# Excellence League

The Excellence League (E9 League; 卓越联盟) is an alliance of nine engineering-focused universities in China. The association was established in 2010 at Tianjin University.

## Membership

The Excellence League comprises nine public universities, including:
* Beijing Institute of Technology – Beijing
* Chongqing University – Chongqing
* Dalian University of Technology – Dalian, Liaoning
* Southeast University – Nanjing, Jiangsu
* Harbin Institute of Technology – Harbin, Heilongjiang
* South China University of Technology – Guangzhou, Guangdong
* Tianjin University – Tianjin
* Tongji University – Shanghai
* Northwestern Polytechnical University – Xi'an, Shaanxi
All Excellence League schools are part of the former Project 985, Project 211, Plan 111, as well as the current Double First Class University Plan.

## Rankings

The following are the rankings of the E9 schools in the four major world university rankings that are recognized by governments in multiple countries and regions.
| University | Founded | Location | QS (2025) | THE (2025) | ARWU (2024) | USNWR (2024) | Average |
| Founding Members ||||||||
| Tongji University | 1907 | Shanghai | 192 | =154 | 151–200 | 153 | 168 |
| Harbin Institute of Technology | 1920 | Harbin | =252 | =152 | 101–150 | 168 | 174 |
| Tianjin University | 1895 | Tianjin | =269 | 201–250 | 101–150 | 195 | 203 |
| Beijing Institute of Technology | 1940 | Beijing | =302 | 201–250 | 101–150 | 179 | 208 |
| South China University of Technology | 1952 | Guangzhou | =385 | 251–300 | 101–150 | 187 | 243 |
| Southeast University | 1902 | Nanjing | =428 | 301–350 | 101–150 | 183 | 265 |
| Northwestern Polytechnical University | 1938 | Xi'an | =547 | 251–300 | 101–150 | 253 | 300 |
| Chongqing University | 1929 | Chongqing | =489 | 401–500 | 151–200 | 245 | 340 |
| Dalian University of Technology | 1949 | Dalian | =448 | 401–500 | 201–300 | 292 | 370 |
| Participant ||||||||
| Hunan University | 1903 | Changsha | =448 | 301–350 | 151–200 | 119 | 267 |

## History

The nine universities are all Project 985 National Key Universities with strong backgrounds in engineering. In order to implement the "Outline of the National Program for Medium and Long-term Reform and Development of Education (2010-2020)" and "Outline of the National Program for Medium and Long-term Talent Development (2010-2020)" in China, on 23 June 2010, the Ministry of Education of China called on these eight universities to start the "Excellent Engineer Education Program" kick-off meeting at Tianjin University to promote China's education for future engineers.
In November 2010, the eight universities mentioned above signed the "Framework Convention on the Education of Excellent Talents" (Chinese: 《卓越人才培养合作框架协议》) at Tongji University, Shanghai, China. Since then, the League started to boost comprehensive cooperation among member universities holding the principle of Pursue Excellence and Share the Resources. On November 30, 2010, Chongqing University declared its participants in the League, which expanded the League's coverage to 9 universities. In December 2010, the League was officially called E9 League because of this.
In 2011, Hunan University participated in the E9 league activities, carried out the joint enrollment of graduate students in 10 universities using the enrollment publicity platform interchangeably, and recommended graduate students without exams between schools. However, it was not an official member and was invited to join the E9 League President's Forum regularly as an observer and dialogue partner. Now the League is still named excellence 9, which means that the total number of member universities is 9.

## Policies

According to the convention signed by member universities, the cooperation among them includes:
* Explore laws and methods for educating excellent talents
* Push forward the reform of the university entrance and enrollment
* Promote joint-education for undergraduate and postgraduate students
* Promote international cooperations
* Cooperate in teaching, research and industrialization
The League now offers exchange programs for undergraduates. Students can choose to study in another league member as long as he or she is enrolled by one of the 10 members. In this way, all the students within these 10 universities can share educational resources.