The predecessor of Tsinghua University was Tsinghua Xuetang, built in 1911, which was engaged in training students to be sent to the United States. It has been a tradition of Tsinghua University to teach students in English in the past decades.

To enhance international exchanges and cooperation and establish itself as a first-class university in the world, Tsinghua has now expanded the sphere of courses taught in English. Both undergraduates and postgraduates have the opportunity to learn various subjects taught in English. They can select between English and Chinese teaching ways according to their own abilities and try the different ways for two weeks.

An official from the University said most teachers using English in classes are Chinese, but there are also some foreigners. In the Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, 60-70 percent of teachers have studied abroad. They plan to open English classes in 60 percent of their courses, including some in laboratory. The laboratory report is also encouraged to be in English.

Tsinghua students have highly praised English teaching. In the past, they said, English learning was set apart from the teaching of specialized courses. Now, the specialized courses are taught in English, so they can read the latest materials from all round the world in their own field more easily. It is of great help for them to enter the specialized research field and to improve their innovative ability.

Taking into consideration that some courses are too difficult to be understood in English, while some cannot be explored deeply in English, however, the dean's office of Tsinghua University restricts the quantity of English courses. The proportion of courses taught in English to all courses in the university will be increased to 30 percent gradually.

(CIIC 03/21/2001)