Tianjin Chengjian University (TCU), established in 1978, is a regular institute of higher education under the administration of Tianjin Municipal Government. As the fourth branch of Tianjin University, back to over forty years ago, it carried out undergraduate education with the support of Tianjin University. In 1979, it was named Architectural Branch of Tianjin University, and in 1987, was renamed as Tianjin Institute of Urban Construction, and then as Tianjin Chengjian University (TCU) in 2013.
Over the past 48 years, TCU sticks to the principle of “developing urban science and cultivating talents for urban construction”. By drawing on the advantages of related industries, highlighting its features, sticking to quality-oriented development and pursuing excellence, TCU fulfills the motto of “Morality and Capability, Learning and Creating”. Dedicated to new urbanization and urban modernization, TCU has developed the features of “focusing on urban construction, adhering closely to related industries, emphasizing the cultivation of morality and capability, and cultivating compound applied talents with both professional proficiency and personal integrity.
TCU is located at No.26, Jinjing Road, Xiqing District, Tianjin.TCU covers an area of 595,400m2, with a building area of 453,200m2, and its greening coverage rate reaches 41.5%. The university has been awarded the title of National Greening Model Unit, and has been awarded the title of Tianjin Harmonious Campus for many years consecutively. TCU consists of 15 schools, 2 teaching departments (centers) and 1 school of continuing education with more than 18,000 full-time students. TCU now has more than 1,400 staff members, including over 1,200 full-time faculties and over 400 of which have senior professional titles.
Fostering virtue through education, the quality of talent cultivation continuously enhanced. TCU attaches great importance to the all-round development of students’ morality, intelligence, sports, aesthetics and labor education. Under student-centered principle, graduates of TCU are highly praised and appreciated by all sectors of society. TCU offers 54 undergraduate programs, among which there are 10 national first-rate programs, 14 Tianjin first-rate programs, 1 national featured program, 1 national and 2 Tianjin comprehensive reform pilot programs, 33 Tianjin emerging engineering key programs, 7 Tianjin branded programs, 5 Tianjin strategic emerging industries related programs,8 Tianjin featured programs, 12 Tianjin applied programs, 3 programs having passed the Engineering Education Accreditation of Chinese Ministry of Education, 5 programs having passed the undergraduate professional evaluation(accreditation) of Chinese Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. TCU has been approved of 12 national first-rate course, 40 Tianjin first-rate courses, 1 ideological demonstration course approved by Chinese Ministry of Education, 13 Tianjin excellent courses, 15 ideological demonstration courses of Tianjin universities, 2 Tianjin high-quality ideological courses, 4 Tianjin municipal branded courses in English for overseas students, 15 national and municipal key textbooks, 4 ideological excellent textbooks of Tianjin universities and 1 Tianjin excellent textbook. TCU owns 1 national level off-campus practice base for college students,1 national social practice base for Chinese and foreign young people, 10 Tianjin experimental teaching demonstration centers, 1 Tianjin virtual simulation experiment teaching center, 1 pilot project of Tianjin virtual teaching and research section, 1 Tianjin labor education practice base for primary and secondary schools, 5 graduate workstations for the integration of industry and education in Tianjin, 3 joint training bases for professional degree postgraduates in Tianjin, 3 off-campus innovation practice bases for graduate education in Tianjin universities, 1 School of Future Building Technology, 1 School of Intelligent Construction Industry, 1 School of Urban Energy and Energy Storage. TCU has been approved 3 “Emerging Engineering” research and practice projects and 1 “Emerging Liberal Arts” research and reform projects approved by Chinese Ministry of Education. TCU has 15 Tianjin Outstanding Teachers and 18 Teaching Teams of Tianjin, and has won 32 teaching achievement awards. TCU has made remarkable achievements in innovation and entrepreneurship in recent years. TCU has won over 870 municipal and ministerial science and technology awards in 2025, including Excellent Organization Award in extracurricular academic science and technology works competition for consecutive years, 1 national bronze award and 29 municipal awards in the “Challenge Cup” Competition, 1 national bronze award and 77 municipal awards in the China International College Students' Entrepreneurship Competition, 19 national and 40 municipal awards in college students' innovation training projects, and 6 students have won Tianjin College Students' Innovation and Entrepreneurship Scholarship (including 2 special grand prizes). The TCU Maker Space has been awarded the title of Tianjin A-level (Excellent) University Maker Space for 8 consecutive years. In the past few years, the employment rate of graduates is over 90%, ranking among the top undergraduate universities of Tianjin.
