China University of Labor Relations (CULR) is the only general undergraduate college directly under the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU). In 2003, it was upgraded to a general undergraduate college. In 2012, it launched a master's degree in public administration. In July 2017, the the Opinion on the Co-construction of China University of Labor Relations was officially issued by the Ministry of Education and the ACFTU. In 2018, it began to enroll postgraduate students in Hong Kong SAR. On April 30, 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping wrote to the model workers from the undergraduate program, highly praising their contributions to the Communist Party of China and the country. In November 2021, it was approved as a master's degree granting unit to carry out the recruitment, training and degree granting work of three professional postgraduates in social work, journalism and communication, and public administration. In January 2022, it was approved to enroll international students, focusing on training international talents in the field of labor unions who are familiar with and friendly to China. In March 2024, it officially joined the "Yanhe Collegiate League of Talent Cultivation."
The university aims to become a first-class institution with unique characteristics, guided by the five requirements of the ACFTU. Prioritizing modernized university building and gaining industrial insights, it focuses on four strategic areas: the construction of trade union think tank, education of trade union cadres and workers, construction of trade union disciplines, and international exchanges of trade unions.
The CULR has two campuses in Haidian, Beijing, and Zhuozhou, Hebei, covering an area of 630 mu with a building area of 345,800 square meters. The university library houses over 900,000 books, more than 2 million e-books, and over 900,000 e-journals. There are 6,281 students, including 339 postgraduates, 5,435 undergraduates, 211 labor model undergraduates, and 296 diploma students.
The university has developed into a comprehensive institution in the field of labor and trade unions, maintaining a strong focus on its unique characteristics. The CULR consists of 14 schools, including the School of Labor Union, School of Marxism, School of Labor Relations and Human Resources, Law School, School of Labor Economics, School of Public Policy and Management, School of Safety Engineering, School of Social Work, School of Culture and Communication, School of Labor Education (Labor Education Research Institute), School of Hotel Management, School of Computer Science, School of Trade Union Cadres Training , and School of Model Workers (School of Craftsmen and School of Continuing Education), along with one Department of Public Teaching. It offers 25 general undergraduate majors (Labor Relations; Human Resource Management; Business Administration; Economics; Labor Economics; Financial Management; Law; Labor and Social Security; Administration; Political Science and Administration; Social Work; Sociology; Safety Engineering; Occupational Health Engineering; Chinese Language and Literature; Journalism, Drama, Film and Television Literature; Hotel Management; Computer Science and Technology; Ideological and Political Education; Emergency Response Technology and Management; Labor Education; Tourism Management; Labor Management and Public Education; Applied Statistics; Trade Union Studies) and two diploma programs in Hotel Management & Digital Operations and Tourism English.
As of April 2024, the university had a total of 597 faculty members, including 383 full-time teachers. Among the full-time teachers, there are 43 full-time professors and 112 associate professors, with 57.96% holding doctoral degrees. Among the teachers, there are 14 who are granted special subsidies from the State Council, 4 experts from the Teaching Steering Committee of the Ministry of Education’s Higher Education Institutions. 1 recipient of the Ministry of Education's "New Century Excellent Talents Support Program" Fund, 1 national outstanding teacher, 10 provincial-level famous teachers, 6 outstanding teachers from Beijing Municipal Higher Education Schools, 5 outstanding teachers from Beijing Municipality, 3 famous teachers from Beijing Municipal Youth Teaching, and 18 members of the Beijing Municipal Young Talents Program.
For over 70 years, the CULR, committed to serving trade unions and society by promoting harmonious labor relations and building qualified labor union leadership teams and industrial workforce, has focused on cultivating high-quality applied, composite, and innovative talents with strong political qualifications, labor sentiments, professional skills, and practical abilities. The university offers seven national first-class undergraduate majors (Labor Relations, Law, Human Resource Management, Social Work, Journalism, Safety Engineering, Labor and Social Security) and six Beijing first-class undergraduate majors (Social Work, Labor and Social Security, Economics, Business Administration, Administrative Management, Hospitality Management), in addition to two special majors (Law and Labor Relations) accredited by the Ministry of Education. It also features one national experimental teaching demonstration center, five Beijing excellent teaching teams, namely "Teaching Team of Ideological and Political Theory Course", "Educational Team of Training Innovative Talents in Cultural Communication", "Teaching Team of Labor Law and Social Security Law", "Teaching Team of Social Work (Undergraduate Class of Model Workers) of China Academy of Labor Relations", and "Core Teaching Team for Training Trade Union Cadres of China University of Labor Relations", two experimental teaching demonstration centers of Beijing higher educational institutions, namely "Experimental Teaching Center for Coordination and Development of Labor Relations" and "Experimental Teaching Center for Cultural Communication", and two municipal off-campus talent cultivation bases for Beijing higher educational institutions, namely, North Lingyun Industrial Group Co., Ltd. and Beijing Zhongrui Huantai Technology Co., Ltd.
