Zhongguancun Academy

Zhongguancun Academy (北京中关村学院) is a new-type public higher-education and research institution established in 2024 in Beijing's Haidian District. It was jointly founded by China's Ministry of Education and the Beijing municipal government; as a public institution (事业单位) it is run by the Beijing Municipal Education Commission and operates on government fiscal subsidy. The academy works in tight integration with the Zhongguancun Institute of Artificial Intelligence (中关村人工智能研究院) under a "two institutes, one body" (两院一体) model, sharing common leadership. It trains PhD students through project-based programs and conducts research on artificial intelligence, including model architecture, optimization algorithms, reinforcement learning, AI safety, embodied intelligence and AI infrastructure, as well as AI applications across the natural and social sciences. Its president and party secretary is Liu Tieyan (刘铁岩), formerly a distinguished scientist at Microsoft Research Asia. As of June 2025 the academy reported roughly 600 enrolled PhD students, around 200 staff and about 31 research projects.