Yu Lizhong, president of New York University Shanghai, met freshmen on the morning of Aug 12 during registration.

NYU Shanghai recruited a total of 295 students from China and abroad this year. Among them, 150 Chinese students come from 10 provinces and municipal cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu. The other 145 international students come from 40 countries like the US, Pakistan, India, Poland, Russia and Germany.

NYU Shanghai is the third degree-granting campus in NYU's global network, joining NYU in New York and NYU Abu Dhabi. It was jointly constructed by the Shanghai municipal board of education, the government of Pudong new district, New York University and East China Normal University. Because the construction of the campus in Lujiazui has not been completed, the freshmen will use buildings in East China Normal University during the first year.

"Many students coming to register seem already familiarized. Some Chinese students are helping foreign students register. They know each other through the Internet," said Yu Lizhong, who was also the former president of Shanghai Normal University and East China Normal University.

The biggest difference between NYU Shanghai and other domestic universities is that Chinese and international students here are required to live together. "Dorms are the best place for them to communicate. Letting students from different cultures live together can help them know other cultures better," said Yu. The university borrows the dormitory management of NYU to establish seven different cultural zones – the Shanghai urban building zone, the urban culture and arts zone, the sports zone, the pop culture zone, the photography zone, the music zone and the volunteer zone. Every living zone will organize related activities, and students can choose where they want to live.