Chien-Shiung Wu College, Southeast University

(Updated August 2025)

Chien-Shiung Wu                                            Samuel C.C.Ting

Chien-Shiung Wu College (CSWC) is an honors college of Southeast University dedicated to cultivating top-notchinnovative talents. It pools excellent teaching resources of SEU to nurture exceptional students. It is named after Madam Chien-Shiung Wu, the world-renowned physicist and also alumna of SEU. Professor Samuel Chao Chung Ting, the world-famous physicist, Nobel Laureate in Physics serves as the honorary dean of CSWC. Over 40 years of continuous development and practice, CSWC has established the educational philosophy of “excellence, personalization, and internationalization”, and formed a distinctive model for training elite innovative talents. It serves as a training base for top-notch talents, a practice base for education and teaching reforms, and a demonstration base for management reform at SEU.

The history of CSWC can be traced back to the Juvenile Class established in 1985 at the former Nanjing Institute of Technology (the predecessor of SEU). In 1990, with ongoing education reforms, it was renamed as Intensive Class. Based on years of experience in elite talent cultivation, CSWC was formally established in 2004; the original Intensive Class was reorganized as the Electronic Information Intensive Class, and a Mechanical and Power Intensive Class was subsequently added. In 2007, SEU launched the Experimental Class for Advanced Science and Engineering, an integrated undergraduate-graduate program featuring personalized training under a tutor-guided, merit-based model. In 2016, CSWC launched the open, personalized “Engineering Experimental Class (Chien-Shiung Wu Class)”. From an initial cohort of about 20 students in the first Juvenile Class, the program has expanded to an annual intake of approximately 600 students, with more than 1,700 students currently enrolled.

Opening Ceremony for the 2025 Freshmen of CSWC

CSWC has always upheld the mission of “gathering high-quality resources and cultivating elite talents”, guided by the principles of “excellence, personalization, and internationalization.” It aims to train future strategic scientists, leading figures in engineering and technology, and high-level industry leaders with broad international perspectives and ambitious aspirations. Guided by the philosophy of “profound foundation, ” ,wide calibre, interdisciplinary studies and individuation, CSWC proposes a talents cultivating mode characteristic of three systems (tutor system, college-based system, complete credits system) and five orientations (small-class teaching, individuation, internationalization, cultivation of excellence, integrated undergraduate-postgraduate training). CSWC invites outstanding domestic and international faculty to deliver small-class, research-oriented instructionand implements a comprehensive tutorsystem that supports students’ participation in national-level scientific innovation platforms and the cultivation of research capabilities. Leveraging university-level and college-level resources, CSWC offers diverse forms of international exchange and training to provide a solid foundation and effective support for students’ further development.

Over the years, the college has actively explored teaching reforms suitable for cultivating top-notch innovative talents in terms of teaching content, methods, and approaches, aiming to enhance students' comprehensive qualities such as research-oriented learning abilities, cross-cultural communication skills, and interdisciplinary understanding. This has led to the formation of a research-oriented teaching model that serves as a model. The college has effectively brought together dozens of high-end course resources, including national-level excellent courses. Students have achieved significant gains in coursework, self-directed learning, research innovation, and international communication skills. Top-tier faculty and the professional mentorship system are crucial pillars supporting the cultivation of top-notch innovative talents at the Chien-Shiung Wu College. The college boasts dozens of national-level distinguished teachers, Changjiang Scholars Distinguished Professors, and outstanding scholars who are involved in teaching and mentorship. The mentorship system achieves full coverage, with nearly a hundred high-level teachers participating in guidance annually, establishing a high-level platform for student research training.

As a base for cultivating top-notch innovative talents at Southeast University, the Chien-Shiung Wu College emphasizes cultivating students' global perspective and international awareness. While sharing the university's internationalization platforms, the college continuously expands its distinctive international exchange platforms. The college actively expands international cooperation and exchanges, collaborating with institutions such as the Georgia Institute of Technology (USA), RWTH Aachen University (Germany), Télécom Paris (France), and the University of Cambridge (UK). Students fully utilize the university's and college's prestigious partnership resources. Combining online and offline formats, in the past five years, a total of 991 students have participated in international exchange programs, including 852 in short-term exchange programs, 119 in long-term exchange programs, and 20 in joint training programs.

Guided by the college's educational philosophy of "Excellence, Individualization, and Internationalization", students of Chien-Shiung Wu College are diligent, studious, striving for excellence, and innovative. In recent years, students have won nearly a hundred provincial-level and above individual and collective honors, including "Chinese University Student Self-Improvement Star," "National Pillar Star," "Baosteel Education Foundation Outstanding Student Special Award," "Top Ten Youth Students of Jiangsu Province," "Excellent Student Leader of Jiangsu Province," "Merit Student of Jiangsu Province," "Advanced Class Collective of Jiangsu Province," and "May Fourth Red Flag Youth League Branch of Jiangsu Province." Students have achieved fruitful results in scientific research training conducted on high-level scientific research platforms. In the past five years, they have published 86 papers and been granted 132 patents and software copyrights. They have won 945 awards/1,317 person-times in provincial-level and above disciplinary competitions such as the International Mathematical Contest in Modeling, RoboCup, Challenge Cup, Electronic Design Contest, and National English Contest, includes 129 international awards / 277 person-times, 405 national awards / 466 person-times, and 411 provincial/ministerial awards / 574 person-times. The performance of the college's students and its unique cultivation model have received high recognition and widespread attention from domestic and international education circles.

The 9th National Summit on Honors Education hosted by CSWC

Nearly 90% of the college's graduates pursue further studies at top-tier universities in China and abroad. Among them, nearly 60% choose to stay at Southeast University to pursue master's or doctoral degrees, or go to other prestigious domestic universities and research institutions such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, and institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Nearly 30% of graduates pursue further studies at world-class institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Columbia University, Princeton University, University of California, and the University of Pennsylvania. A considerable number of the college's graduates have achieved outstanding success or become leading figures in various fields such as science and technology, economics, and social management, making significant contributions to technological advancement, social development, and national prosperity.