Tianjin Normal University (TNU) was founded in 1958 with the name Tianjin Normal College, and was renamed Tianjin Normal University in 1982. The university has a history that can be traced back to the establishment of Tianjin Women's School in 1904. In 1911, it merged with Beiyang Women's Normal School, marking the beginning of Tianjin Normal University (TNU). As the inheritor of a century-old tradition of teacher education in Tianjin, TNU is the birthplace of basic education in Tianjin. In 1999, Tianjin Normal Higher Vocational College and Tianjin Education College merged with Tianjin Normal University to form the new Tianjin Normal University, becoming the only normal university in Tianjin to provide high-quality teacher resources for basic education. Over the past 65 years, TNU has produced a large number of renowned educators and core teaching staff for Tianjin and the whole country. It has cultivated over 300 current principals and secretaries of primary and secondary schools in Tianjin, as well as more than 75 percent of the backbone teachers on Tianjin's basic education frontline, playing a crucial role in providing high-quality teacher resources to support the high-quality development of basic education in Tianjin.

The university was awarded the title of National Civilization Campus in 2020, and was included on the list of high-quality normal universities in China’s Education Power Construction Project in 2021. In 2023, it became a jointly-constructed university between the Ministry of Education and the Tianjin Municipal People’s Government.

TNU has rich educational resources and excellent facilities and equipment. It has a strong humanistic spirit, a beautiful and elegant environment, and a unique ecological style. The university has three faculties and 19 departments. There are currently 35,232 full-time students, including 26,477 undergraduates, 6,195 master's students, 742 doctoral students, and 1,082 international students. The campus covers an area of 3,500 acres, including 771 acres of natural lakes and wetlands. The beautiful environment is suitable for living and studying, and its achievements in ecological civilization construction are remarkable. The total floor area is 850,800 square meters. A newly renovated 95,800 square-meter training base for Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei education cooperation was put into use in July 2023. The university’s library has a collection of nearly 4 million books, including 150,000 ancient books and more than 12,000 rare ancient books of over 1,300 types.

TNU has a complete range of disciplines and its level of discipline construction continues to rise. Its post-graduate education includes nine categories of disciplines, namely, economics, law, education, literature, history, science, engineering, management, and art. There are currently 11 doctoral degree disciplines, one doctoral degree authorization point for education majors, 31 master's degree disciplines, 19 specialized master's degree authorization categories, and nine post-doctoral research stations.

TNU’s disciplines of psychology and world history have been listed as disciplines prioritized for development by the Ministry of Education; the disciplines of education and geography have been listed on the list of disciplinary clusters prioritized for development by the Ministry of Education. Two disciplines have entered Class A, and 10 disciplines have reached Class B or above. It has been awarded two national key disciplines, four top-level disciplines cultivation and construction projects at the municipal level, seven first-class disciplines at the municipal level, 18 key disciplines at the municipal level, 15 characteristic disciplines (groups) at the municipal level, four service industry characteristic discipline groups at the municipal level. Four disciplines of chemistry, materials science, engineering science and environment science and ecology are among the top 1% in the "ESI" global ranking. The School of Marxist Studies has been listed as a key Marxist college in China. The New Era Marxist Research Institute is committed to building a new liberal arts cluster under the guidance of Marxist theory, promoting the development of social science disciplines to a new level.

TNU has outstanding advantages in its majors and has made significant achievements in cultivating talents. There are currently 74 undergraduate majors, among which 26 have been approved as national first-class undergraduate major construction sites under the "Double Ten Thousand Plan", and 14 have been approved as provincial first-class undergraduate major construction sites under the "Double Ten Thousand Plan". The number of national first-class undergraduate major construction sites and the total number of construction sites rank first among municipal universities. TNU has six characteristic specialty construction sites approved by the Ministry of Education, 16 municipal brand specialty construction sites, five municipal strategic emerging industry-related specialty construction sites, eight municipal advantage specialty construction sites, and 12 municipal application-oriented specialty construction sites. Fifty-six courses at TNU have been approved as national, provincial, and municipal first-class undergraduate courses; nine courses have been approved as national high-quality resource-sharing courses; 25 courses as municipal high-quality courses; two national-level exemplary courses for ideological and political education; 12 exemplary courses for ideological and political education in municipal universities; and six high-quality courses for the reform of "ideological and political education" in municipal universities in the new era. TNU has established one national teaching team and 20 municipal teaching teams. TNU is deeply promoting the comprehensive education of "five developments" for all staff members throughout the entire process and in all aspects of nurturing students.

