Introduction

Established in December 2007, Tsinghua University’s Department of International Relations (IR Department) is an important education and research institution in China with the mission of nurturing scholars and professionals in political studies, international relations and foreign affairs. The IR department has 24 faculty members with significant academic and research experience. They all hold Ph.D. degrees from leading international and Chinese universities.

Over the past decade, the IR Department has built an outstanding reputation in scientific methodology and quantitative research analysis. It continues to offer training courses in research methodology for international relations research, trainings for diplomats and trainings in public diplomacy. It publishes two academic journals, Chinese Journal of International Politics in English and International Political Science in Chinese. It hosts the World Peace Forum and the Annual Conference on Political Science and International Relations every year, whose influences continue growing domestically and internationally.

The Department is affiliated with a handful of think tanks, including Institute for International Studies, Center for International Security and Strategy, One Belt-One Road Strategy Institute, the Center for U.S.-China Relations, the Center for European-China Relations etc. These think tanks have already been acknowledged as core institutions within the fields of area studies and policy research. Through hosting conferences and participating in various diplomatic initiatives, these institutes have become a key player in the provision of policy advices related to China’s foreign relations and communication between China and the other parts of the world.

The Department has established a series of multi-level academic programs. In 2003, it launched the Master’s and PhD programs in international relations, and started enrolling undergraduate majors in international relations who came to Tsinghua as part of the university’s experimental social science program. In 2010, IR Department was honored as a key center in the discipline by the Beijing municipal government. In the same year, the Department launched a Master’s degree program in English, which is now named the Master’s Program in Chinese Politics, Foreign Policy and International Relations (CPFP). The program has attracted students from over 80 different countries. In 2014, the Department in partnership with the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University, USA launched the first Dual Degree Master’s Program (TSDM) focused on global politics and economics run cooperatively by Chinese and U.S. institutions of higher education. As an opportunity for students to develop a sophisticated understanding of international affairs and law, the curriculum emphasizes interdisciplinary breadth, a solid foundation in economics, and rigorous understanding of key world regions. Students will be prepared to actively participate in global governance, while at the same time contributing significantly toward China’s development.

The IR Department’s Ph.D. program focuses on the development of academic research ability, its master’s degree programs stress practical professional ability, and its undergraduate program emphasizes basic competency and comprehension ability. Graduates of the Department have pursued careers at institutions of higher education, major national research institutions, government agencies, international organizations, media and various corporations.