Beijing Jiaotong University (BJTU), a national key university under the direct administration of the Ministry of Education, jointly supported by the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Transport, Beijing Municipal Government, and China State Railway Group Co., Ltd, is an active contributor to the development of the "National 211 Project", the "985 Innovative Platforms for Key Disciplines Project" and the 'Double First-Class' construction.

As one of the three founding bodies of the Jiaotong University, the history of BJTU dates to 1896. It originated as Railway Management Institute during the Qing dynasty, the first higher education institution in China committed to fostering railway management talents. It is the birthplace of modern China's railway management and telecommunication education. In 1917, it was divided into Beijing Railway Management School and Beijing Post and Telecommunication School. In 1921, the school merged with Shanghai Industrial College, and Tangshan Industrial College to form the original Jiaotong University. After the restructuring of Jiaotong University in 1923, the Beijing campus was renamed Beijing Jiaotong University. In 1950, the school was named Northern Jiaotong University with leading bridge expert and scholar Prof. Mao Yisheng as president. Former President of the PRC Mao Zedong gifted his personal autograph for the university name. In 1952, the University was renamed Beijing Railway Institute. In 1970, the name Northern Jiaotong University was re-adopted. In 2000, the school merged with the Beijing Electric Power College, and the administration was transferred from the Ministry of Railways to the Ministry of Education. In 2003, the use of the name ‘Beijing Jiaotong University’ was resumed. The university cultivated numerous world-renowned outstanding talents, such as the founder of China's first radio station-LIU Han, the author of China's first railway management monograph-JIN Shixuan; the pioneer of railway transport economics in China-XU Jing; one of the earliest four major accountants in China-YANG Rumei, and the famous writer, literary critic, and historian-ZHENG Zhenduo. Notable academics including the designer of the first high-horsepower steam machine in the country-YING Shangcai, the prosecutor representing China at the Tokyo Trial-HSIANG Che-Chun and the famous demographer and economist-MA Yinchu also taught at the University.

BJTU has three campuses: the East and the West campuses, covering nearly one thousand acres and have the building floorage of more than 1 million square meters, situated in the renowned education district of Haidian district, Beijing, and the Weihai international campus of over one thousand acres in Weihai, Shandong Province. All three campuses equipped with sophisticated teaching and research facilities enjoy beautiful scenery and pleasant campus environment. The university also established the Haibin Rail Transit Comprehensive Research and Development Base in Huanghua, Hebei Province, the world-leading Fengtai Rail Transit 'Industry-Academia-Research-Application' Integrated Innovation Base in Fengtai District, Beijing, and the Tangshan Research Institute of Beijing Jiaotong University in Tangshan, Hebei Province, dedicated to developing a demonstration zone for technology R&D, commercialization of scientific findings, and international education. The Shenzhen Research Institute and the Yangtze River Delta Research Institute contributed significantly to the mining of social resources and to the promotion of talent cultivation and research. September 2023, BJTU’s new Xiong’An campus initiated its construction and the university officially ventured into a new era of multi-campus coordinated development.

Over the past 120 years, the university has established a comprehensive and coordinated education system with strength disciplines in information and management, characteristic disciplines in transportation, and other diversified disciplines such as engineering, management, economics, science, liberal arts, law, and philosophy. The university is home to 20 schools, including the School of Automation and Intelligence, School of Electronic and Information Engineering, School of Computer Science and Information Technology, School of Economics and Management, School of Traffic and Transportation, School of Civil Engineering, School of Mechanical, Electronic and Control Engineering, School of Electrical Engineering, School of Mathematics and Statistics, School of Physical Science and Engineering, School of Languages and Communication Studies, School of Software Engineering, School of Marxism, School of Architecture and Design, Law School, School of Environment, School of Systems Science, School of Information Secret and Security Technology, Jeme Tienyow Honors College and Weihai International Campus.

