In 1951, East China Normal University (ECNU) was founded. It was principally based on the former Daxia University and Guanghua University.
In addition, some departments/staffs from the following Universities were also incorporated into the then newly formed East China (Normal) University:
- Datong University
- East Asia Physical Education College
- Fudan University
- Hujiang University
- St. John's University
- Tongji University
- Zhengdan University
- Zhejiang University
In 1959, East China Normal University was indentified as one of the 16 National Key Universities in China.
In 1972, East China Normal University was renamed Shanghai Normal University, when it merged Shanghai Teachers Institute, Shanghai Education Institute, Shanghai Physical Education Institute, and Shanghai in-Service Teachers Institute. In 1978, the four institutes detached and resume their original status'. In July 1980, the University resumed its original name.
In 1997 and 1998, Shanghai Education Institute, Shanghai Second Education Institute and Shanghai Preschool Education College merged into ECNU successively.
Recently, ECNU has entered into an agreement with New York University (NYU) to establish a study-abroad program enabling almost 200 students from NYU to study at ECNU each academic year.
Ref:http://www.dag1.ecnu.edu.cn/xiaoshi/yange.htm
Present
East China Normal University is a Key University directly under the auspices of the Ministry of Education. It is listed as a member of the “project 985” and “project 211” (National Key University). The University is situated in the down town of Shanghai and is well known as a Garden University for its beautiful campus.
East China Normal University is a comprehensive and research University with strong faculty. It has 1,700 full time teachers, including 1,100 professors and associate professors. Covering the academic area of Science, liberal arts, management, engineering, law, education, philosophy, history, Finance and Economics, The University now has 19 full-time schools, consists of 44 departments offering 61 undergraduate programs, 130 doctoral programs and 170 Master's programs, nearly 13500 undergraduates, 8900 post graduates and about 2700 long-term and short-term International students.
East China Normal University owns the state base for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language. It is also pointed by the office of overseas Chinese of the State Council as the Chinese teaching center. The online school of Chinese Language jointly run by the University and the National office of TCFL has become the biggest website in the world for teaching Chinese as a foreign language.[citation needed]