Sun Yat-sen University (; also SYSU) is a public university in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education and co-funded by the Ministry of Education, SASTIND, and Guangdong Provincial People's Government. As one of the top universities in China, it is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction.

The university was founded in 1924 by and named after Sun Yat-sen, a revolutionary who founded the Republic of China. The university's main campus, commonly referred to as the South Campus, is located in Haizhu, Guangzhou, inheriting the campus from the former Lingnan University (est. 1888). The university has five campuses in the three cities of Guangzhou, Zhuhai and Shenzhen, and ten affiliated hospitals.

The SYSU organised centennial celebration conference on November 12, 2024, where a number of initiatives were announced for the future.

History

Originally, each of the Sun Yat-sen Universities adopted a statism educational model () based on Sun Yat-sen's political philosophy.Wen-Hsin Yeh, The Alienated Academy: Culture and Politics in Republican China, 1919-1937. Harvard University Asia Center (November 15, 2000). p.173-176. The present-day Sun Yat-sen University is the result of multiple mergers as well as splits and restructurings that have involved more than a dozen academic institutions over time. The most recent merger happened in 2001, when Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Science merged with Sun Yat-sen University and became Sun Yat-sen College of Medical Science.

Sun Yat-sen University In 1924, Sun Yat-sen founded National Kwangtung University () in Canton and inscribed in his own handwriting the school motto of "Study Extensively, Enquire Accurately, Reflect Carefully, Discriminate Clearly, Practise Earnestly." After the death of Sun Yat-sen, the Nationalist government that was set up during the first cooperation between the Communists and Nationalists formally decreed to change its name to National Sun Yat-sen University () on July 17, 1926, in memory of Sun Yat-sen. In 1926, there were four National Sun Yat-sen Universities: National First Sun Yat-sen University in Canton (the current Sun Yat-sen University), National Second Sun Yat-sen University in Wuhan (the current Wuhan University), National Third Sun Yat-sen University in Hangzhou (the current Zhejiang University), National Fourth Sun Yat-sen University in Nanking (the predecessor of the current Nanjing University, Southeast University, and National Central University). The Nationalist government also planned to organise the National Fifth Sun Yat-sen University in Zhengzhou, but end up naming it as the Henan Provincial Sun Yat-sen University (the current Henan University).

In the 1930s, there were seven schools in the University: the Schools of Arts, Sciences, Law, Engineering, Agricultural Studies, Medicine and Education. In 1935, National Sun Yat-sen University, concurrently with National Tsinghua University and National Peking University, set up the first graduate schools in China and began to enroll graduate students.

In 1949, the University removed its prefix "National" and has been thereafter referred directly to Sun Yat-sen University (). In the 1950s, colleges, schools and departments were readjusted nationwide, and Sun Yat-sen University became a national top-tier comprehensive university with the liberal arts and sciences as its backbone disciplines.

Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences One of the predecessors of the Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Science was the Pok Tsai Medical School, which, founded in 1866, was the earliest institution of learning of western medicine in China, where Sun Yat-sen once studied and engaged in revolutionary activities.

The Pok Tsai Medical School evolved into the College of Medicine of Lingnan University in 1936. The Kung Yee Medical School and Hospital in Guangzhou (Canton) was founded in 1908. In 1925, the Kung Yee institutions were taken over by the government and became the Medical Department of the National First Sun Yat-sen (Zhongshan) University.Chi-Min Wong, Liande Wu, History of Chinese Medicine: Being a Chronicle of Medical Happenings in China from Ancient Times to the Present Period, AMS Press, 1973, p. 658. In 1953, the Colleges of Medicine in Sun Yat-sen University and Lingnan University merged to form the College of Medicine of South China, which was joined by the Guangdong Guanghua College of Medicine in 1954. The university was renamed Guangzhou College of Medicine and Sun Yat-sen College of Medical Science successively, and finally Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Science in 1985, which has developed steadfastly into a comprehensive medical university with multi-schools and multiple levels, has reached national advanced level and achieved remarkable successes in scientific research in medical genetics, ophthalmology, tumor study, parasite study, the kidney disease of internal medicine, organ transplant, infectious liver disease, biological medical project and molecular medical science. In 2001, Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Science merged with Sun Yat-sen University and became Sun Yat-sen College of Medical Science.

