Southeast University (SEU) is one of the national key universities administered directly under the Ministry of Education of China. It is also one of the first universities accredited by the State Council to determine and approve the qualifications of professors, associate professors and doctorial supervisors. It is also one of the universities of ¡°Project 211¡± and ¡°985 Program¡± that is financed by the central government to build as a world-class university.

Southeast University is one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in China. Its origins can be traced back to 1902, when it was founded as Sanjiang Normal College. Then, it evolved as: Nanjing Higher Normal School, National Southeast University and National Central University. During the nationwide restructuring of institutions of higher learning in 1952, Nanjing Institute of Technology was established on the original site of National Central University. In May 1988, the university was renamed Southeast University. And in April 2000, Nanjing Railway Medical College, Nanjing College of Communications and Nanjing Geological School were merged into the university, whose main campus is located at the center of the ancient capital city of Nanjing, a sacred place for education since the Ming Dynasty. At present, Southeast University has five campuses, covering a total area of 155 hectares, with a built-up area of 886000 square meters.

Now, Southeast University has become a comprehensive university of high reputation comprised of various departments of science, engineering, art, social sciences, law, economics, management, languages, etc., with engineering as its focus. The university boasts over 40 schools or departments with 60 undergraduate disciplines in all. It also has 15 post-doctoral stations, and offers 105 PhD programs and 200 Master programs; it holds a national lead in architecture, civil engineering, electronics, information technology, energy, power engineering, and transportation technology. The total number of faculty and staff is 6000, including 1500 full or associate professors, 300 doctoral supervisors, 7 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Academy of Engineering. The university, which has 15 "Changjiang Scholar" professorships, can engage 30 scholars as "Changjiang Scholar" Professors, and now 20 have been engaged. At present, the full-time students number over 26000, of whom about 9000 are postgraduates.

The university takes an active part in setting up international cooperative programs with other countries. Up to now, it has signed agreements for friendly cooperation with more than 100 universities, research institutes or corporations in countries including Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Switzerland, Sweden, United States etc., which has contributed a great deal to the actual strength, international fame and development of the university.