Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology — guide for international students

Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (南京信息工程大学, NUIST) was founded in 1960 and was designated a national key university in 1978. It carried the name Nanjing Institute of Meteorology until 2004, and meteorology remains its signature: the university is co-constructed by the Jiangsu Provincial Government, the Ministry of Education and China’s meteorological and oceanic administrations, and it hosts the World Meteorological Organization’s Regional Training Centre in Nanjing, which the university says has trained over 6,000 meteorological scientists and managers from 160 countries and regions.

The campus is at 219 Ningliu Road in Pukou District, in Nanjing’s Jiangbei New Area on the north bank of the Yangtze. Since 2017 NUIST has been part of the national Double First-Class initiative, with Atmospheric Science selected as a national world-class discipline. The university’s Introduction page states that its Meteorology and Atmospheric Science discipline is ranked No. 4 worldwide (U.S. News 2025–2026), that eleven disciplines are in the ESI top 1%, and that Geoscience, Computer Science, Environmental Science and Ecology, and Engineering are in the ESI top 1‰. It describes the university’s overall position during 2021–2024 as around 50th among Chinese mainland universities and around 400th, 300th and 900th in U.S. News, ARWU and QS respectively.

The university’s By the Numbers page counts 39,700+ students — 29,500+ undergraduates, 8,400+ graduate students and 1,800+ international students — 3,200+ faculty members and 34 schools, with 11 doctoral programs, 28 master’s programs, 3 professional doctoral programs and 26 professional master’s programs. Official pages give different international-student counts, so treat any single figure as approximate: the College of International Education’s Brief Introduction says around 1,480 degree students plus 450 exchange students, and the university’s Introduction page gives approximately 2,250 international or exchange students.

NUIST admits international students to bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees through the College of International Education (国际教育学院), and all applications go through the online system at nuist.17gz.org. The 2026 autumn prospectus was published in December 2025 (English) and January 2026 (Chinese). The most important change for undergraduates is the China Scholastic Competency Assessment (CSCA): the Undergraduate Programs page states that all applicants for undergraduate programs must take the CSCA and submit valid score reports. The required subjects depend on the program — English-taught science and engineering majors need Mathematics and Physics, English-taught humanities, economics and management majors need Mathematics, and Chinese-taught majors add Academic Chinese (Science or Arts track), with Chemistry instead of Physics for chemistry and materials majors. Age limits are under 25 for bachelor’s, under 35 for master’s and under 40 for doctoral applicants. Master’s applicants do not need a supervisor’s acceptance letter, but doctoral applicants must provide one. The Q&A page also mentions a 2-year undergraduate route for final-year vocational-college students, with specific majors announced on the website each year. The College also lists a Preparatory Program and summer and winter camps, but publishes no fees, dates or entry rules for the Preparatory Program on its English pages — ask the Admission Office if you are interested.

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 Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology 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.

For a university of its size, NUIST has an unusually wide set of scholarships, and several of them exist because of its meteorology specialism. The Chinese Government Scholarship is available through four routes — Bilateral, High-Level Postgraduate, Silk Road and WMO — each with a different deadline. The Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) funds two English-taught master’s programs for government officials and managers from developing countries. The Q&A page also lists the International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship and a Nanjing Municipal Government Scholarship (its application form is on the Download page), and the English program information sheets mention a Jiangsu Government Scholarship. NUIST’s own entry award is the Excellent Freshmen Scholarship, and current self-supporting students can apply for the Longshan Scholarship. You cannot hold the Excellent Freshmen Scholarship together with another government or organisational scholarship.

NUIST’s research is built around the atmosphere and the systems connected to it — weather and climate, hydrology, oceans, environment and ecology — together with the information technologies used to observe and model them: remote sensing, electronic information, computer science and artificial intelligence. The university’s Introduction page reports that eleven of its disciplines are in the ESI top 1%, with Geoscience, Computer Science, Environmental Science and Ecology, and Engineering in the top 1‰, and that its Meteorology and Atmospheric Science discipline is ranked No. 4 worldwide in U.S. News 2025–2026. For international postgraduates, this shows in the program list: the English-taught master’s and doctoral offerings are dominated by meteorology, hydrometeorology, physical oceanography, remote sensing and AI.

NUIST’s international profile is shaped by meteorology: it hosts the WMO Regional Training Centre Nanjing, co-runs WMO and MOFCOM scholarship programs, and in 2024 launched a Climate College that has established 7 Climate Schools in Belt and Road countries. It also runs two transnational institutes, with the UK’s University of Reading and Ireland’s South East Technological University. The university’s Introduction page describes relationships with 170+ universities worldwide; the College of International Education’s Brief Introduction gives over 140 partner institutions, naming Harvard, Yale and the University of Reading among them.

The College of International Education has a Student Employment page, but it is a list of links — to the WMO, the National Immigration Administration, the Ministry of Education, Study in China, Jiangsu Education Services for International Exchange and a University-Enterprise Cooperation on Global Talent Network — rather than a careers service with its own guidance. NUIST publishes no placement or salary statistics for international graduates. For graduating students who want to continue at NUIST, the Download page carries a Recommendation Form for Further Study and an application form for the NUIST Postgraduate Scholarship for Outstanding Graduating Students. The WMO and MOFCOM routes are designed for people who return to national meteorological services and government posts.

International students live in the Shuoyuan International Student Dormitory on the main campus at 219 Ningliu Road, Pukou District — the same address the College gives for parcels. The College’s dormitory page shows single and double rooms with a balcony, kitchen and bathroom. Visa extensions are handled by the Jiangbei New Area Exit and Entry Administration Center, and the campus police studio also receives students on Tuesday afternoons from 2 to 5 pm. As everywhere in China, you must register your address at the local police station within 24 hours of moving in.

Accommodation

Dining

International students can eat at several campus canteens using the campus e-card, or pay by Alipay, WeChat or cash at food courts and restaurants. A lost e-card can be reported at the deposit machines in the canteens or at the e-card centre with your passport and ID; a replacement costs RMB 20.

Facilities

Reach the Admission Office, College of International Education (国际教育学院), Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology for questions about applications, documents, scholarships and arrival. Type university programs and offices are based on campus in Nanjing.