The club's recruitment policy saw them, particularly scout youth players, wishing to continue their education; however, Beijing Sangao would ultimately be the main source of their first roster.

With this success, the team were invited by the Chinese Football Association to represent China in the 2003 Summer Universiade Games, where they placed seventh.

Professional coach Jin Zhiyang was initially brought in for the tournament, however once the championship ended, he decided to stay on and publicly declared that this club should be participating within the Chinese national leagues.

[4] The club complied with the other requirements of professionalism when the owners had to register all the players as footballers rather than students and increased their wages to 1,000 Yuan per month.

Their first sponsors were Beijing Huaqi Information Digital Technology Co., Ltd., who signed a two-year sponsorship contract worth 6 million Yuan over two years.

[13] When this sponsorship ended at the beginning of the 2010 league season, the club was in a precarious financial situation that required the Beijing Sports Bureau to step in with a 400 million Yuan investment.

After avoiding relegation at the beginning of the 2011 league season, the club were able to regain a sponsorship contract with sports manufacturer 361° International Limited for 5.5 million Yuan, which resulted in a change of name to Beijing 361° Students.