Message from the dean ：
It has been more than seven years since the inception of the University of Michigan-Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute in 2006. During this short period, the Joint Institute has seen tremendous growth and development. It has achieved all the initial goals set by the two parent universities. It has also surpassed the expectations of many people.
Through the synergistic collaborations between two public institutions, the University of Michigan and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the Joint Institute has created an international educational platform that integrates the best features from both American and Chinese educational systems. Our vision is to educate the next generation of global leaders in science, engineering, and business, who are not only technically capable, but also adept in a cross-culture environment. Inspired by the vision and grand opportunities offered by this young institution, many top-caliber faculty from around the world are attracted to join the Joint Institute. We have maintained high faculty-hiring standards that are comparable to those commonly used by top American universities.
With an innovative modern curriculum and dedicated world-class faculty, students who enter the Joint Institute have seen transformational changes in their professional growth. For instance, although the quality of freshmen recruited in the first few years of the Joint Institute was below the average among all SJTU schools and colleges due to unknown track record of the young institution, after four years of study at the Joint Institute, these students have been transformed into an outstanding group of graduates. Their placement records in terms of jobs, starting salaries, and admission rate to top graduate programs in the world are unmatched by any university in China. Over 80% of our graduates have pursued postgraduate studies in top universities in the world. They not only received the recognition from the world-class institutions, but also won praises from the well-known global enterprises. This record is even better than that of any US university. Indeed, this is a remarkable achievement in such a short period of time. In the last four years, the freshmen recruitment quality has soared due to our exceptional graduate placement records.
Because of this initial success, the two parent universities are very enthusiastic about the future of the Joint Institute. We are carefully exploring the expansion of discipline offerings beyond the current mechanical engineering and electrical and computer engineering. We will soon have our own permanent home – a new Joint Institute building. We have launched our effort to recruit international students from outside of China. We have also established a number of exchange programs with top universities in the US and Europe.
The past seven years has been extraordinary, and looking into the next ten years, we are excited about the many possibilities for future success.
Jun Ni
Dean, UM-SJTU Joint Institute