BJTU’s stellar discipline programs have been steadily improving through the years and the university has completed the first phase of the 'Double First-Class' development project with an impressive 'Smart Transportation' first-class discipline structure. The university shall venture further for the second phase development. BJTU's position in international rankings of world-leading universities and disciplines is steadily on the rise. 15 disciplines have been qualified for the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects and BJTU’s Traffic and Transportation Engineering Discipline has crowned the global ranking for five times (Published by Shanghai Ranking); 15 disciplines have been selected for the U.S News Top-Ranked Global Universities by Subject; 7 have entered QS World University Rankings by Subject; 23 disciplines entered the BCMR list, while BJTU's Transportation Engineering and System Science disciplines continue to crown the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (Published by Shanghai Ranking). Engineering studies maintained a steady placing in the top 1‰ of ESI and 8 disciplines in total entered the top 1% list. The university currently hosts 17 Post-doc Research Centers, 1 Workstation, 21 First-level Disciplines Authorized to Confer Doctoral Degrees and 4 Doctoral Degree Categories. On the graduate level, BJTU has 32 First-level Disciplines and 2 Second-Level Disciplines Authorized to Confer Master’s Degrees and 19 Master’s Degree Categories.

BJTU has always attached high importance to talent cultivation, the core of the university's operation and mission. The university carried out academic reform and construction with great results, raising innumerable talents for the country and the industry. Currently, the university has 3,143 doctoral students, 10,524 master's students, 17,253 undergraduate students, and 2,350 adult college students, with a total of 1,495 international exchange students. For the last three rounds of the undergraduate-level teaching achievement award evaluation, BJTU has won 2 First Prizes, and 7 Second Prizes at the national level. For the graduate-level teaching achievement award evaluation, the university won 1 First Prize and 1 Second Prize at the national level. For the Chinese Society of Academic Degrees and Graduate Education's Graduate Education Achievement Award evaluation, BJTU took away 1 First Prize and 2 Second Prizes. BJTU was one of the first pilot institutions selected for the MOE’s ‘101’ Project. Its Computer Sciences Base was approbated as a National Top Talent Cultivation Base for Fundamental Discipline and the School of Software Engineering was recognized as a National Characteristic Demonstration Software College. has 47 National First-Level Undergraduate Program Development Sites, 11 National Level Characteristic Programs, 7 National Level Comprehensive Reform Pilot Programs, and 8 National Level Outstanding Engineering Education Plan Programs. 13 programs obtained the National Engineering Education Certification, 3 programs passed the National Civil Engineering Program Evaluation and another three were recognized as International Training Programs for Innovative Talents of the China Scholarship Council. Additionally, the University has established 6 National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Centers, 3 National Centers of Virtual Simulation Experiment Teaching, 3 National-Level Virtual Simulation Experiment Teaching Programs, 3 National University Student Extracurricular Practice Bases, 7 National Engineering Practical Education Centers, and 1 National Teaching Development and Demonstration Centre. The university's 3 Graduate Students Joint Education Bases were elected as 'National Engineering Studies Joint Graduate Program Demonstration Base'. BJTU offers 67 Nationally Certified First-Class Undergraduate Courses, 25 National Excellent Resource Sharing Courses, and 6 National Excellent Online Video Public Courses. The university has also won acclaim to its textbook development, with 4 chiefly-edited textbooks being awarded in the first National Excellent Textbook Reward. The university also owns one of the MOE’s ‘Fourteenth Five-Year Period’ Higher Education Textbook System Development Team for Strategic Emerging Sectors. Carrying out the ‘Plateau Plan’ and the ‘Summit Plan’ for elite talent training, through the teaching platform of its Jeme Tienyow Honors College, the university implemented the ‘1+2+5’ undergraduate and postgraduate integrated talent cultivation model, raising top talents for fundamental discipline research and leaders of technological innovation for strength disciplines. Applying the industry-academia integrated ‘knowing and doing’ planning, the university is dedicated to raising outstanding engineering talents centering national strategic needs. The employment rate of BJTU graduates remains around 95%, and 70% of undergraduate students continue to pursue higher academic degrees. BJTU was one of first universities recognized as National Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Practice Base, National University with Typical Experience in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and National University with Typical Experience in Student Employment. The "Suite of Songs on the Long March" stage play and the original theatre play "Mao Yisheng" portrayed by BJTU Student Art Troupe was an innovative fusion of artistic expression and teaching that developed into an embodiment of the university patriotism education. BJTU also places great emphasis on the student's physical education, high level athletes' teams and common students' teams all earned great results in various competitions. In 2023, the university took home 2 national champion titles, 1 national second prize title, 4 national third prize titles, 40 municipal champion titles, 32 municipal second prize titles, and 45 municipal third prize titles.

