Skip to content
  • TUM Global Week
  • EuroTeQ courses
  • Partnerships
  • Study abroad
  • Training abroad
  • TUM Global Network
  • Thinking green
  • de
  • en
  • TUM Global & Alumni Office
  • Technical University of Munich
Technical University of Munich
  • Home
  • About us
  • TUM Global News
  • Partnerships & Initiatives
    • EuroTech
    • EuroTeQ
    • Imperial College London
      • Imperial-TUM Zero Pollution Seed Fund
    • NTU
    • Tsinghua University
    • The University of Queensland
    • KNUST
    • Indo-German Partnership
    • Politecnico di Milano
    • UNESP
    • Global South Initiative
  • Worldwide locations
    • TUM Beijing
    • TUM Brussels
      • European Talent Academy
    • TUM Mumbai
    • TUM San Francisco
    • TUM São Paulo
    • TUM Campus Singapore
  • Going abroad
    • Study
      • Studying within the EU through Erasmus
      • Studying within the EuroTeQ network
      • Studying in Switzerland
      • Short-term stays in Europe with ATHENS
      • Study stays worldwide with TUMexchange
      • Scholarships for stays abroad
      • Stays abroad via School Programs
      • Double degree programs
      • International summer schools
      • Entry of your freemover stay
    • Internships
      • Internships with Erasmus+
      • Tips for finding an internship
    • Research and Teaching
      • Teaching opportunities through the EuroTeQ Course Catalogue
      • Teaching in Europe with Erasmus+
      • TUM Global Incentive Fund
        • FAQ on the TUM Global Incentive Fund
      • Further funding options
    • Training
      • Further education and training within Europe with Erasmus+ and EuroTeQ
      • International administrative practice with the Montgelas Program
        • Montgelas Fellowships
    • Thinking green
      • Thinking Green Travel Stories
    • Promoting equity!
    • Blended Intensive Programmes (BIPs)
    • TUM Without Borders
  • Coming to TUM
    • Study stays
      • General information for international students
      • Exchange programs at TUM
      • Study at TUM through EuroTeQ
      • Short-term stays with ATHENS
      • International Campus Life
      • Disabilities & Chronic illnesses
      • Accommodation service
    • Research stays for students
      • Practical Project Students
      • TUM PREP
        • Guideline for project database
    • Research and teaching stays
      • Teaching stays at TUM with Erasmus+
      • Erasmus+ worldwide
      • TUM Global Visiting Professor Program
        • Information for Visiting Researchers
      • Welcome Services for international researchers
        • Informationen for hosts
    • Continuing education stays
      • Invited Experts in Administration
      • Training mobilities at TUM with Erasmus+
      • Erasmus+ worldwide
    • Thinking green
      • Thinking Green Travel Stories
    • Promoting equity!
  • Events
    • TUM Global Week
    • TUM Global Experiences Festival
    • Cultural Program
    • TUM Global Dialogue Series
    • TUM Community Events
  • Alumni worldwide
  • International career
  • Mentoring programs
  • Contacts
    • TUM Global & Alumni Office Team
    • Contacts at the Schools
  1. Home
  2. Worldwide locations
  3. TUM Beijing
Main building of Tsinghua University in Beijing, China
The main building of our Chinese flagship partner, Tsinghua University in Beijing. Photo: kool99 / istock.com

TUM Beijing Insights

China's Double First-Class Initiative – all TUM partners included

July 29, 2022

The QS World University Ranking has rated TUM as the best university in Germany for the eighth time in a row. Worldwide, it ranks 49th among the 50 best universities. The top 50 also includes numerous international partner universities of TUM. The two top Chinese universities, Peking University and Tsinghua – one of our flagship partners – are ranked 12th and 14th in the QS ranking. Also in the top 50: TUM's long-standing partners Zhejiang University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

The presidents Prof. Thomas F. Hofmann and Prof. Qiu Yong sign the new partnership agreement during a video conference
Together even better: Tsinghua University has become one of our flagship partners in 2020. Presidents Prof. Hofmann and Prof. Yong Qiu with the partnership agreement. Photo: Astrid Eckert / TUM

At national level, all TUM partner universities in China are again listed in the Double First-Class University Initiative in 2022.

This elite funding program for Chinese higher education institutions provides universities with special advantages for study and research.

The Double First-Class Initiative is similar to the German Universities Excellence Initiative in so far as one of the program's goals is to promote top university research and improve their global competitiveness.

Total focus on innovations and outcomes

The Chinese Ministry of Education released the results of the second round of the Double First-Class Initiative in February. The selection includes 147 universities with 59 basic subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology, 180 engineering subjects and 92 philosophical and social science subjects.

The current round of the Double First-Class Initiative differs in many ways from the program's initiation phase in 2017 to 2021. For example, it no longer distinguishes between first-rate universities and universities with first-rate disciplines.

The Ministry of Education justified the move by stating that “the construction of 'double first-class' in the new stage should guide the universities to focus on innovation in relevant fields and achieve substantial breakthroughs”.