Lingnan University

Lingnan University () was a private university established by Andrew Happer, MD and a group of American missionaries in Guangzhou in 1888. At its founding it was named Canton Christian College ().

The Hackett Medical College for Women (, the first medical college for women in China) and its affiliated hospital known as David Gregg Hospital for Women and Children (), located in Guangzhou, China, were parts of a medical centre that was founded by female medical missionary Mary H. Fulton (1854–1927). Fulton was sent by the Foreign Missions Board of the Presbyterian Church (USA), with the support of the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn, New York, of which David Gregg was pastorArchives of Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn, New York The college was dedicated in 1902 and offered a four-year medical curriculum. At the end of 1932, the medical center was registered and put under the control of the Chinese government. Furthermore, it affiliated with Guangzhou Hospital and Lingnan University to form the Sun Yat-Sen Medical College in 1936.Rebecca Chan Chung, Deborah Chung and Cecilia Ng Wong, "Piloted to Serve", 2012

Lingnan University was incorporated into Sun Yat-sen University in 1953 under the order of the Communist Party's government. Members of the university moved to Hong Kong and founded the Lingnan School in Wan Chai in 1967, which was relocated to Tuen Mun in the mid-1990s and renamed Lingnan University in 1999. In 1988, Lingnan College was reestablished within Sun Yat-sen University and is now one of the top schools of economics and management in China.

Rankings and reputation

Sun Yat-sen University is ranked as one of the top universities in China by all the most influential and widely observed international university rankings, for example, #7 nationwide in Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2015, #6 nationwide in the Academic Ranking of World Universities 2015, and #8 nationwide in U.S. News Global University Ranking 2015.

The Times Higher Education 2011 placed Sun Yat-sen University 171st in the world and 5th in China, and the university is regarded as one of the most reputable Chinese universities by the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings where it ranked 151st globally. Sun Yat-sen graduates employability rankings placed at #191 in the world in the QS Graduate Employability Rankings.

As of 2026, SYSU was ranked #62 globally, #10 in Asia and #7 in China by the Academic Ranking of World Universities, It was also ranked #74 in the world, #15 in Asia and #8 in China by the U.S. News Global University Ranking. The university was ranked #81 worldwide, #13 in Asia and # 7 in China by the Center for World University Rankings.

The 2025 CWTS Leiden Ranking ranked SYSU 7th in the world by total publications and #26 in the world based on the number of their scientific publications belonging to the top 1% in their fields for the time period 2020–2023.

Nature Index Nature Index tracks the affiliations of high-quality scientific articles and presents research outputs by institution and country on monthly basis. Regarding scientific research output, the Nature Index 2024 ranked SYSU the No. 7 university in the Asia Pacific region, and 8th in the world among the global universities.

Year Rank Valuer 2024 8 Nature Index - Academic Institutions - Global 2024 7 Nature Index - Academic Institutions - China

Academics

Statistics (2018) Source: Total Full-time Faculty 17,022 Professors2,266 Associate Professors 2,898 Full-time Students65,638 Undergraduate Students32,220 Graduate Students for master's degree13,351 Doctoral Students 5,961 Undergraduate Majors130 Doctorate Programs 49 Master's Degree Programs59 Professional Degree Programs30 Post-doctoral Research Stations41 Annual Research Funding (million USD) $454 Annual Budget (billion USD) $2.5

Faculties and Schools

Sun Yat-sen University has made several adjustments to its academic departments throughout its history. Starting from the end of 2022, Sun Yat-sen University has implemented a three-tier academic governance system consisting of "University-Faculties-Schools (Departments)." As of now, the university comprises a total of 65 schools (including directly affiliated departments and teaching units), which are divided among seven faculties: the Faculty of Humanities, the Faculty of Social Sciences, the Faculty of Economics and Management, the Faculty of Natural Sciences, the Faculty of Engineering, the Faculty of Information Science and Technology, and the Faculty of Medicine. These schools are spread across five campuses.