Peking University

Peking University has eight faculties, namely Sciences, Informatics, Engineering, Humanities, Social Sciences, Economics and Management, Interdisciplinary as well as Health Science. It consists of 55 schools and departments, 24 research entities, and six affiliated hospitals. By 2024, Peking University's staff included 54 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and 20 members of the World Academy of Sciences.

Following China's defeat in the Sino-Japanese War, intellectuals – including Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, and Yan Fu – called for reforms to the country's education system. In June 1896, Minister Li Duanfen proposed to create a university in the capital. On 11 June 1898, the Guangxu Emperor, as part of the Hundred Days' Reform, authorised the creation of the Imperial University of Peking. The Imperial University was formally established on 3 July 1898 when the emperor approved the royal charter written by Liang. Minister Sun Jianai was charged with the implementation. IUP served as the country's foremost institute for higher learning, but also as its highest educational authority. William Alexander Parsons Martin was appointed as the first president. Most of the reforms were abolished when the conservative Empress Dowager Cixi seized power on 21 September. The university survived with altered objectives and reduced scope. It opened on 31 December with 160 students, instead of the planned 500.

Following the Xinhai Revolution, the Imperial University of Peking was renamed "Government University of Peking" in 1912 and then "National University of Peking" in 1919.