TUM's strategic partners assigned with special status

In the current round of the Double First-Class Initiative, Peking University as well as Tsinghua University have been granted special autonomous status based on their outstanding achievements, allowing for flexible distribution of funding across disciplines. Tsinghua and Peking University are both strategic partners of TUM.

Role model partnerships with Peking University and Tsinghua

The co-directors of the PYLOTUM have been working closely together since 2010: Prof. Markus Gerhard, Deputy Director of the TUM Institute of Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene and Prof. Kai-feng Pan, Head of Research at Peking University Cancer Hospital.

TUM and Peking University have been collaborating intensively for many years, among other things in gastric cancer research. In October 2018, the partners established the joint research presence PYLOTUM in Beijing. The PYLOTUM is a lighthouse project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and an important milestone in the more than ten years of successful collaboration between TUM and the Peking University Health Science Center. 

“Among a total of only eight approved Sino-German projects, it is the only laboratory in biomedical research,” explains Kai-feng Pan, head of PYLOTUM on the Chinese side, who was honored as a TUM Ambassador by TUM President Thomas F. Hofmann in 2020. “For us, the lab is not only a think tank for experts, but also a training center for young male and female doctors and scientists.”

TUM entered into a flagship partnership with Tsinghua University in October 2020 to promote mutual interests and encourage further collaborations – particularly with the Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School (Tsinghua SIGS) in the Shenzhen Innovation Center in southeastern China. Since signing the Memorandum of Understanding, both universities have been pursuing new ideas for cooperation in the flagship focus areas of entrepreneurship, lifelong learning and education.

Resting on one's laurels is no longer possible

Another radical change in the Double First-Class Initiative: Since this round, there is now the possibility for the first time that universities can be excluded from the program. Sixteen fields at fifteen universities have been given a warning in light of this. They have not yet been eliminated from the program, but will be re-evaluated next year.

This is the first time that an exit mechanism has been explicitly proposed in a funding program for Chinese universities. Related reports said that the evaluation results of these universities did not quite meet expectations. Compared with similar funded subjects in other universities, their overall development level, sustainable development capability and growth improvement were relatively backward, they said. Most of the affected universities are located in the economically weaker western or central regions and face the dilemma of losing excellent talents.

Strengthening international cooperation and exchange

Direct exchange and first-hand information: Liaison officer Zhenshan Jin frequently organizes info events in Beijing. At these events, Chinese TUM graduates, here Dr. Qibin Luo, inform interested candidates about the academic and professional opportunities that studying and research at TUM can offer them. Photo: TUM Beijing

Another key development area proposed in the second round of the Double First-Class Initiative is boosting international cooperation and exchange between universities.

In the past two years, international university collaborations and exchanges between Chinese and German students and scholars have been mostly limited to online formats due to the severely limited travel opportunities in China.

The inclusion of this item shows that international cooperation between universities at the best Chinese universities should continue to play an important role. 

TUM has defined China as a strategically important partner country since the first round of the Excellence Initiative and established its first international liaison office, TUM Beijing, in Beijing in 2011. For more information about TUM's cooperation with Chinese universities, please contact TUM Beijing liaison officer Zhenshan Jin. 

More on this topic:

Flagship partnership with Tsinghua University

PYLOTUM: Joint research center of TUM & Peking University

TUM Ambassador Kai-feng Pan: “Our collaboration is extremely successful”

Back to TUM Beijing >

To top

TUM Global & Alumni Office

Technical University of Munich
Arcisstr. 21
80333 Munich
Germany

TUM Beijing Office

Zhenshan Jin, Liaison Officer TUM Beijing

Zhenshan Jin

Tel.: +86 10 82 317 552
beijing(at)tum.de

Visit us on LinkedIn

TUM Beijing News

10.12.2024

TUM Beijing: Tsinghua-TUM Talks 2024 – Working together for progress in precision medicine and biopharmaceuticals


27.11.2024

TUM Beijing: Tsinghua-TUM Talks on Advanced Healthcare Engineering on December 5


24.10.2024

TUM Beijing: TUM showcases exchange programs and outstanding research opportunities at Study Abroad Fair in Shanghai


05.07.2024

TUM Beijing: Valuable exchange during the Tsinghua SIGS Global Summer School


17.06.2024

TUM Beijing: TUM-Tsinghua Summer School in Beijing in September: Apply now!


18.04.2024

TUM strengthens strategic scientific cooperation in China


21.12.2023

Tsinghua-TUM Talks on Intelligent Cities: Impulses for innovation and collaboration


28.11.2023

TUM Beijing: TUM strengthens international cooperation with leading Chinese universities


18.07.2023

TUM Beijing: TUM-SJTU workshop to promote cooperation in study and teaching


16.06.2023

TUM Beijing: TUM Ambassadors intensify dialogue with students in China

  • Privacy
  • Imprint
  • Accessibility