📘 Part of our complete guide to student exchange in China

✓ Built from official Tongji sources · Last checked: September 2026 · See sources

At a glance

Tongji is famous for architecture, urban planning, civil engineering and its long-standing German links. Most exchange students study at the Siping Road campus in Yangpu, north-east Shanghai; engineering, automotive and several Sino-German programmes are at Jiading, far out in the north-west.

Before you arrive

Tongji’s exchange programmes “only accept international students nominated by our partner universities”. Individual schools run their own exchange desks and set earlier deadlines than the university-wide window.

1. Nomination — your home university nominates you (to the university or to a specific school such as Economics & Management or Architecture & Urban Planning).
2. Online application — on the Online Service Platform for International Students, with passport page, nomination letter, study plan and English transcript; some schools also want a CV and motivation letter.
3. Admission & visa — X1 or X2 student visa; visa-free entry is not accepted for students. See Before You Go.
4. Housing — self-funded and exchange students book on dorm.tongji.edu.cn (application number + last six passport characters).
5. Arrival — for Fall 2026, Tongji asked students not to arrive before 25 August.

Intake	Deadline
Fall 2026 · university-wide non-degree window	10 January – 30 June 2026 Source ↗
Spring 2026 · university-wide	20 December 2025
School of Economics & Management	Nomination 20 Apr / 30 Oct; application 30 Apr / 10 Nov
Architecture & Urban Planning (CAUP)	Nomination 10 May / 10 Nov; application 15 May / 15 Nov
Spring 2027	Not yet confirmed Ask your host school

School-level deadlines are for autumn / spring respectively and come from the schools’ own pages; they may change each year.

Which campus?

Check which campus your school teaches on — Siping and Jiading are about 45 minutes apart even by shuttle.

Accommodation

• Buildings: International Student Buildings No. 1 & 2 (Siping), No. 3 (Jiading) and No. 4 (Zhangwu campus, next to Siping).
• Room types: singles, doubles and shared apartments with air-conditioning; shared kitchens and laundry.
• Cost: Tongji had no current rate card online when we checked. Older school pages quote around ¥35–80 per day depending on room type — treat as indicative only. Confirm with ISO
• How to book: on dorm.tongji.edu.cn after admission. Tongji warns that on-campus rooms are very limited.
• Off campus: Tongji’s 2025 guidebook lists partner providers (Soka and Unijia). Register at the local police station within 24 hours.

Need help deciding between a dorm and a flat? See the housing guide.

Academics

• Course lists are published by each school, and the final list is only confirmed at the start of semester. Cross-school courses need approval.
• English-taught courses are limited and mostly found in Architecture & Urban Planning, Economics & Management, Design & Innovation and Civil Engineering. Programme-dependent
• Credit load: a partner fact sheet gives 12–20 credits per semester (one credit ≈ one 45-minute class per week). Programme-dependent
• Registration & add/drop: online, in the first days of term, through your school — dates are not published centrally.
• Completion: non-degree visiting students receive a certificate on completion; transcript arrangements go through your school and the ISO.

Campus survival

Arrival

From the airport

• Hongqiao Airport (SHA T2) → Siping: Line 10 direct to Tongji University station (about ¥5). A taxi is about ¥100.
• Pudong Airport (PVG) → Siping: Line 2, then Line 10 to Tongji University (about ¥7, 1½–2 hours). A taxi is about ¥180.
• To Jiading: Line 10 to Jiaotong University then Line 11 to Shanghai Automobile City or East Changji Road — or take a taxi (route not officially published).

From the train station

• Shanghai Hongqiao Station — Line 10 direct to Tongji University station.
• Shanghai Railway Station — Line 4 to Hailun Road, then Line 10.

First-days checklist

1. Register at your dorm desk (or the local police station if off campus) within 24 hours.
2. On registration day: take a queue ticket on the 2nd floor of Zhonghe Building, then go to Room 705 for identity check, photo, fees and insurance.
3. Bring your passport and a copy, admission letter, JW201/JW202 form, two photos and your original application documents.
4. Buy the compulsory insurance (¥400 per semester).
5. Staying over 180 days on an X1 visa: health check, then apply for a residence permit within 30 days.

Around campus

• Siping: cheap student eateries on Chifeng Road and Guokang Road; Wujiaochang’s malls are about 15 minutes away on Line 10.
• Neighbours: Siping sits in the Yangpu university cluster with Fudan nearby.
• Jiading: a restaurant street outside the main gate and the Jiashi Life Plaza mall near the East Gate.
• Health: campus hospital near the Siping south gate; Xinhua Hospital is the closest public hospital.

For the whole-city picture — food, neighbourhoods and weekend trips — use the Shanghai guide rather than this page.

Official sources

• Tongji ISO – Exchange Programs ↗
• Tongji ISO – Application Information Updates ↗
• Tongji ISO – Orientation ↗
• Tongji – International student dormitories ↗
• Tongji – Siping campus ↗
• Tongji – Jiading campus ↗
• Tongji SEM – International exchange ↗
• Online application platform ↗

Last checked: September 2026. Deadlines, dorm fees, semester dates and office contacts change every intake. Where a detail differs by faculty or partner agreement it is marked Programme-dependent — your nomination email and the exchange office always override this page.

Spotted something outdated or wrong? Tell us and we will check and update it.

Photos: Fayhoo / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) · N509FZ / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)