Renmin University of China (RUC, also known as the People's University of China) is a key university in China. The RUC's strengths emphasize the humanities and social sciences, however, the university also embraces disciplines in the area of natural sciences. The RUC is a comprehensive research-orientated university.

The RUC 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.

Since its establishment, RUC students and teachers have always endeavored to carry out its redoubtable injunction to "unceasingly strive to be always in the vanguard". The RUC shares a common fate with the Party and the nation. Through prudence, dedicated effort, active and practical exploration, the RUC has become an important teaching and research base in the areas of the humanities, social sciences, and management science in China. Owing to its efforts in spreading and popularizing Marxism in China, for its achievements in developing philosophy and the social sciences in China, and on account of its indispensable contributions to the cause of socialist construction and reform, the RUC is regarded as "A Standard in the Humanities and Social Sciences in China?ˉs Higher Education Sector".

With undergraduate education as the base and an emphasis on postgraduate education, supplemented by adult education courses and online learning, the RUC has formed a multi-dimensional structure and multilevel system in education and research. The RUC has a Graduate School which is responsible for the administration of postgraduate students, and RUC now comprises twenty-one schools of different disciplines (a Chemistry Department has been established for the near future creation of a School of Natural Sciences). The RUC also has a substantial number of research centers, fourteen transitional centers for post-doctoral fellows, and also a School of Continuing Education, a School of Education and Training, and the Shenzhen Research Institute. The RUC ranks first in three areas among all universities in China: there are six national research bases in fundamental disciplines in the literary arts; thirteen key national research bases in the humanities and social sciences; and twenty-five essential domestic disciplines are taught on campus, which places the RUC first in the social sciences and humanities nationwide.

At present, the RUC has an enrollment of 18,752 students, this breaks down into 9,262 undergraduate students and 9,490 postgraduate students. The ratio of postgraduates to undergraduates is the highest of all the research-orientated comprehensive universities in China. In addition, the RUC also has an enrollment of 10,000 in adult education, about 80 percent of whom are doing courses leading to a Bachelor's degree. At the RUC, there is a collective enrolment of 30,000 Chinese students engaged in online learning, and there are 1,066 .international students.

The RUC is a platform for academic and cultural exchanges between China and the world. The RUC has established academic exchange relationships with 118 universities from 32 countries and regions in the world. The RUC has purchased the copyright to a large number of international books and has translated and published these books in order to meet the demands brought about through the reform and opening up process in China. A series of important collaborative projects have come into being at the RUC, and the RUC has hosted or organized a series of high-level international conferences on campus. Some internationally recognized scholars have been awarded the title of honorary professor by the RUC.