Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU) is a key university under the direct administration of the Ministry of Education of China and is one of the oldest universities in China. The predecessor of Xi'an Jiaotong University was Nanyang College, which was founded in 1896 in Shanghai and renamed Jiaotong University in 1921. In 1956, the main part of Jiaotong University was relocated to Xi'an according to the decision of the State Council, and this relocated part of JiaotongUniversity was later officially renamed Xi'an Jiaotong University in 1959. In 2000, approved by the State Council, the former Xi'an Medical University and former Shaanxi Institute of Finance and Economics were merged with Xi'an Jiaotong University. XJTU, as one of the first batch of the universities in China, was supported by the central Government at the seventh and eighth five-year plan, as well as China's “Project 211” and “Project 985” to develop into a world-class university. Now, Xi’an Jiaotong University is on the List of World-class Universities and First-class Disciplines (abbreviated as “Double First-class”) released in 2017 by the Ministry of Education of China, as a Double First-class university in Category A, which means that the government will support it financially to develop into a world-class university, and its eight disciplines into the first-class level in the world.

Currently, XJTU is a comprehensive research university with 10 major categories of disciplines: science, engineering, medicine, economics, management, humanities, law, philosophy, education and art, and 27 schools, 9 university colleges for undergraduates and 19 affiliated teaching hospitals. The University has a faculty and staff of 5,982 people including 3,072 full-time teachers, of whom 35 are academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and/or the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 6 Nationally Distinguished Teachers, 112 outstanding scholars, 92 distinguished professors, 40 recipients of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, 23 National Experts with Outstanding Contributions, 28 scholars who are enlisted in the National Hundred, Thousand and Ten Thousand Talents Project and the New Century National Hundred, Thousand, and Ten Thousand Talents Project, 29 scholars who won the support as Innovation Team leaders, 234 scholars who won the Support Program for New Century Excellent Talents administered by the Ministry of Education, and 511 experts who have made outstanding contributions to the nation and receive the State Council Special Allowance.

XJTU now has 38,103 full-time students, including 18,919 postgraduates. The university offers 82 undergraduate majors, and there are 31 first-level disciplines authorized to confer doctorate degrees, and there are 45 first-level disciplines and 4 second-level disciplines (which were not included in any first-level discipline) authorized to confer master’s degrees, and 2 disciplines authorized to confer professional doctorate degrees, 22 disciplines authorized to confer professional master’s degrees, and there are 25 post-doctoral research stations. There are 8 state-level key first-level disciplines, 8 state-level key second-level disciplines, and 3 state-level key (nurtured to develop) second-level disciplines. It has 5 national key laboratories, 6 National Engineering Technology Research Centers, 3 National Engineering Laboratories, 5 International Science & Technology Cooperation Base, and 1Collaborative Innovation Center (2011). And there are Western China Energy Research Institute, Western China Institute of Quality Science and Technology, 115 key research facilities at the provincial and ministerial level. According to the data released by Essential Science Indicators (ESI), 2 disciplines of XJTU are ranked top 10/00 on the ESI list, 14 disciplines of XJTU are ranked top 1% on the ESI list up to March 2018.