In recent years, TNU's lecturers and students have won consecutive gold medals in the China International "Internet +" College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, with a total of three gold, two silver, 23 bronze medals, and an award for outstanding collective achievements.  In 2023, a total of 53 first prizes were awarded to TNU in international and national level academic competitions, including two first prizes in the "Challenge Cup" National Competition, two first prizes in the 14th National College Student Mathematics Competition, and one first prize in the MathorCup University Mathematics Modeling Challenge. Additionally, the university achieved championships in the contract bridge competition of The World Mind Sports Games for College Students, the FISU World University Games, the Chinese College Student Taekwondo Championship, and the Chinese University Ice Dragon Boat Championship. Gold medals were also obtained in the 14th National Student Sports Games and the 20th National College Student Athletics Championship. Its campus culture construction is rich and diverse, with brand campus cultural activities such as the "seeking truth lecture," "bi-weekly concert," and "bi-monthly painting and calligraphy exhibition," which have significant effects in cultivating cultural and aesthetic awareness among students. It has been recognized as “an excellent unit for ideological and political education of college students in Tianjin” for six consecutive years.

TNU has a strong research capacity with abundant high-quality research practice bases. The school has been approved for 22 national-level major projects, 29 national key projects, and 393 national-level projects. It has received two first prizes, four second prizes, 11 third prizes, and two youth awards in the Excellent Achievement Awards for Humanities and Social Sciences Research in Higher Education; two second prizes and two third prizes in the National Education Science Research Excellent Achievement Awards; three entries in the National Library of Philosophy and Social Sciences Achievements; two special awards, 46 first prizes, and 79 second prizes in the Tianjin Philosophy and Social Sciences Excellent Achievement Awards, as well as four first prizes in the Tianjin Science and Technology Awards. It has one key research base in humanities and social sciences designated by the Ministry of Education, one collaborative innovation center jointly established by the Ministry of Education and provincial departments, one base for the inheritance of excellent Chinese traditional culture designated by the Ministry of Education, one national language and script promotion base, and two national popular science education bases. The university has five key laboratories, four social science laboratories, seven Tianjin municipal popular science bases, one provincial and municipal engineering center, one Belt and Road joint research center, three international joint research centers, one Tianjin municipal science and technology innovation think tank, one school-enterprise collaborative innovation laboratory, and a total of 37 provincial and ministerial-level research platforms. The school hosts 10 types of journals, including seven academic journals, five of which are included in Peking University's Chinese Core Journals, and five of which are included in Nanjing University's CSSCI Source Journals (including the extended version). Four academic journals have been honored as the "Most Popular Journals" by the National Center for Philosophy and Social Sciences Documentation.

TNU is committed to building a scientific teacher education system and gradually forming a demand-oriented integrated teacher training mechanism. To thoroughly implement the Ministry of Education's Action Plan 2.0 for revitalizing teacher education, it has deepened the reform of the "U-G-S-I" teacher training mechanism and established a demand-oriented and integrated teacher training mechanism. It is also continuously expanding the enrollment of state-funded normal students. TNU has been included by the Ministry of Education as a non-test qualification confirmatory school for primary and secondary school teachers, with 17 majors completing the national second-level certification for teacher education. It has also been approved as a national teacher development collaborative innovation experimental base, a national experimental teaching demonstration center for teacher education, and a Ministry of Education's pilot school for AI-assisted teacher team building. It has been granted the "Reform Project for Excellent Primary School and Excellent Secondary School Teacher Education" by the Ministry of Education; undertaken the Ministry of Education's "National Training Program"; and been included in the list of implementation institutions for the Ministry of Education's "Excellent Secondary School Teacher Training Program."

