Soochow University (SUDA)

Soochow University, colloquially known in Chinese as Suda is a university located in Suzhou, Jiangsu, China. The school is part of the Chinese Ministry of Education’s Project 211, and a Jiangsu provincial key comprehensive university. The School of Humanities, School of Textile and Clothing Engineering, School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, and School of Medicine are the university’s most visibly distinguished schools. It was named after the city name Suzhou (spelt Soochow in the past) when founded in 1900, but according to the Pinyin spelling system it is now often written as Suzhou University (Suzhou Daxue or Suda in short）. China’s reform and opening-up policy has provided the university with excellent opportunities for international academic exchange and cooperation. Soochow University has established cooperative relationships with more than 100 universities and institutions in Japan, France, Korea, Singapore, Germany, U.S.A., Canada, Australia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Every year the university accepts over 2,000 international students to study Chinese language and literature and other relevant majors.

At present, Soochow University runs twenty post-doctoral research stations, six Ph.D. programs of primary disciplines, eighty-five Ph.D. programs (including self-designed majors）, one professional doctoral program of primary disciplines, 209 master’s degree programs (including self-designed majors), 10 professional master’s degree programs as well as 108 undergraduate programs. The university has now about 50,000 students, including 12,744 postgraduates, 22,853 undergraduates and 9,010 adult education students. Among its 4166 faculty and staff members, four are full-time employed academicians (including one member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences who is also a member of the Third-World Academy of Sciences and three members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering), 1,633 are full professors and associate professors.

The university consists of 6 campuses covering an area of 135 hectares and with 940,000 square meters of building area.The main and most beautiful campus is located at No.1 Shizi Street. The total enrollment is more than 39,000 students, including more than 28,000 graduates/undergraduates and more than 11,000 adult students of formal education.

The campus grounds have been described as among China’s most beautiful, in part based on the incorporation of “typical features of the classical gardens in Suzhou”.

Members of the Soochow Alumni Association who fled to Taiwan after 1949 established the Soochow University in Taipei, starting with its College of Law in 1951 and becoming a full-fledged university with five schools in 1971.

Soochow University is one of the top 5% research universities (overall ranking 36 within 704 Chinese universities in 2013. And the member of the “2011 plan”- the latest program launched in 2011 by the Chinese Ministry of Education to develop into world class top universities

Academic & Department

• School of Humanities


• Phoenix Communication College – financial support provided by Phoenix Television, Hong Kong.


• School of Social Science


• School of Politics and Public Administration


• School of Education


• School of Business


• Kenneth Wang School of Law


• School of Foreign Languages


• Gold Mantis School of Architecture and Urban Environment


• Applied Technology College


• School of Mathematical Sciences


• School of Physical Science and Technology & School of Energy


• School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science


• School of Computer Science and Technology


• School of Electronic Information


• School of Mechanic and Electronic Engineering


• School of Textile and Clothing Engineering


• School of Arts


• School of Sports Science


• School of Medicine – merged with the previously-independent Suzhou Medical College in 2000.


• School of Urban Rail Transportation


• School of Applied Technology


• Wenzheng College


• School of Overseas Education