Nanjing University has deeply studied and implemented the spirit of the 20th National Congress and subsequent plenary sessions, fully implementing President Xi Jinping's important directives for the "Unique Nanjing University" and the spirit of his important reply to NJU young scholars returning from overseas. The university steadfastly fulfills the requirements of the "Forging Ahead Initiative", deeply implementing the action plan to optimize academic layout, focusing on promoting high-quality academic construction. A development pattern of mutual promotion and coordinated development among humanities, sciences, engineering, and medicine, each with unique characteristics and overall optimization, has begun to form. The university's overall academic strength firmly remains in the nation's "top echelon", and the overall level of education has significantly improved.
Systematic Enhancement of Academic Layout
In line with the new collaborative education pattern of "one university, two cities, four campuses", systematic restructuring of organizational frameworks has been promoted, effectively advancing academic integration and resource consolidation. The development positioning of each campus has become clearer, academic strengths have further merged, and the coordinated interaction between two cities has injected strong new momentum into NJU's high-quality sustainable development.
1. Promoting "emerging engineering disciplines" with NJU characteristics
In active response to national needs, the university focuses on the main line of "emerging engineering disciplines" construction, continuously optimizing the academic organizational form. From 2023 to 2025, eight new schools will be established. Among them, seven new schools will be established at the Suzhou campus. The university has seized the development opportunities of the national-level Nanjing Jiangbei New Area, and established a new School of Chemical Engineering at the Pukou campus to support high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and Chinese modernization.
2. Deepen interdisciplinary academic layout and construction
Facing national strategic needs, technological frontier development, and global governance issues, the university prioritizes the layout and promotion of innovative development in emerging interdisciplinary fields. In recent years, through independent degree granting audits, six first-level interdisciplinary academic/professional degree categories have been added. Since 2023, four first-level interdisciplinary fields have been added, doubling the overall scale of first-level interdisciplinary fields. In the 2024 effectiveness evaluation of the degree granting inspection work organized by the State Council's Academic Degree Committee, NJU was rated "remarkable." The university has trengthened high-level interdisciplinary academic platforms, and systematically promoted cross-domain resource integration and deep fusion, providing a solid foundation for nurturing major original achievements and cultivating complex innovative talents.
On April 7, 2025, the "Nanjing University Frontier Interdisciplinary Research and Interdisciplinary Academic Construction Forum" was successfully held, establishing the NJU Interdisciplinary Degree Subcommittee and the Academic Advisory Committee of the Institute of Frontier Interdisciplinary Sciences, further accelerating the pace of interdisciplinary academic construction.
Accelerate the developmemnt of a First-Class Discipline System
Centered on "Double First-Class" initiative, guided by academic direction, and through benchmarking against international first-class standards, precise policies, and classified support, the overall level and academic influence of NJU's advantageous disciplines continue to improve. A batch of disciplines with leading, exemplary, and radiative roles have formed, which has promoted the enhancement of NJU's overall academic strength.
1. Implementation of "Discipline Highlight Project 2.0"
Leveraging national and Jiangsu Province resources, guided by academic development goals, and comprehensively considering the integrity, growth, and sustainability of disciplines, the university continuously innovates the discipline evaluation system and budget target setting system, strengthens task-driven and precise support, enhances discipline construction quality performance evaluation and dynamic monitoring, and constructs an evaluation mechanism oriented by quality and contribution.
The "Double First-Class" project library construction has been officially launched, deepening financial management reforms through a full-cycle management mode of dynamic adjustment and rolling management, strengthening the association between fund usage and discipline construction effectiveness, achieving organic integration of fund management, performance appraisal, and discipline evaluation, continuously improving the efficiency of "Double First-Class" construction fund usage. The project library's special projects have achieved remarkable results, with three professors supported by the "Strategic Scientist Special Project" elected as Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
2. Systematic promotion of peak discipline construction
Using "Discipline Highlight Project 2.0" as a lever, the university adjusts the "Double First-Class" resource allocation mechanism, continuously optimizes peak discipline construction paths, and enhances the construction level of advantageous disciplines through various evaluation work.
Sixteen disciplines were selected for the second round of "Double First-Class" construction discipline list, with Physics and Computer Science and Technology included in the Ministry of Education's "First-Class Discipline Excellence Action" plan.
Twelve disciplines achieved excellent results in the fifth round of discipline evaluation by the Ministry of Education, and twenty-seven disciplines were included in the fourth phase of Advantageous Discipline Construction Project for Jiangsu Universities.
Steady Rise in International Reputation of University and Disciplines
Currently, the university has 78 degree-awarding institutions, covering 12 discipline categories, including 47 academic degree-awarding institutions, and 31 professional degree-awarding institutions. The academic structure continues to improve, comprehensive strength gradually rises, and the international influence and global competitiveness of the university and disciplines have reached new heights.
1. Achieving a leap in global university rankings
In 2024, NJU entered the global top 100 in the three major world university rankings: Times Higher Education (THE), ShanghaiRanking (ARWU), and U.S. News. In 2025, the QS ranking rose 42 places compared to the previous year, ranking 103rd globally.
Currently, NJU's nine disciplines are in the top 50 of the QS World University Discipline Rankings, fifteen disciplines are in the top 50 of ShanghaiRanking World First-Class Discipline Rankings , and sixteen disciplines are in the top 50 of U.S. News World University Discipline Rankings .
2. Advancing in ESI Index Achievements
NJU's twenty-two disciplinesentered the ESI top 1%, making it the fourth Chinese university to achieve full coverage of ESI top 1% discipline fields; nine disciplines entered the ESI top 0.1%. From 2023 to 2025, three new top 1% disciplines and two new top 0.1% disciplines were added. In January 2026, chemistry achieved a breakthrough in the top 0.01% discipline.
NJU will closely focus on the "Three-Year Action Plan for Building a Leading Country in Education", fully implement the deployment of the 12th Party Congress, steadfastly fulfill the "Forging Ahead Initiative" to optimize academic layout action plan, formulate and implement the "15th Five-Year Plan" at a high starting point, continuously optimize the overall layout of academic colleges across the four campuses, so as to lay a solid foundation for accelerating the construction of a comprehensive university with Chinese characteristics and world-class status.
