The Overall Plan for the Construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port explicitly calls for building Hainan into "an international education innovation island in science, engineering, agriculture and medicine". In December 2025, Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU) and Hainan Provincial People's Government signed a strategic cooperation agreement to jointly establish Hainan International College, XJTU, bringing its high‑quality educational and research resources built on the university's 130‑year heritage to the shores of the South China Sea and proactively serving major national strategic needs.

In July 2026, Hainan International College, XJTU was officially established. Located in the Lingshui Li'an International Education Innovation Pilot Zone, the college serves as XJTU's international education platform for advancing China's high-level opening-up and contributing to the development of the Hainan Free Trade Port. It is committed to cultivating interdisciplinary international talents who possess a deep sense of patriotism, a global outlook, and innovative capabilities.

The college upholds and carries forward the Spirit of Westward Relocation and remains committed to the fundamental mission of fostering virtue through education. Adhering to XJTU's educational tradition of "high starting points, solid foundations, rigorous standards, and a strong emphasis on practice", the college draws on XJTU's comprehensive disciplinary strengths and closely aligns its programs with Hainan's industrial development needs. The college has established a talent cultivation system featuring dual student registration and dual degree conferment, enabling students to enjoy simultaneous access to the educational resources available at XJTU's main campus and high‑quality courses offered by its international partner universities.

In September 2026, the college welcomed its first cohort of students. It currently offers two Sino-foreign cooperative education programs: the carbon neutrality science and engineering program, offered in partnership with the University of British Columbia (Canada), which supports China's goals of achieving peak carbon dioxide emissions and carbon neutrality, and focuses on cutting-edge developments in green and low-carbon fields; and the English (language data and intelligent applications) program, jointly offered with Lancaster University (UK), which focuses on the interdisciplinary integration of language science and artificial intelligence.

Looking ahead, the college will continue to deepen mutual learning and integration between Chinese and foreign education, advance the integration of industry, academia, and research, and facilitate the transformation of high-level scientific and technological achievements into practical applications. The college aspires to create a new hub for Sino-foreign cooperative education, thereby making greater contributions to the development of the Hainan Free Trade Port, promoting the high-quality development of Hainan province and XJTU, supporting the building of a strong nation in education, science and technology, and advancing the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.