The School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University was founded in April 2002. Inheriting Tsinghua's tradition of comprehensive and interdisciplinary education, TSJC aims to give students world-class journalism and communication education guided by advanced educational concepts and international standards. Every year, hundreds of graduates leave TSJC to take top-level journalism and communication jobs in and outside China. Students at TSJC are offered abundant opportunities to not only sharpen their professional skills, but also develop acute social responsibility crucial for their future success.

The tradition of journalistic education at Tsinghua goes back to the 1920s, when Liang Qichao, founding father of China’s modern press and a first-generation professional journalist, taught at Tsinghua's Institute of Chinese Classics. Formal journalism degree programs were not launched until toward the end of the 20th century, when liberal arts education revived at Tsinghua. In 1984, the Chinese Language and Literature Department offered a dual B.A. program in professional editing. In May 1995, it opened an M.A. program in journalism.

In October 1998, the Department of Communication was established under the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. The new department, which later became TSJC, launched an M.A. program in communication in September 2000, B.A. program in journalism in September 2001, and PhD program in communication in September 2003.

At its birth in 2002, TSJC was already one of the most prestigious J-schools in China. In a nationwide ranking by the Ministry of Education, TSJC was among the top five J-schools in China, along with more established peers such as Renmin University, Fudan University and the Communication University of China. Meanwhile, TSJC was gaining increasing international recognition. It fulfilled the preliminary accreditation by the US-based Accrediting Council of Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (ACEJMC) in October 2009. TSJC's international student body is the largest among all J-schools in China.

Over the past 2 decades, TSJC has adopted a rigorous and practical academic attitude, focusing on training comprehensive, research-oriented professionals with open horizons.  Relying on the unique multi-disciplinary comprehensive background and rich human resources of Tsinghua University, TSJC emphasizes the cross-integration of disciplines, courses, students, and teachers. This is known as comprehensiveness, and TSJC is in line with the trend of disciplinary development at Tsinghua University.

Benefiting from the comprehensive resources of Tsinghua University in the fields of Information Technology Science, Literature, Fine Art, and Economics & Management, etc., TSJC has gradually formed research fields represented by Journalism, International Journalism and Communication, Film and Television Communication, New Media Communication, Media management, etc.

TSJC has always been based on the basic theories of Journalism and Communication, attaching great importance to academic standardization and scientific research methods, and strengthening the research on media theories and practical questions, to make the school a major research center of news and Communication in China.

At the same time, TSJC also attaches great importance to the cultivation of students' research ability, and mainly trains high-level journalism and communication professionals with a Master's degree.

TSJC has an open mind in recruiting talents and has established a research and teaching team with international vision and communication skills. TSJC focuses on the basic theoretical and practical questions in the Journalism and Communication fields in the context of China's development strategy in the new era.

TSJC is dedicated to training journalism and communication professionals with international awareness and practical experience in mainstream media at home and abroad, as well as proficiency in foreign languages and international practices.

At present, the school has 31 faculty members, including 14 full professors and 9 associate professors. Together they outnumber all other J-schools in China in the rate of doctoral degree holders (90%), scholars with one or more years of experience in European, American or Japanese universities (80%), and with media or related industry experience (60%).

Each year, TSJC also recruits about 10 adjunct professors and guest lecturers from such renowned J-schools as the Annenberg School of the University of Pennsylvania, the Walter Cronkite School of the Arizona State University, Duke University, and the University of Westminster, as well as from influential domestic and global media outlets such as Xinhua News Agency, China Daily, South China Morning Post, Times, Reuters and Bloomberg. To strengthen academic research, TSJC also operates a working station for around 10 postdoctoral fellows annually.

By July 2019, a total of 1652 full-time students, including 248 international students from 65 countries and regions, have graduated from TSJC. Up to 950 professionals from global, national and local media outlets, governments, businesses and NGOs have studied at TSJC. The undergraduate program has maintained a low faculty/student ratio at 1/20, compared with a national average of 1/25, which helps ensure high-quality teaching and learning at TSJC.