Zhang Boling and Mr. Yan Xiu, prominent patriotic educationists, with Mr. Zhang as the first president. Then the presidency was successively held by late Prof. Yang Shixian, contemporary educationist and outstanding chemist, and Prof. Teng Weizao, famous economist. Prof. Mu Guogang, well-known opticist, is now President of Nankai University and concurrently Deputy Member of the Administrative board of the International Association of Universities. The Secretary of the University's Party Committee is Mr. Li Yuan.
At its earliest stage, Nankai University offered studies in three areas: LIBERAL ARTS, SCIENCES and COMMERCE. Later, respective colleges were established. The College of Sciences first had 4 departments: the Departments of Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology, and then expanded to include the Department of Electrical Engineering and Chemical Engineering, and the Section of Pre-medical Studies. In the College of Commerce, there were the Departments of General Commerce, Banking, Accounting and Statistics. And in the College of Liberal Arts there were the Departments of Political Science, English Language and Literature, Philosophy and Education. The University's early research organization included the Society of Manchu and Mongolian Ethnic Studies and the Research Institute of Economics, both set up in 1927, and the Research Institute of Applied Chemistry, in 1932.
In july 1937, the University was bombed by the Japanese imoerialists. In August the same year, Nankai University, Peking University and Tsinghua University moved to Changsha, Hunan Province , and formed the Changsha Temperary University. Then the Changsha Temperary University moved to Kunming, Yannan Province, in April 1938 and changed its name to the Southwest Associated University. By this time, Nankai University had been transforned from a private university to a national university.
after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, nankai moved back to Tianjin in the fall of 1946. At that time there were 16 department in the College of Liberal Arts, Sciences, Engineering and Economics and the Reasearch institutes of economics and chemical Engineering.
in 1952 when universities and colleges throughout China went through a large- scale reorganization and reshuffle, Nankai University became a comprehensive university of libral arts and sciences.
At present, the University is directly under the State Commission of Education and remains to be a comprehensive university with multidiscipline programs in social sciences, technological sciences, economics, management, law and fine arts. Apart from 11 research institutes, Nankai has now 21 departments offering teaching programs in 49 disciplines. There are altogether 28 authorized doctoral programs and 64 Master's programs. Moreover the Graduate School and the College of Economics have also been set up.
Right now the University has a total of more than 10000 students ; including undergraduates, postgraduates for Master's program and Doctoral program, as well as students for 3-year programs sparetime programs and correspondence programs.
Nankai University is staffed with 120 professors, 478 associate professors and over 900 lectures. Amoung them ,there are 5 Members of Academic Sinica, 8 Members of the Dpartment Academic Assessment Groups of Committee for Conferring Degrees under the State Council and 48 advisors of doctoral programs. Prof. S. S. chern, world -knowned mathematician and member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, is now Director of Nankai Research Institute of Mathematics. He has invited both Chinese and foreign distinguished professors and scholars to give lectures on the university campus in an effort to turn Nankai into a training base for advanved mathematicians.
Now the University offers 1400 compulsory and optional undergraduate courses and 960 postgraduate courses.
Nankai has been equipped with good library and laboratory facilities. the University Library has a collection of 1. 9 million volumes of books, and a Center for Textbooks from abroad. And in addition to the 90 laboratories, the University has already set up a Central Laboratory with a computer center attached to it.
Over the recent years Nankai has achieved a great deal in natural science and technology have passed authorized assessments. Among these projects, 67 have won awards from the State Council, and the ministries and commission concerned, and 50 have won the scientific and technological achievement prizes awards by Tianjin Municipality. At present the University is undertaking quite a few important research projects assigned by the State and the Municipality.
In the field of philosophy and social sciences, the University has also achieved a lot: more than 500 different kinds of monographs , textbooks and reference books have been published and several thousand academic papers presented and published. Now Nankai has obtained from the University Research Fund for Dortoral Programs provided by the State Commission of Education special grants for 37 major research projects, which is quite noticeable among the comprehensive universities throughout the country.
Carrying out a policy of opening to the outside world, Nankai Universuty has developed exchange and cooperation programs not only with many universities in China, but also with some abroad. It has already established friendly relations with 26 well- known universities in the U.S., Japan, Germany, Canada, the U.K., France, Australia and Yugoslavia, and has carried out various exchange programs with some other foreign universities. In addition to Prof. S. S. Chern, Professors C. N. Tang, T. D. Lee and C. L. Yuan, world -renowned scientists, and Prof. C. M. Li, famous economist, are among Nankai's honorary professors. Over the last few years Nankai has sent many faculty members and students abroad to study for degrees, to pursue advanced studies, to do research work and to attend international conferences.
Nankai University covers a total area of 120 hectares. With its quiet and beautiful enviroment Nankai is indeed a very good place for studying and doing scholarly research. and with its strong faculty staff and its various branches of learning, Nankai made remarkable achievements in the past years and is now exerting its effort to make contribution to China's socoalist modernization.
Developed by: Dong He
Address: Box 9204, Peking Univ.
Beijing 100871, P.R.China
E_mail: xurs@linux2.ihep.ac.cn