BJTU has always targeted the frontier of scientific and technological development and the demands of major national strategies. It has actively participated in major historic events of China's rail transit development including the Major Railway Speed-up Project, the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the heavy-haul transportation of the Daqin Railway, maglev trains, the construction of the high-speed railway, and the independent research and development of core technologies regarding urban rail transit. The university has made significant scientific and technological achievements at the international leading level with fully independent intellectual property rights. BJTU has made a positive contribution to the development of various industries such as transportation, logistics, information engineering, new energy, etc. Reaping great benefits for the capital’s social and economic development, the university has become a major force for support and leadership of national, industrial, and regional scientific innovation development. BJTU has over 74 provincial and ministerial-level research platforms, including the State Key Lab of Rail Traffic Control & Safety, the Beijing Jiaotong University National Rail Transit Safety Assessment Research Center, the Smart High-speed Railway System Frontier Science Center, and the Collaborative Innovation Center for Rail Transit Safety. The university also oversees the 2 National Engineering Research Centers of Rail Transit Operation Control System and Mobile Private Network, as well as 2 National Base of International Science and Technology Cooperation, 11 Key Laboratories/Education and Engineering Research Centers of the Ministry of Education, 3 Key Laboratories of Traffic and Transportation Industry, 1 National Energy Research Centre, 5 Railway Industry Key Laboratories, 2 Beijing municipal laboratories, 17 Beijing Key Laboratories/Engineering Technology Research Centers, , 6 Oversea Expertise Introduction Centers, 1 of the first Capital Advanced Think-Tanks, 1 New Traffic and Transportation Think-Tank of the Ministry of Transport, 1 Beijing Municipal Research Center on Xi Jinping's New Age Socialism with Distinctive Chinese Characteristics Theories, 4 Beijing Municipal Research Bases of Philosophy and Social Sciences, 1 National and Regional Research Center of the Ministry of Education. BJTU holds annually the Advanced Forum on Transportation of China, the Lecture Hall of Jiaotong University, and the Capital Advanced Think-Tank Forum on Beijing Transportation Development. The university provides kilo mega internet coverage for both cable and wireless connections throughout the campus. Thorough application of innovative high technologies such as High-Performance Computing, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and 5G has supported and boosted the university's reform and development. Nowadays, the institution possesses teaching and research equipment of 1.76 billion Yuan. The university library stocks paperback monographs, electronic books, and online resources of nearly 17.91 million copies. BJTU established a characteristic database of transportation and traffic studies, as well as an Inspection and Research Workstation of Innovative Technologies of the Ministry of Education.

The university regards international cooperation and exchanges as an important way to improve education quality. Actively responding to the appeal of the "Belt and Road Initiative", BJTU has cooperated with 252 universities and renowned cross-national businesses from 51 countries. To promote Chinese culture and language teaching, the university has established a Confucius Institutes at the University of Campinas in Brazil. For the further improvement of academic influence and authority in the global railway sector, BJTU has launched the GAUST (Global Alliance of Universities on Sustainable Transport) and joined international organizations and alliances such as UIC, OSJD, and China-CEEC Higher Education Institutions Consortium. It has also led the establishment of the China-ASEAN Rail Transit Education and Training Association and the UIC AUHSR. To enhance international research cooperation, the university also created the China-US, China-Russia, China-UK, and China-Indonesia High-speed Railway Research Centers. By making full use of the alumni association, the Beijing Jiaotong University Education Foundation, and the university board, BJTU has established 61 alumni organizations both at home and abroad, attracted 88 board member institutions, and set up strategic partnerships with nearly 400 enterprises in  areas such as transport, logistics, information, and energy to carry out long-term, full-range cooperation in talent cultivation and scientific development. The Beijing Jiaotong University Education Foundation has been certified as a 4A charity group by the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

The university is guided by the words "Think of the source while drinking the water, love thy country, and honor the alma mater." Beijing Jiaotong University, adhering to the university motto of 'to know and to do', is undertaking new missions and embracing a pioneering attitude to become a world-class university with distinctive characteristics.