Communication University of China (CUC) is one of China’s key universities of “Project 211” (a project endorsed by the State Council and designed to upgrade, by the early part of the 21st century, some 100 universities in the hope that some of them would become first-rate world universities) directly under the jurisdiction of the State Ministry of Education. Devoted to the cultivation of high-level talent and scientific research in the fields of radio, television, film, network, publication and new media, CUC ranks among the highest of educational institutions of communications in China.
Founded in September 1954, CUC has successively developed into a comprehensive university of liberal arts, engineering, art, management, science, economics, law and education. The university has established multi-layer and multi-standard talent cultivation system, which includes Doctoral programs, Master’s programs, undergraduate specialties, advanced vocational education and continuing education programs and so on. All these, together with its distinctive features and unique advantages, have won CUC an outstanding place among universities in China.
CUC consists of 37 departments distributed in 12 colleges, including the colleges of Journalism and Communication, Television, Advertising Studies, International Communication, Media Management, Social Sciences, Film and Television Arts, Presentation Art, Recording Arts, Animation, Literature, Information Engineering, Science, Computer and Software Technologies. There are, moreover, 3 adult education centers including Continuing Education, Adult Education and Distance Education. The university can offer 19 doctoral programs, 40 master’s programs (with 7 programs designated by the University itself), 71 bachelor programs, as well as three post doctoral post-doctoral stations. An independent institute, named Nanjing Broadcasting Institute, is currently being established. The total number of full-time students in CUC is more than 1,3291, over 4，000 master's degrees candidates and doctoral candidates.
CUC now occupies an area of 116.7 acres with a floor space up to 440,000 square meters. CUC houses lots of modern professional laboratories, a computer center, a multi-media campus internet, a digital cable-TV transmission network, a modern long-distance education network and a literature and information network, as well as a modern distance education network based on the national optical fiber cable network. The total collections of the university library reaches over a million volumes; there are also 500,000 cassettes of audio-and-visual materials, 3000 kinds of magazines and 8000 kinds of electronic newspapers and magazines. CUC sponsors academic journals such as Modern Communication, Journal of Communication University of China (Science and Technology Edition), Media, Market Observer-Advertiser, Contemporary Film, Art of Television. It also edits and publishes Yearbook of China’s Radio and Television, IAI China’s Advertising Works Yearbook, IMI Consumer Behavior & Life Styles Yearbook.
CUC has a strong faculty team with 945 members, more than 50% of whom are professors and associate professors. Many of the scholars enjoy great fame both at home and abroad. Also, more than 100 experts and visiting scholars work here as specially-invited professors, guest professors and part-time professors. “382 Talents Project” centering on well-known scholars and young instructors has been invigorating the teaching staff.
CUC enjoys the leading position in the field of broadcasting research in China. It has over twenty-six academic research organizations such as National Centre for Radio and Television Studies, Journalism and Communication Institution, Radio and Television Technology Institution, International Advertising Research Institution, the Survey and Statistics Institution and IMI Market Information Institution, as well as National Mandarin Proficiency Test Center. Moreover, there are five key laboratories and research centers of social sciences at the ministry level.
CUC is vigorously promoting international academic exchanges to cultivate bachelors, masters and doctors. And now CUC has established exchanging and collaborative relationships with over 160 universities and media organizations in about 50 countries and areas, including the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Canada, Austria, Russia, etc. CUC holds diversified forms of foreign students’ education, enrolling more than 1000 overseas students from different countries and regions in the world every year. Also, it is a regular member of CILECT (Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinema et de Television).
As the cradle of China’s high-level talents in radio, television, film and communication, CUC has trained around 60,000 graduates and about 340,000 on-the-job trainees over the past fifty years. Among them many are now holding key positions from leading officers to professionals and a number of renowned reporters, editors, announcers, anchors or presenters as well as movie directors, screenwriters, producers, translators and senior engineers.
The educational philosophy of CUC is to "establish roots in the radio and TV system, build upon the media community, and open up the school to society ". And now CUC has formed its own distinct characteristics: to have close relations with radio, film and television; to run the school in a multi-level and open way; to optimize the comparative advantage and integrate multi-disciplinary teaching into creative teaching; to emphasize students’ all-round capabilities and professional ethics; to combine theory with practice and knowledge-teaching with ability-training. The motto of the University is “integrity, professionalism, erudition and competence”.
With the overall objective of building CUC into an advanced international, comprehensive and research university by the middle of this century, CUC will serve as a center of media talent training and talent information exchange, scientific research and technology development, information and literature collecting and distribution. Besides, it will also be a platform for communication content creativity and international exchange of communication education and co-operation.