Duke Kunshan University (DKU;昆山杜克大学) is a university inKunshan, Jiangsu, China. It was established in 2013 by a joint venture betweenDuke University andWuhan University.[1] The university is an independent legal entity.[2] Upon graduation, undergraduate students receive degrees from both Duke University and Duke Kunshan University, and are considered alumni of both institutions.[3]
Duke Kunshan offers a four-year, fully residential undergraduate program, along with two masters programs in conjunction with Duke University.[4] Its undergraduate program features an experimental curriculum in which students choose from a set of interdiciplinary majors and tracks across three academic divisions towards the end of sophomore year.[5] The university has 1,713 enrolled students as of December 2023.[6] The inaugural undergraduate class of 2022 consisted of 234 students entering in 2018.[7] At full capacity, the university will have 550 undergraduate students in each class.[8][9]
Duke Kunshan University admitted its first undergraduate students as part of the Class of 2022. Significantly exceeding its original target of 1,500 applicants, the university received a total of 3,143 applications for an estimated 225 first-year spots, including 2,551 applications from China and 332 from the United States. There were 80 countries represented in the applicant pool, including Kazakhstan, South Korea, Pakistan, and Ethiopia.[21]
In March 2025, DKU admitted 550 students from a pool of 11,884 total applicants, or about 5% of its inaugural applicant pool, a selectivity similar to the 4.8% acceptance rate at Duke University. Of those applications, 165 international students were chosen from a pool of 5,882, and 385 Chinese students from a pool of 6,002. For the Class of 2029, DKU received an unprecedented number of international applications, making this cycle the most rigorous.[22]
All undergraduate applications for Duke Kunshan are submitted using theCommon Application. Students applying to Duke University can also check a box on the Duke application to apply for admission to Duke Kunshan University.[23] International students, including those from the United States, typically submit transcripts,SAT orACT standardized test scores, and application essays.[21] However, a test-optional policy is in effect for applications submitted in 2020 and 2021.[24]
Students can apply separately to each of DKU's five graduate programs.[25]
The undergraduate program at DKU is conceived as a research-inflected liberal arts education. It is composed of three academic divisions and a center:[26]
Division of Arts and Humanities
Division of Social Sciences
Division of Natural and Applied Sciences
The Language and Culture Center
DKU does not offer traditional diciplinary majors. Instead, it offers a set of interdiciplinary majors drawing intellectual resources from one or more of its divisions. For example, a major in Computation and Design offers tracks across all three divisions: Computer Science track (Natural and Applied Sciences), Digital Media track (Arts and Humanities), and Computational Social Science track (Social Sciences).[5]
International Meteorite Conference, Meteorite China – Duke Kunshan University hosted China's first-ever international meteorite conference on 15 September 2017. Over 80 scientists from China, the U.S., the U.K., Australia, and Russia met at the three-day event. Enthusiasts and meteorite collectors also participated in the conference.[31]
All students spend a semester in their junior year studying away, for which the most popular choice is at Duke University in Durham, NC. An additional summer of study away is also possible.[32]
A 2017 article in theFinancial Times stated that although Duke Kunshan University had signed legally binding agreements with theEducation Ministry of China that guaranteed academic freedom on campus, many academics had doubts that the agreements would be upheld.[33]
Panorama of Phase I of the "Water Feature", which separates the Academic Building (L), Conference Center (R) and Innovation Center (Background).
Duke Kunshan is located in a 200-acre campus in Kunshan, a city in southeasternJiangsu province. The campus will become the center of the Duke Creative Park, part of the city's “Five Zones, One Line” plan for urban renewal. The area will host the Sino-US (Kunshan) Technology Innovation Center and serve as a mixed-used project integrating R&D centers, business services, and ecological parks.[34]
Kunshan's location betweenShanghai andSuzhou allows easy access to these major metropolitan centers by highways and high-speed railway.[35]
A single dorm room within a four-person Student Residence Hall suite
The campus is being constructed in phases, with Phase I designed by American design and architecture firmGensler.[36] Phase 1 facilities include an academic building with a variety of classroom configurations, a 200-bed dormitory building, a conference center and hotel, a faculty residence, and an administration building. An innovation center equipped with a library, classrooms and team rooms was opened in 2019.
Phase 2 was completed in 2023.[37] Designed byPerkins and Will,[38] Phase 2 features an expansion of undergraduate, graduate, and faculty housing, a community center, recreation center, the WD Research Institute, and a library.[39] The 71.3 acre Duke Kunshan Gardens are also currently under construction, and are scheduled for completion in 2023.[40]
Later plans call for Phase III and IV construction to take place in the coming decade.[37]
As part of the partnership between Duke University, Wuhan University, and the city of Kunshan, the municipal government has leased the Duke Kunshan University campus to the university at no cost for the first ten years as well as paying for construction of the buildings.[41]
Duke Kunshan University students are conferred Duke University undergraduate or graduate degrees (accredited bySACSCOC) upon graduation. Undergraduates also receive a graduation certificate and diploma officially approved by theChinese MOE.[42] Therefore, DKU alumni are consideredDuke alumni, and are considered part of the Duke alumni community.[43]
