University of Tsinghua

Most national and international university rankings place Tsinghua as a top university in China. Admission to Tsinghua is extremely competitive. Every year, a vast majority of applicants scoring the highest in the National Entrance Exams (the Chinese equivalent to the American SAT) choose Tsinghua. In 2003, 215 out of 300 students who scored the top 10 in the 30 tested provinces/areas chose Tsinghua and 28 of the 30 top scorers in each province/area chose the university.The majority of selected students are national scholars and among the brightest high school graduates in the country. Admissions to its graduate schools are also daunting by any measure. For instance, only 16% of MBA applicants are admitted; making admissions more competitive than MIT's MBA at 20% and tying with the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton MBA program.The current Chinese president, Hu Jintao, is a former Tsinghua student who graduated with a degree in hydraulic engineering in 1964. The University's Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology is on a separate campus in a northern suburb of Beijing.

Tsinghua has a reputation for having some of the most distinguished guest speakers of any university in the world (ex: President Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Henry Kissinger, Carlos Ghosn, Hank Paulson etc.⁾

As of 2003, Tsinghua University had 12 colleges and 48 departments, 41 research institutes, 35 research centers, and 167 laboratories, including 15 national key laboratories. In September 2006, Peking Union Medical College was renamed to Peking Union Medical College, Tsinghua University^[ The university offers 51 bachelor's degree programs, 139 master's degree programs and 107 Ph.D. programs. Recently, Tsinghua has become the first Chinese university to offer a Master of Laws program in American law, through a cooperative venture with the Temple University Beasley School of Law. The university is a member of LAOTSE, an international network of leading universities in Europe and Asia. Each year, the University celebrates the Intellectual Property Summer Institute in cooperation with Franklin Pierce Law Center of Concord, New Hampshire.