Founded in 1946 as the Northeast College of Administration in Harbin, Heilongjiang, Jilin University merged with many universities and colleges and changed its name many times. In May 1948, the Northeast Administration College merged with the Harbin University and was renamed Northeast Academy of Science. In November 1948, the Northeast Academy of Science moved to Shenyang, Liaoning and restored the name of Northeast Administration College. In 1950, it was renamed as Northeast People's University. After the Korean War broke out, it was relocated to Changchun, Jilin. In 1958, it was renamed Jilin University.[4]
In 2000, then Jilin University, then Jilin University of Technology, then Norman Bethune University of Medical Sciences, then Changchun University of Science and Technology (established 1951), and then Changchun Institute of Posts and Telecommunications combined to form the current Jilin University. On August 29, 2004, then University of Military Logistics also merged into Jilin University.
The university has seven campuses in six districts that are home to 47 colleges covering 13 academic disciplines, including philosophy, economics, law, literature, education, history, science, engineering, agriculture, medicine, management, military science and art. The university has five state key laboratories, one national engineering laboratory, six national-local joint laboratories, one national engineering and technology research center, six humanities and social science key research bases of the Ministry of Education, ten key laboratories of the Ministry of Education, five engineering research centers of the Ministry of Education and 18 key laboratories of other ministries.
It is a comprehensive and national key university.[5][6] JLU offers a variety of degree programs. It has 129 undergraduate programs, 304 Master's degree programs, 244 doctoral degree programs, and 42 centers for post-doctoral studies, 47 first-class university and discipline construction projects. There are 73,702 full-time students, with 27,397 postgraduate students, 43,260 undergraduate and college students, over 2,000 overseas students.
There are 6,657 faculty members in total, among which there are 2,110 professors and 1,618 doctoral advisors. There are 43 members of Chinese Academy of Sciences or Chinese Academy of Engineering (including 33 adjunct members),[7] 7 senior professors of philosophical and social sciences, 20 members of assessment group of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council, 29 involved in the “Ten Thousand Talents Program”, 8 national-level outstanding teachers, 5 chief experts in research and construction projects of the Marxism theory in the central government, 6 chief scientists in the national “Program 973”, 15 young and middle-aged experts with prominent contribution, 59 selected in the “Changjiang Scholars Program”, 33 winners of the “National Outstanding Youth Fund”, 31 winners of “National Excellent Youth Fund” and 90 selected in “Changbai Mountain Scholars” in Jilin Province.
As of 2021, the CWTS Leiden Ranking table 2021 ranked Jilin University at 11th in the world based on their publications for the time period 2016–2019.[19] In 2021, it ranked 70th among the universities around the world by SCImago Institutions Rankings.[20] The university ranked 66th among the leading institutions globally in the Nature Index 2021 Annual Tables by Nature Research, that measure the high-quality research published in 82 high-quality science journals.[21]
The University Ranking By Academic Performance 2021/22 ranked Jilin University at 105th globally.[22] Jilin University ranked 223rd worldwide and 23rd nationwide in the Center for World University Ranking (CWUR) 2022/23.[23]
There are more than 50 multimedia and language learning audiovisual classrooms. Special attention has been paid to the construction of 20 basic science laboratories.
The university library claims a collection of 7.57 million books and is designated as the library of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and World Bank. It serves as the Comprehensive Information Center of Liberal Arts of the Education Ministry, the only Foreign Scientific Text Book Center in Northeast China, and the National Humanities and Social Science Higher Education Books Import Center. It is one of the seven centers of China Academic Library and Information System (CALIS) Center in Northeast China.
Several campuses have gymnasiums, stadiums, and arenas for basketball, volleyball, table tennis and artistic gymnastics. The Nanling Campus Stadium, which has a grass soccer field surrounded by standard synthetic racetracks, has 10,000 seats. There are tennis and basketball courts throughout the campus.
Jilin University has established ties with more than 289 universities, colleges, and research institutes in 39 countries/districts. Over 2,000 foreign students currently attend the university.
Yury Gogotsi - leading Ukrainian scientist in the field of material chemistry, professor at Drexel University, founder and director of the A.J. Drexel Nanotechnology Institute
Wilma Olson - professor at the BioMaPS institute for Quantitative Biology at Rutgers University., visiting professor at the Polymer Chemistry Department of the Jilin University.
Helmut Ringsdorf - polymer Chemist, known for being the first to propose covalently bonding drugs to water-soluble polymers.
Wang Xianghao - mathematician who introduced the Grunwald–Wang theorem, correcting an error in Wilhelm Grunwald's original statement and proof of this.
Zhu Guangya - renowned Chinese nuclear physicist, head and first director of Jilin University Department of Physics
Colleges, Institutions and other Affiliated Organizations
There are 47 colleges or schools, as well as a few institutions and other affiliated organizations within 9 divisions in Jilin University,[24] including:
