Donghua University, formerly known as East-China Textile Institute of Science and Technology and China Textile University before 1999, lunched its first master program in 1959 and had produced 98 graduates before the Great Cultural Revolution. In 1978, it resumed the postgraduate education system and became one of the first educational institutions in China that are authorized to confer all the three-level degrees: bachelor's, master's, and doctorate. Today, Donghua University has about 3,500 full-time graduate candidates on campus, including 500 PhD candidates.

Over years of development, Donghua University is now offering 15 PhD programs and 39 master programs, covering 22 disciplines of Philosophy, Economics, Liberal Arts, History, Natural Science, Engineering, and Management, among which Textile Engineering and Science, Material Science and Engineering, and Management Science and Engineering are the first-rank disciplines authorized to confer doctorate degrees. In addition, Textile Engineering and Science and Material Science and Engineering have established stations for post-doctoral research. Along with these academic programs, the University has also been authorized by the Academic Degree Committee of the State Council to offer more practice-oriented programs – MBA, EMBA and MA in engineering covering 10 fields.

Donghua University has always placed the building of a top-notch faculty team at the heart of its activities, and endeavored to train the members through a number of interdisciplinary programs. As a result, the University has a large group of well-known scholars with academic influence both at home and abroad. Currently, it has a faculty of over 1,300, including two fellows of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 130 professors, 400 associate professors, 90 supervisors for doctoral students and 427 supervisors for graduate students. Four positions are set for professors of “Cheungkong Scholars Program” in the two first-rank disciplines, and special professorship is offered at the University level to attract the world’s leading professors and scholars.

Along with its efforts to develop the postgraduate education and continuously improve its teaching quality, the University is also actively involved in international exchange and cooperation. Each year, a portion of outstanding students will be sent to 20 partner schools in the USA, France, Japan, Australia, Russia, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Czech, Canada, and Hong Kong, etc. for advanced studies and academic exchange. Emphasis is always put on the development of the students’ comprehensive qualities in morality, intellect, health by establishing a very selective system, and opportunities are offered to allow the students to put what they have learned into practice through such roles as teaching, research, and administration assistants. Additionally, financial support is provided in the form of scholarships to encourage top students to climb the peak of science. In 2003, one of our doctoral dissertations was listed among the Top 100 in China. In the job market, our graduates are in great demand, with an employment rate of nearly 100% in the last 5 years.

Despite its great success for more than half a century, Donghua University will never be self-complacent and loosen its efforts. Instead, it will try to seize every opportunity in the new millennium, and under the guidance of the principle of “relying on concepts, academic achievements and management for prosperity and success”, to build a “domestically first-class, and internationally renowned university with its own distinctive characteristics”.