A view of Shanghai University of Sport's campus. [Photo/Official website of SUS]

Founded in 1952, Shanghai University of Sport (SUS) is the first sport university established following the founding of the People's Republic of China.

SUS has since 2001 been governed by the General Administration of Sport of China and the Shanghai Municipal People's Government. The university has since 2017 been listed as a national-level Double First-Class initiative and among the top universities in Shanghai.

SUS is striving to become a first-class sport university by exploring the development of talent cultivation, academic innovation, social services, cultural heritage and international engagement in sports.

In line with its motto "Integration of Mind and Body, Inclusive and Competitive", SUS primarily focuses on sports research and is committed to developing physical education, improving people's health and promoting sporting culture.

SUS has three campuses in the Yangpu, Xuhui and Songjiang districts in Shanghai, as well as teaching centers in Jiangwan and Huangpu.

Authorized to award master's degrees and one of the earliest sport universities authorized to confer doctoral degrees, SUS has developed a distinctive mix of disciplines, including natural science, medicine, literature, engineering, management science, law and art, in addition to its main discipline of sports.

The university offers 24 majors at the undergraduate level, including 13 national and provincial first-class majors. SUS has six academic master's subjects including physical education and sport science, psychology, medical technology, journalism and communication, theory of Marxism and public health and preventive medicine; five master's programs for physical education, journalism and communication, tourism administration, applied psychology and business administration. SUS also has doctoral programs in physical education and sport science, including humane and sociological science of sports, human kinesiology and science, traditional Chinese sports, physical education and sports coaching, as well as five programs for sports management science, sports engineering, sports rehabilitation, sports communication and anti-doping science.

SUS has about 600 full-time teachers and its faculty members include world champions, elite athletes as well as internationally renowned referees.

SUS actively promotes educational innovation by integrating sports with education. It has established the China Table Tennis College, one of the most prestigious table tennis institutions in China and in the world, the CBA Basketball Academy, a venture with the Chinese Basketball Association, the China Marathon College with the Chinese Athletics Association, the Badminton College with the Chinese Badminton Association, the Gymnastics College of China with the Chinese Gymnastics Association, and the China Triathlon College with China Triathlon Sports Association. SUS also serves as a reserve base for national high-level talents in middle-distance running.

SUS plays a leading role in academic innovation in the country. In recent years, SUS has obtained three awards for National Science and Technology Progress. As a leading university in national key projects like the Science and Technology in Winter Olympics and Being Healthy, SUS is the only sport university honored with the title of Joint Institution of Science and Technology in China's Winter Sports.

SUS provides high-quality services to the society. The university initiated the evaluation model for sporting skills of China's teenagers, the evaluation model for physical health index, and standards for sporting skills of teenagers, all of which influence China's reform and development in sports and educational assessment. SUS is home to a training center for the national three-person basketball and bob-skeleton teams.

SUS has been actively promoting sports culture and is home to the Institute for Olympic Studies and Research approved the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Table Tennis Federation Museum, the China Table Tennis Museum, and the Chinese Wushu Museum, the world's first museum to display the history and culture of wushu. SUS also houses the nation's first sport-themed bookstore and a museum for physical education and sport.

SUS has played a pivotal role in creating a new development pattern for opening up. The university is a designated Chinese Government Scholarship university and a pilot institution designated by China's Ministry of Education to independently enroll international students who have received Chinese government scholarships.

As of the end of 2022, SUS had established partnerships with 149 universities and organizations from 46 countries and regions, including 19 programs with mutual recognition of credits with the top 50 universities in the QS World University Rankings. More than 1,800 students from over 60 countries and regions have studied at SUS.

SUS established the world's first ITA Academic Center in cooperation with the International Testing Agency, the China Table Tennis College Europe with the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the SUS-UW Center in the United States with the University of Wyoming, and the joint doctoral education program together with Vietnam's Bac Ninh Sport University. In the Macao Special Administrative Region of China, SUS has carried out joint education initiatives at the master's and doctoral levels in sport sciences in cooperation with the Macao Polytechnic University.

International students perform during the International Cultural Festival at Shanghai University of Sport. [Photo/Official website of SUS]