In full implementation of China's Education Modernization 2035 issued by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, steady advancement of the Education Action Plan for the Belt and Road Initiative, and active response to the Opinions by Eight Ministries and Departments including the Ministry of Education on Accelerating and Scaling Up Education Opening-Up in the New Era, Xi’an Jiaotong University (XJTU) founded the XJTU-POLIMI Joint School of Design and Innovation in 2022 in partnership with Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI), with official approval from the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. This institution operates as a non-independent legal entity Sino-foreign cooperative education institution.

To further expand and deepen bilateral collaboration, and upon renewed official approval from the Ministry of Education, the school was officially renamed XJTU-POLIMI Joint School, Xi’an Jiaotong University in March 2025, abbreviated as the XJTU-POLIMI Joint School.

Upholding XJTU’s institutional positioning of Rooted in Western China, Serving the Nation,  Building a World-Class University, the Joint School inherits the Spirit of Westward Academic Relocation. Drawing on shared educational resources, disciplinary strengths and long-standing cooperative foundations of both universities, the school adheres to a disciplinary development philosophy centered on New Engineering Disciplines, International Orientation & Interdisciplinary Integration. It pioneers an innovative education model integrating Sino-foreign collaboration, interdisciplinary research and industry-university-research integration, cultivating outstanding talents equipped with global vision, profound Chinese cultural sentiments and the capacity to lead future industrial transformation.

The Joint School offers five four-year undergraduate programs: Industrial Design, Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Automation, Materials Science and Engineering, and Intelligent Manufacturing Engineering. All majors boast robust disciplinary standing:

Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering at XJTU are rated A+ by the Ministry of Education;

Materials Science and Engineering ranks 9th nationwide in the Shanghai Ranking and has been designated a World-Class Discipline;

Design Studies earns an A+ rating in the Shanghai Ranking.

All five undergraduate programs are certified as National First-Class Majors.

Politecnico di Milano holds a world-renowned academic reputation. Per the 2026 QS World University Rankings by Subject, its disciplines achieve global standings as follows:

Art & Design: 7

Architecture & Built Environment: 6

Electrical & Electronic Engineering: 24

Materials Engineering: 41

Mechanical Engineering: 14

1. Integrated Disciplinary Advantages & Standardized Curriculum

The school combines top-tier disciplinary strengths and premium educational resources from both universities in design and engineering. It delivers a joint talent cultivation framework co-developed by Chinese and Italian academic teams, consisting of POLIMI resident professors and bilingual XJTU instructors. All curricula strictly comply with the Ministry of Education’s "Four One-Thirds" regulatory requirements for Sino-foreign cooperative education, which mandate that over one third of total courses, over one third of core specialized courses, over one third of core specialized teaching faculty, and over one third of total teaching hours shall be provided by the foreign partner institution.

2. 4+0 Dual Enrollment & Dual Degree Training Model

The school adopts a standard 4+0 dual enrollment and dual degree training scheme. Upon completing all prescribed coursework and meeting graduation and degree conferral criteria, students will simultaneously receive a full Undergraduate Graduation Certificate & Bachelor’s Degree Certificate issued by Xi’an Jiaotong University and a Bachelor’s Degree awarded by Politecnico di Milano.

All training sessions are completed entirely on XJTU’s campus, with POLIMI senior professors delivering in-person on-site instruction, delivering an authentic overseas study experience without leaving China.

3.Practice-Driven Competency Cultivation

Practical design and engineering projects form the backbone of the curriculum, with nearly 40% of all courses dedicated to hands-on practice. The school has built an integrated innovation ecosystem jointly supported by XJTU, POLIMI and industrial partners to advance in-depth industry-university-research integration. All practical modules are co-supervised by XJTU faculty, POLIMI professors and enterprise mentors, enabling rapid transformation of academic project outcomes into real industrial solutions and realizing shared educational and industrial development.

Faculty members are jointly appointed and dispatched by XJTU and POLIMI, with a high-level Academic Committee composed of distinguished scholars from China and overseas overseeing academic governance.

XJTU leverages its leading talent pool across Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Mathematics, Physics and other core disciplines, recruiting distinguished internal and external academics as full-time faculty of the Joint School.

Politecnico di Milano assigns senior specialized professors and doctoral teaching assistant teams to deliver more than one third of all core courses, sustaining globally aligned teaching standards.

The Joint School is situated on iHarbour Campus (Western China Science and Technology Innovation Harbour) of Xi’an Jiaotong University, with over 18,000 square meters of dedicated teaching space. Rooted in the millennia-long cultural heritage of Xi’an and XJTU’s 128-year academic legacy, the campus is embedded within the QinChuangYuan Innovation-Driven Platform, Western China’s core hub for science and technology innovation.

iHarbour hosts 8 interdisciplinary innovation platforms, 30 specialized research institutes and over 400 research bases covering science, engineering, medicine and humanities. This robust innovation ecosystem grants students direct access to cutting-edge research, global innovation networks and integrated industry-academia resources, laying a solid foundation for nurturing globally competitive elite professionals.

Students benefit from XJTU’s rigorous theoretical training combined with POLIMI’s innovative practical pedagogy. Guided by tripartite mentors from XJTU, POLIMI and collaborating enterprises, our students have secured numerous awards at domestic and international competitions:

129 national-level awards and 248 provincial-level awards;

7 prestigious international design accolades, including the German iF Design Award and Red Dot Design Award (two of the world’s top three design honors);

13 Gold Prizes in the International Track of the China International College Students’ Innovation Competition.

**Introduction to Partner Universities

Xi’an Jiaotong University(XJTU)

Founded in 1896, Xi’an Jiaotong University is one of China’s earliest established and most prestigious comprehensive research universities directly administered by the Ministry of Education. It was prioritized for development under the national Seventh and Eighth Five-Year Plans, and was among the first batch of universities designated for Project 211 and Project 985. Its predecessor, Nanyang Public School, was established in Shanghai in 1896 and renamed Jiaotong University in 1921. In 1955, the Central Government approved the westward relocation of Jiaotong University to Xi’an; the Xi’an division was formally named Xi’an Jiaotong University in 1959 and designated one of China’s 16 key national universities in the same year.

Over its 128-year history, XJTU has forged a fine tradition of striving for national rejuvenation through education, pioneering amid hardship, valuing moral integrity and pragmatic scholarship, alongside a distinctive institutional ethos of high starting standards, solid academic foundations, stringent requirements and emphasis on hands-on practice. The university has cultivated generations of outstanding high-caliber talents for national development.

Official Website: http://www.xjtu.edu.cn/index.htm

Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI)

Founded in 1863, Politecnico di Milano is Italy’s largest university specializing in science and engineering, a top-tier European polytechnic institution and one of the world’s leading technical universities. It forms the IDEA League, an alliance of Europe’s elite engineering universities, alongside ETH Zurich, RWTH Aachen, Delft University of Technology and Chalmers University of Technology.

POLIMI ranks 87th globally in the 2027 QS World University Rankings, boasting a faculty roster featuring IEEE and ACM Fellows, alongside recipients of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. It commands unparalleled international renown across engineering, architecture and design sectors.

Official Website: https://www.polimi.it/