Yu Lizhong (second from right), president of East China Normal University, attends the opening ceremony for the debut of New York University Shanghai on March 28, 2011. Yu will assume the post of president of NYU Shanghai. [Niu Yixin / Xinhua]

The country's first Sino-US higher education institute - New York University Shanghai - will start to admit undergraduate students in 2013, sources from the university said on Thursday.

The university was co-established by New York University in the United States and East China Normal University, and was approved by the Ministry of Education in early 2011.

According to the enrollment plan, about 300 undergraduate students will be selected from across the world in the autumn semester of 2013, with Chinese students making up 51 percent of the intake.

Applicants from the Chinese mainland will be selected on their national college entrance exams, and international students will be selected through NYU's global system.

Yu Lizhong, president of East China Normal University, will assume the post of president of New York University Shanghai.

Jeffrey Sean Lehman, former president of Cornell University and current chancellor and founding dean of the Peking University's school of transnational law, will be the deputy president and chief executive officer of the new university.

The NYU Shanghai campus, located in the Pudong Lujiazui financial area, is still under construction and not due for completion until 2014, so the first 300 undergraduates will study at the East China Normal University campus.

NYU Shanghai will offer a full range of academic courses, all taught in English. It will launch seven majors for undergraduates in 2013 - natural sciences, math, engineering, life science, finance, economics and arts.

In a bid to improve students' global perspectives, students at NYU Shanghai will be able to apply to study for up to three semesters at other NYU international sites.

The tuition fees at NYU Shanghai and enrollment procedures will be released later this year.

"This is an important advance in developing China's higher education and boosting its internationalization," said Yu Lizhong.