Tsinghua University was established in 1911, originally under the name "Tsinghua Xuetang”. The school was renamed "Tsinghua School" in 1912. The university section was founded in 1925. The name “National Tsinghua University” was adopted in 1928.

The faculty greatly valued the interaction between Chinese and Western cultures, the sciences and humanities, the ancient and modern. Tsinghua scholars Wang Guowei, Liang Qichao, Chen Yinque and Zhao Yuanren, renowned as the "Four Tutors" in the Institute of Chinese Classics, advocated this belief and had a profound impact on Tsinghua's later development.

The Renmin University of China was established in 1937, during the resistance war against Japanese aggression. The University acquired its present name on October 3, 1950, which made it the first university to be established by the newly founded People's Republic of China.

Well-known educators including Wu Yuzhang, Cheng Fangwu, Yuan Baohua. Huang Da, and Li Wenhai have all served as president of the University. The RUC incumbent president is Professor Ji Baocheng, and Professor Cheng Tianquan is the Chairman of the University Council.

Nanjing Normal University(NNU) is an old university with a history of over one hundred years. Quite old thougt it is, NNU is still advacing. It is a key university of Jiangsu Province, and is even among those universities of “211 Project” which is fully backed up by the government. 

Peking University is a comprehensive and national key university. The campus, known as "Yan Yuan"（the garden of Yan）, is situated at Haidian District in the western suburb of Beijing, with a total area of 2,743,532 square metres (or 274 hectares). It stands near to the Yuanmingyuan Garden and the Summer Palace.  

Beijing University of Technology was founded in 1960. It is a key university under the administration of the Beijing municipal government, which has established a multi-disciplinary academic structure. The structure offers various programs and also involves in diversified academic research in the fields of science, engineering, economics, management, liberal arts and law. It is ranked as one of the 100 key universities for the 21st century. Its mission is “relying on Beijing, merging into Beijing, inspiring China and orienting itself to the world.” In fulfilling this mission, the university has become a base for cultivating qualified high-level personnel, for scientific and technological innovation and for research and development.

Beihang University (formerly Beijing Institute of Aeronautics) or BUAA for short, was founded on October 25, 1952 out of the merger of the aeronautical departments of Tsinghua University, Beiyang University, Amoy (Xiamen) University, Sichuan University, Yunnan University, Northwest Institute of Technology, College of Engineering, North China University, and Southwest Aeronautical Institute. Situated in the capital in the center of Zhongguancun Science Park, next to China' s National Olympic Center, with an area of over 100 hectares, BUAA is China' s first university of aeronautical and astronautical engineering.

Beijing Jiaotong University (BJTU), located at Xizhimenwai of Beijing, is a national key university of China, directly under the administration of the Ministry of Education. Her predecessor is Beijing Railway Management Training Institute and Beijing School of Posts and Telecommunications, set up by Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of Qing Dynasty.In 1921, the school merged with two industrial technical schools in Shanghai and Tangshanto form the National Jiaotong University, with three branch universities in Beijing, Shanghai and Tangshan respectively. BJTU was then called as Beijing Campus of National Jiaotong University.

Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) was founded in Yan’an in 1940. BIT is a national key university, an open, international and research-oriented university of science, engineering and humanities with science and engineering as the focus. It is one of the first universities to run a graduate school and receive privileged fund from the central government in “the 7th, 8th and 9th Five Year Plan.” BIT is also one of the national “Project 211” universities receiving preferential support from the state. In 2000, BIT was listed in “Plan 985,” which gives priority for development by Commission of Science Technology and Industry for National Defense (COSTIND), Ministry of Education (MOE) and Beijing Municipal Government. In 1999, BIT passed the evaluation for “Outstanding in Undergraduate Program” sponsored by MOE. BIT ranks among the first-class universities for its high educational and research quality, strong faculty teams, and academic programs with distinctive characteristics.

The University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB), founded in 1952, is a national key university under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Education of China . USTB is famous for its study of metallurgy and material science. While engineering is the focus, there are also programs in basic science, management, humanities, economics and law. USTB is one of the 33 Universities in China that are entitled to establish state-approved graduate schools. In 1997,USTB was listed as one of the first group of universities admitted to China 's 211 Project, to be built up into one of the 100 first rate universities in 21 century.