Shanghai - The NYU Shanghai project, China's first international university co-established with a US higher-learning institute, started to break ground on Monday.

The university, approved by the Ministry of Education, was co-established by the United States-based New York University (NYU) and East China Normal University (ECNU).

The campus is located in the Pudong Lujiazui financial and trade zone, the heart of the invigorating metropolis.

Chinese universities and colleges have launched various cooperation programs with overseas institutes in recent years. University of Nottingham Ningbo China, the first foreign campus in China, was approved in 2004 and opened a year later. And Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University opened in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, in 2006.

Shanghai New York University is the first US university to start a campus on the Chinese mainland. It is also the second overseas campus of NYU; the first was opened in Abu Dhabi in 2009.

"The two universities have agreed that NYU Shanghai will be a comprehensive university that is guided by the highest standards of academic excellence," John Sexton, president of New York University, said at Monday's press conference, noting that the university in Shanghai is part of NYU's efforts to develop a "global network university".

Shanghai New York University will be a US-style selective university offering a full range of academic majors. With a four-year undergraduate college, graduate and professional programs, all the classes will be conducted in English.

The university is expected to open in the fall of 2013. About 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students will be drawn from throughout the world, with Chinese students making up more than half.

Students will be selected through the country's national exam for college entrance, said Yu Lizhong, president of East China Normal University.

"But we are also exploring more creative selection to draw more talented students," Yu said, adding that the first batch of students will not be large but only "several hundred".

The specific cost of tuition at NYU Shanghai is still unknown, but it will certainly be higher than the country's average.

But Yu emphasized that the university will offer sufficient financial aid to support academically excellent but needy students.

Students at NYU Shanghai will be able to apply to study for at least one semester at other NYU international sites, in a program designed to help improve their global perspectives.

From 2012, the university will run a financial training program, as well as masters degree courses for graduates. The first undergraduates will be enrolled in 2013.

According to information given at the press conference, the president of NYU Shanghai will be selected by ECNU while the vice-chancellor will be selected by NYU.

China Daily