上海交通大学 Shànghǎi Jiāotōng dàxué, also known colloquially as 交大 Jiāodà. 

Founded at the turn of the century in 1896, Shanghai Jiaotong University is one of China's oldest universities. It's longstanding existence is a testament to the high-quality educational programs it offers to foreign students and local Chinese students alike. It is included in China's C9 league of universities, and is often touted as one of China's best institutions.

For frame of reference, Shanghai Jiaotong University is often referred to as the “Eastern MIT” due to its reputation for producing top engineers. Its research programs are likewise attractive to international students, and are respected the world over.

Jiaotong has been offering courses to foreign Chinese language learners for many years, and its commitment to providing solid language programs has not wavered. As an alumni, you'll be in good company - notable past attendees of SJU include Jiang Zemin (former President of China), Luc Montagnier (a Nobel Prize Laureate for the discovery of HIV) and Ding Junhui (China’s top snooker player).

Tell me more!

Jiaotong University's Chinese language programs are a popular program option for CSA students. The Chinese courses at Jiaotong, while still being challenging and worthwhile, are not quite as intense as nearby Fudan and Tongji Universities. In this way, students who attend Jiaotong are given ample free time to explore Shanghai or nearby cities like Nanjing, Hangzhou, and Suzhou. While your classwork will more or less be the same, your homework assignments will not be as intense as the other Shanghai universities. 

Jiaotong University is located in Shanghai's bustling French Concession, amidst the hustle and bustle of the city center. If you want to look out your window to see skyscrapers-a-plenty, this is the Chinese language program for you. It's a short jump to the famous Shanghai landmarks like the Bund, Tianzifang, and Xintiandi; students can take full advantage of the more business-oriented, social, and networking sides of this booming, cosmopolitan city. 

Want to learn more? Find out more about what it's like to live and study in Shanghai...

It's worth noting:

- Students must be over 18 years old to attend a course at Shanghai Jiaotong University.

What is included in your Jiaotong University Chinese language program?

Studying abroad in China doesn't have to be a stressful or worrisome activity - leave the grunt work to us so you can get busy learning, exploring, and having the time of your life. Beyond your university tuition fees and housing costs, all CSA programs include:

What are the costs of this program, and when can I start?!

Learn more about our Jiaotong University Chinese language programs and get a jumpstart on learning Chinese in Shanghai by following the links below.

Jiaotong University

Course Descriptions

Jiaotong University has 9 levels for short term students including 1 semester, 1 year and Summer programs.

Elementary Level: The purpose of this course is to lay groundwork for the study of modern Chinese. The course has an emphasis on oral skills with classes in listening and speaking with initial presentation of the written language, both reading and writing.

A large emphasis is placed on mastering the phonetic system so as set a good foundation for further Chinese studies with the correct pronunciation and intonation. While the learning of sentence patterns is a major component of the course, efforts will be made to help students handle simple everyday tasks such as greeting, introducing friends and relatives, identifying people or objects, asking for one's personal information (including name, occupation, nationality, address, phone number), expressing gratitude to someone, sending someone your regard, making a reply to a complimentary remark, talking about your family, your school and your studies, looking for someone, seeing a guest off, asking the time, making an appointment, making an invitation, making a suggestion, asking for someone’s opinion, buying something, and offering congratulations.


Intermediate Level: The purpose of this course is to continue to lay groundwork for the study of modern Chinese by expanding on the base of Elementary Chinese. The course will provide instruction in all four language skills of aurally understanding, speaking, reading, and writing.

Many of the grammatical constructions introduced in first year Chinese will be repeated in this course with increasing sophistication in terms of style and usage. While many of the linguistic tasks students will learn to handle are similar to those of first year Chinese, the level of language required to carry out these tasks is more advanced. In this course students are required to comprehend and produce paragraph-level Chinese.

By the end of this course, students are expected to deal with daily-life related Chinese in a target language environment with no difficulty. Topics covered include: buying things, making an invitation, making an appointment, offering congratulations, asking for one's age, asking for opinions from others, presenting a gift, asking for directions, making a telephone call, shopping, entertaining a guest, asking for information, complimenting, asking for permission, welcoming a guest, proposing a toast, talking about ball games, seeing someone off, traveling, and buying tickets.


Advanced Level: The purpose of the course is to continue to develop their skills of aurally understanding, speaking, reading and writing.

Students will continue to improve their linguistic skills with a manageable degree of challenge. At the functional level, this course aims at helping students solidify their ability to comprehend and produce paragraph-level Chinese. It seeks to enable students to understand face-to-face conversations on most familiar topics, give factual accounts, read materials written in formal expression, and write simple essays, reports and other types of correspondence. There is a heavy emphasis on reading from this level covering topics such as current events, social sciences, history, and literature. Discussions on the reading materials will be conducted regularly to develop students' skills of abstract reasoning, narration and description.