Beijing Jiaotong University, one of the three founding institutions of China's Jiaotong University tradition, traces its origins back to 1896. Its predecessor, the Railway Management Training Institute established by the Qing government, was the country's first institution of higher education dedicated to training management professionals. The launch of the Railway Management Class by the Institute marked the founding of what would become the School of Traffic and Transportation. Growing alongside the university itself, the School is the cradle of modern railway management education in China. Over a century of development, it has built a high-caliber teaching and research team distinguished by its railway expertise, while also covering highways, urban rail, civil aviation, and other transportation modes. The School has established a comprehensive talent development system focused on transportation, with expanded offerings in logistics, e-commerce, safety science and engineering, control science and engineering, and related fields.
In undergraduate education, the School offers five programs: Transportation (with four specializations: Railway Transportation, Urban Rail Transit, High-Speed Railway Operation Management, and Civil Aviation Transportation), Transportation Engineering, E-commerce, Logistics Engineering, and Intelligent Transportation Engineering, along with a Transportation Sino-foreign Cooperative Education program. Among these, Transportation, Transportation Engineering, Logistics Engineering, and E-commerce are recognized as National First-Class Undergraduate Programs. The School admits top-tier students, with about 90% ranking within the top 5% in their provincial college entrance examinations. It also achieves outstanding educational outcomes: the further study rate reaches 70%, including 25% admitted to postgraduate programs via recommendation and 15% pursuing studies abroad, while the employment rate stands at 98%.
In postgraduate education, the School hosts 2 postdoctoral research stations and offers a comprehensive degree structure, including doctoral programs in 2 first-level disciplines and 1 second-level discipline, master’s programs in 2 first-level and 2 second-level disciplines (covering Control Science and Engineering; Transportation Planning and Management; Safety Science and Engineering at both doctoral and master’s levels, and E-commerce at the master’s level), alongside 1 professional doctoral degree program in Transportation and 1 professional master’s degree program in Logistics Engineering and Management. The discipline of Transportation Engineering has been ranked first globally in the 6th ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects. In recent years, the School has seen steady growth in both the enrollment scale and quality of its postgraduate students, with annual intake reaching nearly 600. Over 70% of admitted students hold bachelor’s degrees from universities under China’s “Double First-Class” initiative. The employment rate for graduates has remained consistently above 98% over the past three years, earning wide recognition from employers and society.
The School has long upheld an educational and research philosophy that integrates theory with practice, yielding substantial achievements in fields such as Transportation Engineering, Safety Science and Engineering, and Logistics Engineering. It has undertaken more than 100 national-level research projects, including those under the National Key R&D Program, the National “973” and “863” Programs, the Science and Technology Support Program, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. As a founding publisher, the School has established several leading academic journals in transportation, including the Journal of Transportation Safety & Security, the Journal of Transportation Systems Engineering and Information Technology, and Urban Rapid Rail Transit. Furthermore, it has organized and hosted major international conferences such as ICTTS, ICRE, ICIRT, and COTA, which have significantly elevated its international profile.
The School has a total of 220 faculty and staff members, including 70 professors, 79 associate professors/senior researchers, and 8 experts recognized as recipients of the State Council Special Allowance.Currently, the School enrolls 3,084 students, comprising 1,547 undergraduates and 1,537 postgraduate students, of whom 439 are doctoral candidates.
Guided by the motto “Bridging the World and Connecting Eras,” the School serves as a key incubator for world-class disciplines, top-tier innovative talent in transportation, and technological advancement in the industry. It remains dedicated to supporting China’s economic and social development, promoting the nation’s harmonious cultural heritage, and striving to become a distinctive, high-level, and globally recognized research-oriented institution.
