Qinghai University

About Qinghai University

Qinghai University’s history began with the establishment of Qinghai Institute of Technology in 1958. It became Qinghai University following a 1960 merger, was abolished in 1969, and later resumed under another name before the Qinghai University name was restored in 1988. Subsequent integrations brought agricultural and animal-science institutes into the institution, followed by Qinghai Medical College in 2004. This history explains the university’s present breadth across engineering, agriculture and medicine. The university’s official profile, updated to March 1, 2026, describes an institution with nearly 28,000 full-time students, including nearly 22,000 undergraduates and more than 6,000 graduate students. It reports 66 undergraduate majors and a campus exceeding 3,000 mu. These figures are useful indicators of scale but should not be treated as enrollment guarantees for any particular program. Qinghai University is a national Double First-Class institution and was previously selected for Project 211. Its development also involves structured support relationships with several major Chinese universities. For students, the central distinction is its regional mission: teaching and research are designed around the environmental, health, agricultural and industrial conditions of Qinghai and the wider plateau. The main campus is at 251 Ningda Road in Xining’s Chengbei District. The official profile records active domestic and international cooperation and recruitment across all 31 provincial-level jurisdictions in mainland China, supporting its status as an operating national university rather than a local training provider.

Domestic undergraduate admission follows China’s provincial examination and placement system. For 2026, Qinghai University planned recruitment across all 31 mainland provincial-level jurisdictions, with the final majors and quotas determined by the relevant provincial admissions authorities. The university uses the electronic applicant file supplied by those authorities and assigns majors by score while following the applicant’s stated preferences, without score differentials between majors. Applicants in reformed Gaokao jurisdictions must satisfy the published subject-selection requirements. The 2026 regulations contain important program restrictions. Tibetan Medicine and Tibetan Pharmacy admit candidates taking the Tibetan-language examination and require specified Tibetan-language results. The university states that its common foreign-language teaching provision is limited to college English, so students whose prior foreign language is not English should consider the academic implications. Numerous medical, biological, chemical, environmental and engineering majors also have health or color-vision provisions that applicants should read before selecting preferences. A university-wide application deadline is not stated because provincial schedules govern undergraduate applications. For 2026 master’s admission, applicants used China’s national graduate-admissions system. The guide accepted recognized bachelor’s graduates and certain equivalent-education candidates, subject to program conditions. The initial examination occurred in December 2025, followed by university-level assessment between mid-March and late April 2026. Because that cycle has passed, candidates for 2027 entry must use the forthcoming 2027 guide. A current general international-student admissions guide was not found, so international applicants should not infer requirements from domestic rules.

Qinghai University offers undergraduate education across science, engineering, agriculture, medicine, economics, management, law and interdisciplinary study. Its March 2026 institutional profile reports 66 undergraduate majors, 21 national first-class undergraduate-major construction sites and 20 national first-class courses. Applicants should use the current provincial enrollment plan, rather than the complete institutional list, to determine which majors are available in their jurisdiction. At graduate level, the university reports seven authorized first-level doctoral disciplines, 21 first-level master’s disciplines, one interdisciplinary master’s authorization, and 18 professional-master’s categories. The 2026 master’s guide covered both academic and professional degrees, all in full-time, three-year formats for that intake. Doctoral authority and active direct-entry doctoral pathways are also documented by official university materials. The academic portfolio is particularly relevant to students interested in ecology and plateau-focused applied research. The university identifies strengths in Three-River-Source ecological protection, plateau agriculture and animal husbandry, plateau medicine, Tibetan medicine and pharmacology, salt-lake chemical engineering, and new energy and materials. Its ecology discipline is part of the national Double First-Class initiative. A distinctive undergraduate option in the 2026 regulations is a 1+2+1 joint-training arrangement for specified chemical engineering, environmental engineering, applied chemistry, process-equipment, and automation students. Participants study their first and fourth years at Qinghai University and the middle two years at East China University of Science and Technology or Beijing University of Chemical Technology, with credit recognition and Qinghai University retaining the student record. Eligibility and continuation conditions apply.

Key Highlights

• Public, full-time university authorized to award bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees
• Founded in 1958 and located in Xining, Qinghai Province
• Official March 2026 profile reports nearly 28,000 full-time students
• Double First-Class institution with ecology as its designated first-class discipline

Student Life & Environment

Qinghai University is a large residential institution whose teaching, research and student services are concentrated around its Xining campus. The university’s 2026 undergraduate regulations state that accommodation is assigned by the institution and managed as student apartments. Room type determines the annual housing charge, so admitted students should consult their enrollment instructions rather than assume a particular building or occupancy arrangement. Official campus information points to a substantial study environment. The university reports a library collection of approximately 1.87 million volumes, alongside hundreds of public classrooms. Campus-card services integrate routine functions including dining, supermarket purchases, residence and campus access, bathing facilities and library borrowing. These details suggest that daily academic and residential needs are organized through centralized campus systems. Student participation extends beyond classes. Recent official activity listings include a science and culture arts festival, summer social-practice programs, heritage lectures, theatre, psychological-health programming, online cultural projects and student recognition for academic work, service and campus leadership. Financial-support mechanisms named in the 2026 regulations include national and university grants, temporary hardship support, work-study and social donations. Prospective students should confirm club availability, accessibility arrangements and residence details directly because the university does not publish a single current English-language student-life handbook.

Location & Surroundings

The main campus is at 251 Ningda Road in Chengbei District, Xining. Xining is Qinghai Province’s capital and its principal political, educational, cultural, medical and transport center. This gives students access to the services of the province’s largest urban center while remaining close to the environmental and social settings that shape much of Qinghai University’s teaching and research. Xining lies in the northeastern Qinghai–Tibet Plateau at an urban elevation of about 2,261 meters. The municipal government describes a plateau semi-arid continental climate, with an annual average temperature of about 5.5°C and comparatively mild summer averages of 17–19°C. New arrivals should take altitude, strong sunlight, low humidity and cold-season clothing needs seriously, particularly if they have health conditions affected by elevation. The city is a western-China transport hub served by rail, high-speed rail, highways and an airport. The campus address is north of central Xining, so applicants should check their assigned college and arrival instructions before arranging housing or transport. The location is especially consequential for field-oriented study in ecology, water, agriculture, energy and plateau medicine, since the surrounding region is integral to these subjects.

Costs & Career Outcomes

For full-time undergraduates entering under the 2026 regulations, annual tuition was CNY 4,720 for humanities and economics fields, CNY 5,460 for engineering, CNY 5,250 for science, and CNY 5,770 for medicine. University-assigned accommodation cost CNY 600–1,200 per academic year depending on room type. These are 2026 undergraduate charges, not a complete cost of attendance: food, transport, insurance, books and personal expenses are not included. Graduate and international fees should be checked separately because the reviewed 2026 master’s guide did not publish a general tuition table. The university lists source-based student loans for eligible financially disadvantaged students, national scholarships and grants, university aid, temporary hardship assistance, work-study and support from external donations. Eligibility is policy-dependent, and international applicants should not assume access to domestic aid. Career outcomes reflect the institution’s applied portfolio. In the university’s 2024 undergraduate employment report, the leading industries among surveyed employed graduates included medical and social-care services, construction, and electricity, heat, gas and water production and supply. Financial services and chemical manufacturing also appeared among the main destinations. These figures describe the 2024 graduating cohort and are not guarantees for later students. The university also reported organized employer presentations, large recruitment fairs, online vacancy distribution and individual employment support during the 2024 recruitment cycle. Applicants should compare recent outcomes for their intended major because employment patterns differ substantially among medicine, engineering, agriculture, science and business.