Dalian Maritime University

About Dalian Maritime University

Dalian Maritime University traces its institutional history to the Shipping Management Section of Shanghai Industrial College, established in 1909. Several predecessor institutions and relocations followed. In 1953, Shanghai Nautical College and Northeast Navigation College merged to form Dalian Marine College, with Fujian Navigation College joining later that year. The institution was renamed Dalian Maritime University in 1994. Today, DMU is a public university directly administered by China’s Ministry of Transport. It is included in China’s Double First-Class initiative, with Transportation Engineering identified by the university as its national first-class discipline. The official institutional profile describes 22 teaching and research units and a disciplinary range spanning philosophy, economics, law, literature, science, engineering, management, and interdisciplinary studies. The university’s identity remains closely connected to maritime transport. Its teaching infrastructure includes two ocean-going teaching and training vessels, Yu Kun and Yu Peng, plus Xin Hong Zhuan, an intelligent research and training ship. This makes DMU particularly relevant to students considering navigation, marine engineering, transportation, shipping management, maritime law, logistics, or technology applied to ships and ports. It is not exclusively a maritime academy, however: its undergraduate and graduate offerings also extend into computing, artificial intelligence, environmental fields, business, public administration, languages, and related areas. The university was operating and recruiting in 2026. Its undergraduate admissions office issued a 2026 charter, its graduate school maintained 2026 master’s and doctoral admissions, and its international education center reported current student activities in June 2026.

Domestic undergraduate admission follows China’s national and provincial examination and placement system. Under the university’s 2026 charter, provincial examination authorities organize placement, and DMU uses applicants’ filed scores when allocating places and majors. The university applies a score-priority approach to major assignment without score differences between successive major preferences. Maritime programs in Nautical Science, seagoing Marine Engineering, and Ship Electronic and Electrical Engineering are placed in an early admission batch. Those three seagoing programs have additional health requirements. The 2026 charter specifies standards concerning colour vision, double vision, height, and uncorrected or corrected eyesight, with different thresholds by program. It also states that the nature of these programs makes them unsuitable for women. Applicants should read the complete official provisions and consider the separate medical standards required for later seafarer employment. Graduate applicants use the relevant national postgraduate process and DMU’s current master’s or doctoral notices. The graduate school published a 2026 national master’s admissions charter and maintained separate material for doctoral admission. International applicants follow a different procedure. The international admissions center instructs candidates to apply through its online system and pay the application fee by the applicable deadline. Decisions are posted in the system; accepted candidates must then provide required documents and pay a deposit before receiving enrollment and visa-application documents. Program-specific eligibility, language evidence, document lists, and deadlines should be checked on the live application page because the general English admissions page does not label every requirement with a 2026 intake year.

DMU offers education at bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels. Its official profile reports 54 undergraduate programs, 10 first-level doctoral disciplines, 25 first-level master’s disciplines, two professional doctoral programs, 16 professional master’s programs, and seven postdoctoral research stations. These figures describe a broad university, although maritime transport and associated technologies remain the clearest academic focus. Prospective undergraduates can consider areas such as Nautical Science, Marine Engineering, Ship Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Maritime Management, Transportation, Transportation Management, logistics, computer-related fields, artificial intelligence, law, economics, languages, environmental subjects, and public administration. The precise 2026 offering varies by admission route and province. The 2026 charter also says that some students enter broad academic categories and are allocated to a specific included major after the second semester of the first year under university rules. Academic delivery is not uniform across programs. The 2026 domestic charter notes that English is the principal foreign-language course in several maritime and software programs. Its international admissions site separately lists both Chinese-taught and English-taught degree categories. Applicants should therefore verify the actual teaching language for their chosen program instead of relying on a university-wide label. Practice is especially prominent in maritime fields. The university operates ocean-going training vessels and an intelligent research vessel, while its research priorities include maritime communications, autonomous ships, ship-pollution prevention, underwater engineering, hydrogen-powered vessels, intelligent ports, and deep-sea equipment. Students considering seagoing majors should also examine the medical and vision standards associated with admission and eventual shipboard work.

