Introduction to the Department of Traffic Engineering

Established in 2002, the Department of Traffic Engineering at Beijing Jiaotong University is grounded in the field of road traffic and transportation. In response to national strategic priorities and industry development needs, the department upholds an educational philosophy that emphasizes a broad disciplinary scope, solid fundamentals, distinctive strengths, personalized development, strong professional competence, and an innovative spirit. It is dedicated to cultivating outstanding engineering and management professionals with specialized knowledge and technical expertise in traffic engineering, ensuring that the program remains among the leading ones nationwide while steadily expanding its international influence.

Development History

• 1985: Launched the undergraduate program in Comprehensive Transportation.
• 1997: Began enrollment for the Traffic Engineering major.
• 2007: Recognized as a National-Level Featured Program.
• 2009: Awarded as a National Teaching Excellence Team.
• 2013: Passed the national Engineering Education Accreditation (valid for six years) and was included in the Ministry of Education’s Outstanding Engineer Education and Training Program. 
• 2019: Passed the Engineering Education Accreditation again.
• 2020: Selected as one of the first National First-Class Undergraduate Majors.

The department currently has 32 full-time faculty members, along with 4 faculty members with concurrent administrative appointments, comprising 13 professors, 13 associate professors, and 10 lecturers, with more than 95% holding doctoral degrees. It hosts one national and one Beijing municipal teaching excellence team, as well as one innovation team in key areas of the transportation industry. Among its faculty are one recipient of the State Council Special Allowance, one member of the National “Ten Thousand Talents Program”, two awardees of the “Young Thousand Talents Program”, two recipients of the Ministry of Education’s New Century Excellent Talents Program, and two Beijing Teaching Masters.

The department is responsible for the development of the undergraduate program in Traffic Engineering, which was selected in 2020 as one of the first National First-Class Undergraduate Programs. It currently serves as the Vice-Chair institution of the Subcommittee on Traffic Engineering under the Ministry of Education’s National Steering Committee for Transportation Programs. The program has long maintained a leading position nationwide. It was recognized as a National-Level Featured Program in 2007, and its professional course group was awarded as a National Teaching Excellence Team in 2009. The department has also developed four national first-class courses, including Traffic Planning, Traffic Management and Control, Road Engineering, and Transportation Equipment. It also offers graduate education in transportation planning and management, urban traffic engineering, and intelligent transportation engineering, producing a large number of high-level professionals for the transportation sector, particularly in highway and urban traffic systems.

Guided by major national and industry development needs, the department focuses on road traffic while extending its work to multimodal, highway, and urban transportation systems. Its research is structured around transportation planning, design, management, and control. The department leads the development of key laboratories in the transportation sector and two national-level teaching platforms. Over the past five years, it has undertaken more than 80 national research projects, including the Ministry of Science and Technology’s Key R&D Program and the National Natural Science Foundation of China, with average annual research funding of approximately 25 million RMB. Significant advances have been made in transportation big data and safety, digital and intelligent multimodal transportation, transportation–energy coordination and optimization, and traffic operations and simulation, generating substantial economic and social benefits.