Caption: A ZJU pupil works on robotic growth at ZJU’s Innovation Follow Base of Robotics and Clever Tools
The pioneers making Hangzhou’s repute as what The Wall Road Journal known as “international AI competitor” hail from expertise cultivation from high establishments like Zhejiang College (ZJU). The rise of entrepreneurs equivalent to ZJU alumnus Liang Wenfeng, founding father of DeepSeek, vividly testifies to the college’s AI schooling success. From early explorations many years in the past to at present’s systematic innovation, ZJU has lengthy nurtured batches of AI “pioneers.”
ZJU’s AI roots hint to 1978, when it established its Laptop Science Division. Founding director He Zhijun prioritized “AI concept analysis and new pc design” within the division’s blueprint, making ZJU the primary in China to enroll AI grasp’s college students and sow the seeds of AI analysis.
Seizing the chance from the 2017 nationwide new-generation AI growth plan which mandated AI undergraduate applications, ZJU grew to become one in all China’s first 35 universities to launch an AI undergraduate main in 2018. It adopted with the nation’s first interdisciplinary AI program in 2019, and in 2024, secured China’s solely nationwide AI textbook base.
Now ZJU has constructed built-in instructing assets—textbooks, programs, school, and coaching platforms—and solid an entire expertise pipeline spanning undergraduates to postgraduates for AI professionals and “AI+different majors”, fostering an ecosystem the place “everybody can study AI wherever, anytime.” This yr, it expanded AI enrollment to welcome extra younger explorers.
As a general-purpose expertise akin to the inner combustion engine or electrical energy, AI inherently drives interdisciplinary collaboration—whether or not fixing scientific/engineering challenges by way of AI (e.g., AI for Science: predicting 3D protein constructions) or optimizing AI by science (e.g., Science for AI: refining neural networks by way of statistical physics). Future breakthroughs will largely emerge from such intersections. At the moment, AI is as accessible as water and electrical energy, because of pure language interfaces. Understanding, utilizing, innovating AI, and upholding human-robot ethics have develop into core competencies for the clever age.
In September 2024, ZJU pioneered hierarchical, obligatory AI common schooling programs and a textbook sequence—Basic Schooling of Synthetic Intelligence —the primary of its variety in China, tailor-made for STEM/agriculture/medication, social sciences, and humanities/artwork. No extra “shying away” from one-size-fits-all content material, medical college students can discover AI-assisted analysis insights whereas artwork college students can discover AI-driven creation.
Interdisciplinary coaching is ZJU’s forte. In 2021, it co-founded China’s first inter-university “AI+X” micro-major with 5 different main universities. Focusing on non-computer college students, it acts as a “pathfinder” for interdisciplinary expertise growth. Polished over years, this mannequin upgraded to “AI+X 2.0” in 2025.
ZJU additionally partnered with China Academy of Artwork on the “clever artwork and design” micro-major, incorporating cutting-edge fields like “embodied intelligence” and “digital-intelligent organizations” to discover disciplinary paradigm shifts and unlock “X+AI” potential.
Nurturing expertise requires elevating school and pupil high quality. ZJU launched a sequence of steering, requiring college students to make use of AI, innovate AI, and uphold moral boundaries whereas urging lecturers to uphold instructional values, grasp AI data, reform instructing fashions, and assume social duties.
To ship AI common programs, ZJU assembled an interdisciplinary instructing crew from 40 faculties and educated lecturers in clever schooling. It additionally launched 11 episodes of the DeepSeek on-line public course, drawing over 50 million views to unfold AI data past campus. The primary nationwide “Qizhen Wenzhi” AI mannequin & agent competitors will launch later this yr, encouraging inter-university groups to observe in actual situations.
Classroom AI innovation enlivens studying: Within the class of Laptop Structure, AI instructing assistants act as digital doubles—explaining ideas, producing PPTs, answering questions 24/7, designing quizzes, and mapping data. Medical AI class makes use of generative platforms for heuristic questioning, generative exploration, and targeted dialogue, with AI as an inspiration assistant for drug design. Even job-hunting will get help from “Xiaoye,” an AI profession mentor providing insights and assets.
Caption: College students in an AI-related course
ZJU can also be strengthening its AI schooling ecosystem. The 2024-established Synthetic Intelligence Schooling Analysis Middle coordinates campus-wide reform. In March 2025, it launched an AI-empowered schooling mission known as “AI STEP” (Begin-Prepare-Discover-Progress), which options “Science, Expertise, Engineering & Enterprise, Philosophical & Social Science” interdisciplinary integration, and construct a brand new mannequin for fostering high AI innovators.
As Hangzhou’s expo showcases the AI business’s vitality, it stands on ZJU’s education-built expertise reservoir. From alumni like Liang Wenfeng to campus AI explorers, ZJU’s observe fuels the AI business with regular expertise provide, aligning schooling and business to create extra “DeepSeek moments” within the AI period.
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