At the same year as the Republic of China was established in 1911, Tsing Hua Academy was instituted at Tsing Hua Garden in Peking. The Academy was renamed National Tsing Hua University in 1928. To invigorate the students, the University has incorporated "Self-Discipline and Social Commitment: Development of self in accordance with the celestial principle of consistency; Cultivation of amplitude in emulation of the earth's benevolent support of man and nature" as the school motto. During World-War II, the University moved to Kunming in southwest China where it became, jointly with the National Peking University and the National Nankai University, the National Southwestern University. The University moved back to Peking in 1946 after the war. After the Republic of China moved to Taiwan in 1949, the University was re-installed in 1956 in Hsinchu. The first academic program re-established was the graduate institute of nuclear science, and undergraduate programs were later restored in 1964.

In early Tsing Hua history, the University has used the foundation established by the United States government, which used the payment they secured from the Boxer Rebellion War, to send students to the United States for advanced study. Over one thousand students had the opportunity to learn and bring back to China the western science and technology. This effort had tremendous impact to the modernization of the Republic of China. The University has also a long history of high academic achievement. This is particularly exemplified by having its alumni that two of them are Nobel laureates in Physics, one Nobel laureate in Chemistry and one Wolff prize winner.

The University has always emphasized the importance of research and development in addition to outstanding teaching. When it was reinstalled in Hsinchu, nuclear science and technology were the major accentuation. It soon expanded the programs to include sciences and engineering, and added the life sciences recently. In 1984, the University established the College of Humanity and Social Sciences that made it a delicately balanced institution.

• Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University
• National Tsing Hua University, Department of Mathematics