Entity Type: PRC University

Taishan Vocational and Technical College (泰山職業技術學院), also known by its self-branded English name Taishan Polytechnic, is a public vocational college in Tai’an, Shandong province, run by the Tai’an municipal government and approved by the Shandong provincial government, with formal registration under China’s Ministry of Education. It was formed in April 2002 through the merger of the Tai’an Mechanical and Electronic Engineering School and the Shandong Tai’an Agricultural School, with the Tai’an Trade School folded in in 2004. According to the college’s own account, it has pursued an “education goes overseas” strategy since 2014, establishing partnerships in Russia, Australia, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea, and Taiwan. In November 2024, it opened its first overseas “Ban-Mo Institute” at Kyrgyz State Technical University in Bishkek, and it states plans for a second such institute in Malaysia in 2025.

Zhejiang University of Water Resources and Electric Power (浙江水利水電學院), founded in 1953, is a public higher education institution in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province. According to the university’s own account, it is the only university in Zhejiang jointly constructed by China’s Ministry of Water Resources and the Zhejiang provincial government, and it describes its mission as training “practically competitive industrial backbones” with what it calls “consciousness for water conservancy.” The university offers 34 majors across engineering, management, economics, and literature, with a focus on water conservancy, hydropower, and civil engineering. It states that it participates in Belt and Road Initiative-related international cooperation and has partnered with universities in the United Kingdom, France, Belarus, and Germany, as well as with Chinese institutions including Wuhan University and Hohai University. The university led the construction of the Kyrgyzstan Luban Workshop, a vocational training center at Kyrgyz State Technical University in Bishkek unveiled in October 2024.

Qingdao Binhai University (青島濱海學院) is a private university in Qingdao’s West Coast New Area, Shandong province. Founded in 1992, it became one of Shandong’s first two private institutions authorized to grant bachelor’s degrees in 2005, according to the university’s own profile. The university reports approximately 24,000 full-time students and around 200 international students studying on campus annually, with a cumulative total of more than 2,000 long-term international students from nearly 30 countries over its history. It maintains partnerships with more than 140 universities and research institutions across 40 countries, including Russia, and Taiwan. The university operates a Shandong Provincial Foreign Affairs Research and Development Think Tank (山東省外事研究與發展智庫), one of several provincially designated research platforms hosted on campus. In April 2026, the university’s International Civil Diplomacy Research Center signed a cooperation agreement with the Russian outlet Dragon Newspaper.

The University of International Business and Economics (對外經濟貿易大學), was founded in 1951 in Beijing and is directly under the control of China’s Ministry of Education and co-run with the Ministry of Commerce. The university specializes in economics, trade, law, and management,  fields that the university describes as its core academic strengths. It was originally established as China’s first higher education institution dedicated to training foreign trade professionals and it hosts over 160 research centres and, in line with a broader nationwide drive following the enshrinement of Xi Jinping Thought in the Party constitution in 2017, after which dozens of universities across China rapidly established dedicated research bases, it hosts a Beijing based research institute for the study of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era (習近平新時代中國特色社會主義思想). UIBE currently has partnerships with 397 universities and institutions across 62 countries and regions.

Liaoning Communication University (遼寧傳媒學院), or LNCU, is a higher education institution located in the city of Shenyang, in northeastern China’s Liaoning province. Established in 1991, the university is one of eight dedicated media and communication universities in China. It offers 19 undergraduate specialties, including programs taught in English on animation design, internet and multimedia, and visual communication design.  LNCU says it has established academic exchange relationships with several institutions globally, including in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and France — but does not offer concrete information about such cooperation.

Founded on September 29, 2024, the Tianjin University Global South Institute (天津大學全球南方研究院) is China’s first university-based research center dedicated to Global South studies. Housed within the School of Foreign Languages and led by Executive Director Professor Wang Zhan (王戰), the institute operates as a state-oriented think tank explicitly tasked with serving Chinese national strategy and advancing Beijing’s vision of a “community with a shared future for mankind.” It maintains four research centers focused on Francophone countries, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, East Asia, and the United States and India, and runs a multilingual public opinion monitoring and AI translation platform tracking political and social developments across Global South nations.

Founded in 1895 as Peiyang University (北洋大學) by statesman Sheng Xuanhuai under a Qing imperial charter, Tianjin University is the oldest institution of higher education in modern Chinese history. Renamed Tianjin University in 1951 following the nationwide restructuring of colleges under the People’s Republic, it was designated one of China’s first sixteen national key universities in 1959 and is now a Ministry of Education-administered institution under the country’s Double First-Class construction program for world-class universities. Today it collaborates with more than 260 institutions across 50 countries and encompasses schools spanning engineering, science, law, humanities, and medicine, with particular strength in chemical engineering, materials science, and precision instrumentation.

Fujian Normal University (福建師範大學), or FNU, located in the provincial capital city of Fuzhou, is a public university founded in 1907, making it Fujian’s oldest university and one of China’s oldest teachers’ colleges. It acquired its current name in 1972. The university operates 28 colleges offering undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral programs across a wide range of disciplines. FNU has been authorized by the state to provide teacher training for elementary, secondary, and higher education institutions, and has been designated as one of four national bases for teaching Chinese as a foreign language to students from Southeast Asia — a mandate that has made it an active partner in China’s overseas Chinese-language education network. FNU currently partners with Angeles University Foundation in the Philippines to operate the Confucius Institute at Angeles University Foundation (CI-AUF).