China Pharmaceutical University — guide for international students

China Pharmaceutical University (中国药科大学) traces its history to the National College of Pharmacy, founded in Nanjing in 1936 with Prof. Meng Mudi as its first president — the first independent school of pharmacy in China. During the war it moved to Wuhan and Chongqing, returning to Nanjing in July 1946. It was renamed East China School of Pharmacy in 1950 and, after the 1952 national readjustment of colleges merged in the pharmacy departments of other universities, became East China College of Pharmacy on 16 November 1952 — the date the university still keeps as its anniversary. It was renamed Nanjing College of Pharmacy in 1956, and in October 1986 merged with Nanjing College of Traditional Chinese Pharmacy to form China Pharmaceutical University. It joined Project 211 in 1996 and came under the direct administration of the Ministry of Education in 2000.

CPU was designated a Double First-Class university in 2017, with Traditional Chinese Medicine as its discipline in the national initiative; the university’s English site also lists it as a key institution of the 211 Project and of the "985 Engineering Advantage Discipline Innovation Platform". Its Pharmacy discipline was rated A+ in the fourth national discipline assessment. The university has 17 schools and departments offering 30 undergraduate programs, four first-level doctoral degree programs (Pharmacy, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Biology and Biomedical Engineering), two professional doctoral programs, eight first-level master’s programs, six professional master’s programs and two postdoctoral research stations.

There are two campuses in Nanjing, together covering more than 2,100 acres: the main Jiangning Campus on Longmian Avenue in Jiangning District, where the School of International Education sits, and the older Xuanwumen Campus on Tongjiaxiang in Gulou District, in the city centre. CPU at a Glance counts 20,756 full-time students — 11,363 undergraduates, 8,931 postgraduates and 462 international students — and 2,083 staff, including 1,312 full-time teachers. The English homepage gives a different, rounder international figure, "600+" current international students from more than 66 nationalities; neither page says which count is more recent, so treat the international cohort as somewhere in the high hundreds rather than a precise number.

CPU admits international students to bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees taught in Chinese or in English, and to a non-degree Chinese Language Program. Applications go through the university’s online system (admission.cpu.edu.cn), are handled by the School of International Education on the Jiangning Campus, and are acknowledged within about two weeks; eligible applicants receive a pre-acceptance letter, pay the first-year tuition, commitment fee and mandatory insurance, and only then receive the admission notice and JW202 visa form. Two things are worth knowing before you start. First, the university publishes most of its 2026 cycle as program lists rather than a full English prospectus — the 2026 master’s and doctoral pages are PDF lists of majors, and the undergraduate and brochure pages carry little text — so several figures below come from CPU’s standing admission-requirements and fee pages rather than a 2026-dated guide. Second, the general deadline is not stated consistently: the English How to Apply page (updated 25 November 2025) gives 15 July, while the older Chinese application-process page gives 30 June. Scholarship deadlines are much earlier (28 February 2026 for the CSC–CPU High-level Postgraduate Program, 17 May 2026 for the Silk Road Program). Undergraduate applicants should also plan for the China Scholastic Competency Assessment (CSCA): the How to Apply page lists "CSCA results" among the documents to prepare, and the 2026 Silk Road notice makes a CSCA transcript mandatory for undergraduate scholarship applicants. Age limits differ by page: the admission-requirements page sets a minimum of 18 for bachelor’s, under 35 for master’s and under 45 for doctoral applicants, while the 2026 scholarship notices cap bachelor’s applicants at under 25 and doctoral applicants at under 40.

Degree programs

Select a degree level to see tuition, duration and entry requirements.

Non-degree programs

Documents to prepare

Application timeline

These are the dates China Pharmaceutical University published for the 2026 intake. That cycle has closed. Use them as a guide to when each step falls in the year, and check the official pages for the 2027 dates before you plan around them.

CPU’s scholarship pages list Chinese Government Scholarship channels administered through the university (agency number 10316), the Nanjing Municipal Government Scholarship and the university’s own President’s Scholarship. The two CSC channels are the most valuable and have the earliest deadlines — the High-level Postgraduate Program closes on 28 February 2026 and the Silk Road Program on 17 May 2026. The President’s and Nanjing Government Scholarship pages were last published for the 2025 intake (deadline 15 June 2025 for both); CPU has not posted 2026 versions on its English pages, so confirm this year’s dates with the office. Undergraduates can also apply for the Chinese Government Scholarship (Type A) through their home country’s embassy, listing CPU (code 10316) as first choice.

CPU’s research covers chemical drugs, traditional Chinese medicine and biopharmaceuticals, anchored by the National Key Laboratory of "Multi-Target Natural Medicines" (listed in the doctoral program directory as the State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, which admits its own master’s and doctoral students) and a set of provincial and ministerial research platforms. Recent work highlighted on the English research pages includes personalised and universal cancer vaccines published in Nature Nanotechnology and Nature Biomedical Engineering, protein engineering in Science Translational Medicine, sustainable pharmaceutical engineering in PNAS, metal nanomedicines for tumour immunotherapy and physical approaches to bacterial lung infections in ACS Nano. For a prospective postgraduate, the practical point is that research is supervisor-led: you need a CPU professor’s acceptance letter to apply.

CPU’s international work is split between the International Cooperation and Exchange Office (gjc.cpu.edu.cn), which runs partnerships, joint programs and student mobility, and the School of International Education (international.cpu.edu.cn), which admits and looks after international students. The office runs Sino-foreign cooperative programs, dual-degree, visiting-student and short-term exchange projects with partners in North America, Asia, Europe and the UK, and Oceania. Two official pages count partners differently: CPU at a Glance cites exchange agreements with 86 overseas universities and research institutions, while the English homepage cites more than 110 international partnerships.

CPU’s graduates go mainly into the pharmaceutical industry, hospital pharmacy, drug regulation and research, which is the natural consequence of a single-discipline university. The School of International Education lists a Work-study and Internship section under Student Life, but it publishes no employment or salary statistics for international graduates on its English pages — ask the office what internship support exists for your program, and remember that working in China on a student visa requires permission.

Living on campus is compulsory for all first-year international students. CPU has two international residences: H1 on the Jiangning Campus and the XWM building on the Xuanwumen Campus. Double rooms are standard; single rooms are only allowed for CSC-scholarship PhD candidates enrolled before 15 October 2019, although the fee page still prices singles. H1 rooms have a balcony, elevator, air conditioning, a heated bathroom, twin beds with mattresses, desks and chairs, with a public laundry and kitchen; XWM rooms have the same plus a refrigerator. Neither provides a television or bedding, and campus Wi-Fi does not reach the dormitories, so you arrange your own internet. Rooms have electricity meters with a free allowance, after which you pay for your own power. Fire and smoking are banned in the residence halls and carpets are not allowed.

Accommodation

Dining

CPU does not publish canteen locations or meal prices for international students on its English pages. Both international residences have a shared public kitchen, and the university budgets living expenses at "at least 1500 / month".

Facilities

Reach the School of International Education, China Pharmaceutical University for questions about applications, documents, scholarships and arrival. Type university programs and offices are based on campus in Nanjing.