During its more than 120-year history, Xi'an Jiaotong University has upheld the principles of developing education to make China strong, pioneering with painstaking efforts, advocating virtues and pragmatism, seeking a meticulous scholarship, and pursuing excellence. It has developed such fine traditions as loving China and the University, seeking after the truth, working steadily and conscientiously, hard-working and plain-living, and has formed a school running characteristic of higher starting point, more solid foundation, stricter requirements, and more emphasis in practice. XJTU's outstanding alumni include Zhang Yuanji, Cai Yuanpei, Cai E, Huang Yanpei, Zou Taofen, Lu Dingyi, Qian Xuesen, ZhangGuangdou, Wu Wenjun, Xu Guangxian, Jiang Zemin, Jiang Xinsong, Hou Zonglian, etc. Since being relocated to Xi'an, the University has turned out 32 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and/or the Chinese Academy of Engineering, including Li Bohu, Li Helin, Ye Shangfu, Chen Guoliang, Lei Qingquan, Xiong Youlun, Su Junhong, Sun Jiulin, Chen Guilin, Cheng Shijie, Sun Caixin, Han Qide, Tan Tieniu, Cong Bin, Hao Yue, Jiang Song, Fang Jiancheng, Wang Huaming, Tang Guangfu, Guo Wanlin, etc. and overseas academicians such as the National Academy of Engineering of the United States and the Canadian Academy of Engineering, including Gao Huajian, Suo Zhigang, Jiang Jing, Liu Yilu, Liang Ping and Chen Zhangxing, etc. XJTU has graduated 250,000 students since 1956 with a good reputation in the past 62 years, and there are a number of famous XJTU alumni including Jiang Zhenghua, Zhang Fuan, Chen Huibo, Zhang Yupu, Wen Xisen, Ma Dexiu, Cui Dianguo, YaoYinliang, Sun Laiyan, Zhang Guobao, Jia Quanxi, Wang Yu, Lian Weiliang, Wen Shugang, Xiang Bing, Long Xingyuan, Wang Jianping, Jiang Xiaojuan, Pu Zhongjie, Yu Jie, Zhang Yuee, Gui Shengyue, Lu Lei, Zhao Huan, Qiu Jianping, Li Renchao, Hu Huaibang, Zhou Hongyi, Chen Xi, Li Shousheng, Zheng Haitao, Lu Yiming, Fan Deng, Liu Liehong, Wang Dongfeng, Liu Qi, etc.

XJTU has fully implemented the ideas of "cultivation in conduct, the impartation of knowledge, training in abilities, innovation in thinking" in the cultivation of talents, and established the system of "general education plus professional education with wide-ranged knowledge" and "Undergraduate - Postgraduate - Doctoral Students" through-type talent cultivation mode. In 2006, XJTU took the lead among Chinese universities to create a system of university colleges modeled on the traditional Chinese academy of learning. This twin-college system is aimed at giving our students the best possible chance for success. In 2017, XJTU set up the Undergraduate School to carry out the three-level administrative mode of "University - School - Department", and set up a management system for undergraduate talents training of "collaboration, connection, coordination between teaching and educating." Based on the Qian Xuesen School, XJTU applies Qian Xuesen's spirit and wisdom to teaching practice to explore the new mechanism for cultivating innovative talents and has established top talent training trial classes including the “Exceptionally Gifted Juveniles Class”, "Qian Xuesen Trial Class", "Zonglian Trial Class", "Trial Classes for Talents of Basic Subject", etc. XJTU has received an endorsement from students and parents for its unique educational model, its favorable study environment, excellent teachers and substantial teaching resources, and its positive satisfactory teaching results. So far, XJTU has won 67 national-level awards for excellence in teaching, upgraded 35 courses to be the National-level Quality Courses, 23 to be the National-level Quality-Resources-Sharing Courses, 11 National-level Video Open Courses, 12 National-level Experimental Teaching Demonstration Centers, and 9 National-level Teaching Teams. To date, 27 XJTU student dissertations have won an award as “China's 100 best doctoral dissertations”; another 46 have been nominated for that award.

Research in science and technology at XJTU is directed primarily at satisfying the country’s most important needs, forging into international frontiers, enhancing the technological competitiveness of China. Since 2000, researchers from XJTU have led 21 research projects supported by “Program 973”, and 4,830 research projects supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Its total number of basic research projects and grants obtained rank XJTU among top Chinese universities. XJTU has won 61 national-level awards for research in science and technology as the first author, among which 7 XJTU achievements won 2017 National Science and Technology Awards, making XJTU rank the second among colleges and universities in China in terms of the number of awards. To produce these results, XJTU relies on its strength in key disciplines and on its unique educational model, with its emphasis on the integration of production, study, and research. In addition, in cooperation with the government and with large and mid-sized enterprises, it has established research and development parks whose aim is to help solve the key technological problems facing industries and to strengthen the contributions of science and technology to the regional economy and of local social development. Since 2000, researchers from XJTU have undertaken 23 major projects supported by National Social Science Foundation, and have won 21 Excellent Research Achievement Awards (Humanities and Social Sciences) of the Ministry of Education. A total of 10 high-end think tanks have been established collaborated with the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce, and a large number of research results have been adopted.