Peking University was founded in 1898 and enjoys a great reputation at home and abroad. After many years of exploration, reformation, and construction, it is gradually becoming a new university with many disciplines, such as natural sciences, technical sciences, the humanities, management, education, linguistics, medicine, and modern engineering.

The training of graduates at Peking University can be traced back to the beginning of this century when the research institute of Peking University enrolled the first graduates in the country. By 1919 Peking University enrolled altogether 148 graduates and stood in the whole country as a university which was the largest in size, the most numerous in personnel, and the earliest in training graduates. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Peking University trained altogether nore than 2,000 graduates from 1949 to 1965.

In 1978 Peking University resumed its enrollment of graduates and was approved in 1981 by the State Council as one of the first universities authorized to confer doctor's and master's degrees. In October 1984 the Graduate School of Peking University was established. It takes charge of the whole school's affairs concerning graduate administration and training, The school has 278 specialties authorized to confer master's degree, 229 specialties authorized to confer doctor's degree, there are 1251 Doctoral Supervisors.

After 30 years of striving, the Graduate School of Peking University has achieved remarkable progress and development in every aspect. Its scale extends continuously and it has trained high-level specialists in various fields. From 1978 to 2008 the school enrolled altogether 13705 doctoral candidates and 47553 graduates. Up to July, 2008, 7889 doctoral candidates and 32743 graduates have graduated, 7516 doctoral candidates and 41717 graduates have received their degrees. In 2008, the Graduate School has enrolled 1171 doctoral candidates and 3933 graduates. There are 5011 doctoral candidates and 10093 graduates in Peking University now .

In the respect of developing international cooperation and foreign exchange, the Graduate School has established relations with 128 institutions of higher education of 40 countries and regions and has started the joint training of doctoral candidates by domestic and overseas supervisors. Up to 2008 the Graduate School has enrolled 1857 graduates from 103 countries and 1240 graduates from Taiwan , HongKong and Macao.

In order to suit the needs of our country's socialist economic construction and cultural development ,the Graduate School of Peking University is deepening its reformation, improving its enrollment and testing methods, implementing the policy of training students morally, mentally, and physically, absorbing advanced experience, revising its training program, adjusting the directions of the specialties, supporting and encouraging the development of new disciplines, so as to satisfy the society's demand for high-level specialists.

In the face of the 21 st century, the Graduate School will continue to adhere to the guiding idea that "education should be geared to the needs of the modernization, the world, and the future," to sum up experience in the light of the needs of the economic construction, scientific and technological progress, and social development, to bring the Graduate School's characteristics and superiority into fuller play, to devote major efforts to improving the quality of graduate training and raising the benefit of school management, and make contributions to building Peking University into a first-rate socialist university in the world.