The establishment of Tianjin University marked a turning point in Chinese history, as it represented a significant shift towards modernization and the adoption of Western educational models.

[7] In 1895, Sheng Xuanhuai submitted his memorial to the Guangxu Emperor to request for approval to set up a modern higher education institution in Tianjin.

In its early days, undergraduates had the permission to directly pursue graduate study at Harvard and Yale without any entrance exams.

In June 2001, the university was evaluated by the expert panel of the Ministry of Education as having successfully completed all the construction items set by “211-Project” for the Ninth Five-Year Plan Period.

[12] Since the policy of reform and opening up to the outside world, hundreds of scientific and technological achievements of the university have won prizes.

The university's annual amount of financial aid received from the National Natural Science Foundation always ranks top among China's engineering institutions of higher learning.

The university has established extensive cooperative relations with many large and medium-sized enterprises at home.

During the Ninth Five-Year Plan period, 159 scientific and technological achievements of the university won prizes.

[14] In 2020 professor Zhang Hao (張浩)[15] was convicted in the US on charges of stealing trade secrets on behalf of his firm and Tianjin University.

The stolen trade secrets allowed his company and Tianjin to unfairly compete in the global radio frequency filter market.

In recent years, the university has attached great importance to quality education of its students.

The Students’ Union, the Students’ Scientific Society, Peiyang Art Team, and the Youth Volunteers’ Society have played active roles in organizing cultural and art festivals, science and technology festivals, sport festivals, work-study programs, and social activities in the forms of lectures, seminars, contests, soliciting articles, training and weekend music parties.

The university strengthens its cooperation with transnational industrial groups in the high-tech fields.