Fudan University is a national public research university in Shanghai, China. Fudan is a member of the C9 League, Project 985, Project 211, and the Double First Class University identified by the Ministry of Education of China. It is also a member of Universitas 21, Washington University's McDonnell International Scholars Academy, and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, BRICS Universities League, Association of East Asian Research Universities, and Council on Business & Society.

Founded in 1905, Fudan was originally named Fudan Public School. It is the first higher education institution founded by a Chinese. The name Fudan is composed of two Chinese characters: fù (“return”) and dàn (“dawn”) taken from the sentence “Brilliant are the sunshine and moonlight, again the morning radiance returns at dawn” in the Confucius classic A Commentary on The Classic of History. In 1917, the school officially became a private school and took the current name. In 2000, Fudan University merged with Shanghai Medical University.

Fudan is a collegiate university with five colleges – Zhide, Tengfei, Keqing, Renzhong, and Xide. It is now composed of four campuses in Shanghai – Handan, Fenglin, Zhangjiang, and Jiangwan. Fudan has 17 hospitals affiliated. Today, Fudan has a student population of 30,000 international students with about 15% undergraduate students. The university offers 70 undergraduate programs in the arts, humanities and sciences, and prides itself on an international outlook. Some of its courses are taught in English and the institution boasts global connections and exchange programs with nearly 200 international universities.

The university takes a liberal arts approach to education, with an ethos based on the belief that academic study is most effective when combined with individual development of character, an understanding of different cultures and a teaching of independent research methods. To meet these ends, Fudan adopts an innovative teaching approach combining ideology and culture in lectures and conferences – many of which are broadcast publicly on the internet.

A strong emphasis is also placed on practical training, and the university has a number of initiatives in place to assist students with their own projects, including the university’s undergraduate academic research financial aid platform which assists 500 students each year with funding their own independent academic research. Fudan's Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (FDUROP) also gives students the facilities to showcase their ideas.

As of 2022, Fudan University is ranked 3rd in China, 7th in Asia and 31st globally according to the QS Rankings. Fudan's notable alumni include Chen Yinke, Chen Wangdao, Chu Coching, Yan Fu, Yu Youren and "China's Kissinger" Wang Huning.

Source: Internet