TNU attracts high-level talents and has an excellent faculty team. It has a total of 2,561 faculty and staff members. Among them, there are seven individuals who hold the title of National Top Talents, 77 individuals who have received national-level talent titles such as leaders in the National Special Support Program for Philosophy and Social Sciences, National Teaching Masters, recipients of the National Distinguished Young Scientist Fund, candidates for the National "Hundred, Thousand, and Ten Thousand Talents Project," and cultural celebrities and talents recognized under the "Four Batches" program. It has two foreign academicians and three dual-appointed academicians; 118 provincial and ministerial-level talents, including Tianjin Outstanding Scholars and Tianjin Distinguished Professors/Young Scholars; three members of the 8th Discipline Assessment Committee of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council; one vice director and two members of the Teaching Guidance Committee for Professional Degree Education; one vice chairman and ten members of the Higher Education Teaching Guidance Committee of the Ministry of Education; one president of the World Chinese Language Education Association; one chairman of the Medieval History Committee; one vice director of the Teaching Guidance Committee for Primary School Teacher Education in Higher Education Institutions under the Ministry of Education; one member of the Teaching Guidance Committee for Secondary School Teacher Education; one member of the 4th National Teacher Education Curriculum Resources Expert Committee. TNU's lecturers have received such honorary titles as the "National Moral Model Nomination Award," "National Excellent Teacher," "Lifetime Achievement Award in Anthropology," "National Most Beautiful Ideological and Political Education Teacher," and "National Most Beautiful Counselor." The teacher team led by Professor Bai Xuejun in the field of "Student Psychological Development and Health at Tianjin Normal University" has been selected for the list of "National University Huang Danian-style Teacher Teams" for the creation of exemplary activities.

TNU adheres to open education and conducts extensive international exchanges and cooperation. It proactively connects the Belt and Road Initiative, and actively serves the national strategy of "Chinese culture going global". It has been selected as one of the first batch of "Demonstration Bases for Studying in China" by the government. TNU has jointly established the "International Chinese Teacher Education Institute of Tianjin Normal University" with the Ministry of Education and the Tianjin Municipal People’s Government; the International Chinese Education Development Research Institute with the China Center for International Educational Exchange of the Ministry of Education, and has co-built the "Training Base for Going Abroad for Studies" with the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange of the Ministry of Education. It has five Confucius Institutes, one of which is the first Confucius Institute in Africa and a model Confucius Institute worldwide - Nairobi University Confucius Institute, and one independent Confucius Classroom. The university has been awarded the honorary title of "Advanced Chinese Host Institution" three times, and its Confucius Institutes have won the title of "Advanced Confucius Institute" eleven times. It has established cooperative relations with 198 universities, institutions and local governments in 35 countries and regions. TNU has sent 1,061 volunteers to teach Chinese in 49 countries. It cooperates with countries including Russia, Japan, and South Korea to build four Sino-foreign cooperative education projects, and its scale of international student training ranks among the top in Tianjin. Over 1,000 of its teachers have participated in international conferences and academic visits abroad.

TNU focuses on national major strategies and serves the socio-economic development of society. It actively integrates into the coordinated development of education in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, having established the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Ecological Civilization Development Research Institute, the Drama and Film Research Institute, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Mental Health and Social Governance Center, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei International Chinese Education Exchange Center, and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Teacher Development Cooperative Innovation Center. It also serves the national needs of cultural relics and ancient books protection and has established the Ancient Books Protection Research Institute. It also plays an active role in serving the development of Tianjin's “1+3+4” modern industries and the construction of 12 industrial chains. Eighty-three intelligent technology and information innovation-based science and technology enterprises have settled in the core area or west wing of the Tiankai Higher Education Science and Technology Innovation Park. They are jointly building the Geospatial Information Modern Industry Institute with companies like Baidu. Its six think tanks have been selected as Tianjin universities' think tanks, 11 have been included in the China Think Tank Index (CTTI) source think tanks, and one has been included in the top 100 CTTI universities' think tank. The Tianjin Municipal University Think Tank Development Research Center has also settled in our university.

Standing at a new historical starting point, TNU deeply studies and implements the spirit of the 20th CPC National Congress, striving to make vigorous efforts and forge ahead with determination, solidly promoting the construction of a distinctive and world-renowned high-level normal university. It endeavors to cultivate a new generation capable of shouldering the great responsibility of national rejuvenation in the new era.

(The above statistical data is valid until December 2023)