Peking University was founded in Beijing in 1898 as the Imperial University of Peking and was renamed Peking University on 3 May 1912. In the 1952 national restructuring it merged with Yenching University, and on 3 April 2000 it merged with Beijing Medical University. It describes itself as a comprehensive university.
The university has six faculties: Humanities, Social Sciences, Economics and Management, Science, Information Technology and Engineering, and Health Science. It reports 55 schools and departments, 60 research entities and ten affiliated hospitals, and a Shenzhen Graduate School. The President’s welcome message gives more than 48,600 students, including nearly 2,500 international students, and over 12,600 faculty and staff. The President is Gao Song; He Guangcai chairs the University Council.