The UM-SJTU Joint Institute (JI) is an equal-partner institution jointly sponsored by The University of Michigan (UM) and Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). It has been established to promote and facilitate mutually beneficial global higher education exchange and collaboration. The JI is being launched with high expectations and a strong commitment from both partner universities and the Chinese Government. It has been given a high degree of autonomy to model itself on world-class universities such as the University of Michigan.

The primary objective of the JI is to establish a world premier institution for innovative global education and research activities that will extend to various academic disciplines. The initial focus will be on various engineering disciplines and this will gradually expand to other non-engineering disciplines such as Medicine, Life Sciences, Pharmacology, Literature, Science, Environmental Studies, Arts, and Business studies.