Key Highlights

• Public university directly administered by China’s Ministry of Transport
• Institutional origins date to 1909; the current name was adopted in 1994
• Transportation Engineering is identified as a national Double First-Class discipline
• Three teaching or research vessels support maritime education and practice

Student Life & Environment

Student life takes place on a large, multi-area campus with academic, residential, dining, health, library, and sports facilities. An official graduate-student guide identifies East Campus, West Campus, and a newer campus area, with dining facilities distributed among them. It also points students to the university hospital, outdoor stadiums, reading and electronic-resource services, and maritime-document collections. Facilities and access conditions can change, so incoming students should use their school or international student center for current assignments. The university reports more than 100 student associations. The university student union and graduate student union organize activities, while the annual association recruitment period gives new students a route into cultural, athletic, volunteer, and subject-based groups. International students can also participate through the Foreign Affairs Volunteer Association and the international student association maintained by the International Students’ Education Center. That center organizes cultural, sports, visit, and excursion activities, and states that international students may use university sports grounds and gymnasiums, sometimes for a fee. Housing arrangements differ substantially between admission groups. Under the 2026 domestic undergraduate rules, the university assigns accommodation according to program and gender. International students have separately priced apartment options and may apply to live off campus subject to the applicable registration and university rules. Students should not assume that a room type, location, or single occupancy is guaranteed until it appears in their admission and housing documentation.

Location & Surroundings

The university’s principal address is No. 1 Linghai Road in Dalian’s Ganjingzi District, Liaoning Province. Dalian is a major coastal city, making the setting directly relevant to a university centered on navigation, shipping, ports, marine engineering, and transportation. DMU’s campus is the main base described in its 2026 undergraduate charter and international admissions material. Official institutional information reports a campus area of approximately 1.46 million square metres. The campus is divided in practice into East, West, and newer areas, so the distance between housing, classes, dining, and activities can depend on a student’s program and assignment. Two libraries provide study, discussion, electronic-resource, and maritime-document services. The university’s ocean-going teaching vessels and intelligent research vessel give the setting a practical maritime dimension uncommon in a general comprehensive university. A university graduate guide identifies shops on or near campus and larger commercial facilities in the surrounding area. It also lists university and external hospitals used by students. Applicants planning travel or off-campus housing should confirm routes and journey times independently, as the reviewed official sources do not provide a current airport, railway, or public-transport guide.

Costs & Career Outcomes

For domestic undergraduates, the university’s official 2026 charter gives provisional annual tuition of CNY 4,800 to CNY 5,980 for its ordinary listed programs. Sino-foreign cooperative programs are substantially more expensive, at CNY 80,000 or CNY 90,000 per academic year depending on the program. Domestic undergraduate accommodation is capped at CNY 1,200 per academic year under that charter, with the actual charge determined by room conditions. The university notes that approved provincial adjustments may supersede these figures. International students use a separate fee schedule. As displayed in August 2026, annual degree tuition varies by level, teaching language, and subject group. Listed Chinese-taught degree tuition ranges from CNY 20,000 for some undergraduate humanities and management fields to CNY 34,000 for science and engineering doctorates. Listed English-taught degree tuition ranges from CNY 24,000 to CNY 38,000. The application fee is CNY 600, while international apartment prices vary by building and room type. Because the fee page does not clearly label these tables as a particular academic-year schedule, applicants should obtain written confirmation before paying. Career preparation is strongest where DMU’s maritime and transportation connections align with a student’s course. The university operates a dedicated employment portal with employer presentations, job and internship listings, career procedures, and recruitment fairs. In 2026 it advertised spring recruitment events, an internship and supplementary-recruitment fair, and employer sessions spanning shipping, engineering, energy, manufacturing, finance, and technology. These services indicate active employer engagement but do not establish a guaranteed placement rate or salary outcome.