Scientific and reasonable discipline layout, distinctive disciplinary characteristics. Currently, the university offers 12 first-level master’s programs and 13 professional master’s degree programs. It hosts 6 Tianjin key disciplines, including Architecture, Urban and Rural Planning, Civil Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Management Science and Engineering, as well as Environmental Science and Engineering. TCU has 4 Tianjin featured disciplinary clusters covering urban planning, urban construction, eco-city and urban management, and 6 Tianjin university industry-service featured disciplinary clusters, including new industrial prefabricated buildings, building industrialization and intelligent construction, new green low-carbon building material technologies, urban renewal and spatial governance, building and infrastructure safety and disaster prevention, as well as urban water resource recycling and intelligent water services. Civil Engineering and Environmental Science and Engineering are listed as Tianjin top-tier disciplines. Four disciplines, namely Engineering, Environment/Ecology, Chemistry and Materials Science, rank among the ESI global top 1%.
Scientific research and technology transfer ability continuously improving. TCU owns 37 science and technology platforms at or above municipal and ministerial level, including 1 National Engineering Research Center, 4 municipal and ministerial key laboratories, 8 municipal and ministerial engineering centers, 1 municipal and ministerial technology innovation center, 1 international joint research center, 1 base of humanities and social sciences, 1 university think tank, 1 Tianjin technology achievement transformation center, 1 Tianjin proof-of-concept center, 2 municipal and ministerial collaborative innovation center, 1 industrial technology innovation strategic alliance, 9 Tianjin popular science bases, 2 Tianjin social science popularization bases, and 3 Belt and Road collaborative laboratories. TCU carries out organized scientific research and establishes 5 interdisciplinary innovation research institutes. In recent 5 years, TCU has been awarded over 80 municipal and ministerial scientific and technological awards. For the first time, TCU won 1 Outstanding Scientific Research Achievement Award (Natural Science and Engineering Technology) of Chinese Ministry of Education in 2025 and 2 Outstanding Scientific Research Achievement Awards (Humanities and Social Sciences) of Chinese Ministry of Education in 2026. TCU has been approved over 110 national scientific research projects and over 330 municipal and ministerial scientific research projects, with the number of outstanding science and technology commissioner projects ranking among the top in Tianjin in the past five years. TCU has published more than 90 academic works and has obtained more than 300 invention patents. The average annual research fund has reached more than 160 million yuan in recent three years.
Development of faculty continuously strengthened, number of high-level talents significantly increased. The number of advanced talents of TCU continues to increase, among them are 5 national-level talent program recipients, 4 winners of the New Century Talents Funding Program of Chinese Ministry of Education, 1 Tianjin Top Young Talent, 1 Tianjin Distinguished Professors, 3 Distinguished Young Scholars, 6 winners in the first-level of Tianjin 131 Talent Project, 4 winners for Five Batches Talents Project for publicity and culture in Tianjin, 1 winner for Young and Middle-aged Leading Talent in Scientific and Technological Innovation of Tianjin Talent Cultivation Plan, 3 winners for Outstanding Young Talent in Science and Technology, 3 winners of Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars of Tianjin, 1 winner for Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by China Association for Science and Technology, 1 winner at the first level of Tianjin Young Science and Technology Talents.TCU has cultivated 6 innovative teams of Tianjin universities, 2 key-field innovation teams under the Tianjin Talent Promotion Plan, 1 Level-B innovation team of Tianjin “Project + Team” Initiative, 1 innovative talent team of the Tianjin 131 Talent Project, and 1 demonstration team for ideological teaching reform of Tianjin universities.
International engagement and cooperation advanced, actively serving the “Belt and Road” construction. TCU has established strategic partnerships with 60 universities and institutions in 30 countries, and has established more than 40 international cooperation project platforms, with an average annual participation of over 1700 faculty and students in international exchanges. TCU jointly established the “International School of Engineering at Tianjin Chengjian University (ISE)” with Cracow University of Technology and Bialystok University of Technology in Poland. Approved by Chinese Ministry of Education in 2019, ISE is the first Chinese-Polish cooperative educational institution and the only Chinese-foreign cooperative institution offering undergraduate and postgraduate programs among Tianjin’s municipal universities, with a total enrollment of nearly 1,600 students to date. The undergraduate program in Engineering Management with VIA University College in Denmark has conducted enrollments for 11 years consecutively, and has passed the evaluations organized by Chinese Ministry of Education on Chinese-foreign cooperation in running schools twice. TCU is the third municipal university in Tianjin to pass Chinese Ministry of Education’s quality certification for international student education in China, having cultivated more than 1,400 long-term and short-term international students from 40 countries. TCU has participated in the construction of the Luban Workshop in Tajikistan, advancing a new model of integrating vocational and general education as well as industry and education. Rated as a Model Unit for introducing overseas talents in Tianjin, TCU has been approved more than 100 national and municipal overseas talent introduction projects.
In the future, TCU will continue to improve the overall quality for talents’ cultivation and scientific and technological innovation ability, promote the high-quality intensive development of school undertakings, so as to accelerate the construction of a domestic first-class and internationally influential high level institution featuring urban construction.
(Statistics by June, 2026)