The CULR is committed to scientific research and think tank construction, housing multiple academic research platforms, such as the National Trade Union Studies Association, the Research Association on the History and Present Situation of Chinese Workers, and the China Trade Union-Labor Relations Forum, as well as eight university-affiliated research institutes such as the Research Institute of Great National Craftsmen and Model Workers, the Research Institute of "One Belt and One Road" and Labor Relations, and the Research Institute of Development Strategies, and 25 faculty-affiliated research institutes such as the China Workers Development Institute. The university has formed a research team with outstanding research ability and great social influence, and its academic research on the working class and trade union theory, labor relations, labor jurisprudence, labor economy, occupational safety and health, and labor education is pioneering in China. The university actively promotes the construction of a new type of think tank. The Institute of Labor Relations and Trade Union, with the mission of "providing political support, enlightening the people, advocating labor, and contributing to the well-being of the people", focuses on major issues, serves national strategies, and provides high-quality research results by editing research news, writing consulting reports, and releasing blue books, etc., so as to provide intellectual services for the relevant decision-making process of the Central Government and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions.
The university publishes three academic journals. The Journal of China University of Labor Relations is dedicated to the thorough study of trade union and labor relations theories, and strives to reflect the latest research results in this field, which has formed distinctive characteristics and high-quality academic quality. Labor Education Review is the first specialized journal for the study of labor education in China. It is dedicated to the prosperity of labor education scientific research, and serves to construct the discipline of labor education and reform education. Chinese Teachers and Staff, a national comprehensive journal on education in the field of labor unions, aims to promote the development of education, especially labor unions of educators, and is a useful tool for the majority of educators to improve their theoretical knowledge and an important position for the guidance, propaganda and exchange of labor union work by the trade unions of education, science, culture, health, and sports sectors.
As the highest training institute for national trade union cadres, the CULR trains over 6,000 trade union cadres annually and organizes high-level continuing education. Since 1992, it has provided undergraduate education for model workers, benefiting 998 model workers and "great national craftsmen". Among them, there are 302 national model workers, 284 winners of the National May 1st Labor Medal, and 14 advanced workers in the whole country. Thirty-six of them are deputies to the National People's Congress and 26 to the National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Eleven of them have won the Chinese Skill Award, and seven of them lead teams that are awarded the National Model Worker and Craftsman Innovation Studio.
The CULR values academic exchanges and has established relationships with universities and research institutes in over 20 countries and regions, including Russia, Belarus, Poland, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, the U.S.A., Canada, the U.K., France, Australia, Holland, Italy, and Argentina as well as Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, and China’s Taiwan Region. In recent years, the university has engaged in various diversified fruitful academic seminars and exchange activities, such as sending visiting scholars, overseas training of teachers, joint cultivation of talents, cultivation of international trade union cadres, and organizing a series of international academic thematic activities, and has made significant progress in international collaborations, including recruiting and training international students and attracting overseas intellectuals.
With the support of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the CULR hosted dozens of delegations from trade union organizations such as the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions, the All Nepal Trade Union Federation, the Seychelles Federation of Workers' Unions, the Lao Federation of Trade Unions, the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Cambodian Confederation of Trade Unions, etc. In 2007 and 2008, CULR hosted two training sessions for trade union leaders from African countries. Between 2016 and 2019, three training sessions for Russian trade union cadres were organized. In 2019, CULR hosted a training program for the All Nepal Federation of Trade Unions training institute on how to arrange the curriculum of labor relations studies. Between 2020 and 2022, the university held 32 serial online academic lectures on three themes: "Global Resilience Against Epidemic", "Global Labor Market Flexibilization and Digital Economy Employment Regulation", and "Global Flexible Employment Era and Expanding Social Protection", inviting 33 experts and scholars from 16 countries and regions as keynote speakers, and attracting more than 5,300 online attendees. In 2021, the university translated and published the flagship report of the International Labor Organization, 2021 World Employment and Social Outlook, with a total of 400,000 words, which was published by the Economic Science Press. At the end of 2022, the university organized a short-term Chinese language program for 44 students from the Academy of Labor and Social Relations. In 2023, the training program for cadres of the Lao Federation of Trade Unions was held. In May 2024, CULR organized the cadres training program for the Cambodia Conferderation of Trade Unions under the “Belt and Road” initiative, sponsored and commissioned by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions..
In 2025, the CULR will officially start recruiting and training international students from abroad, including language training programs and students pursuing degrees.