ECNU has developed rapidly into a comprehensive research university. At present, the University has 4 faculties, 30 full-time schools, 4 colleges, 8 advanced research institutes, one college of further education, and one national training center for secondary principals. Its 58 departments offer a total of 84 undergraduate programs in humanities, education, science, engineering, economics, management, philosophy, psychology, law, history and art. In addition, the University also offers 30 doctoral programs, 36 master's programs, one professional doctoral program, 21 professional master's programs, and 26 post-doctoral mobile research stations.
As the first normal university established after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, ECNU has attached the utmost importance to teacher training. The Ministry of Education's Training Center for Secondary School Principals located at ECNU is a unique base for the training of secondary school principals on China’s Mainland and for advanced studies for secondary schools in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.