Study in Hunan

Hunan is a province located in the south-central part of China. The name means “south of the lake”, the Lake Dongting. Before Qing dynasty, Hunan and Hubei was a part of the province of Huguang. And after that, in 1664, Hunan province was created and renamed to its current name in 1723. Hunan's nominal GDP for 2011 was 1.90 trillion yuan (US$300 billion). Hunan's traditional crops are rice and cotton, however, in recent years Hunan has grown to become an important center for steel, machinery and electronics production. Some top universities in Hunan are listed as below: Central South University, Hunan University, Yuelu Academy and National University of Defense Technology.

Central South University

Central South University (CSU) is a comprehensive and national key university under the direct administration of the Ministry of Education in China.
Central South University is located in Changsha, a historic and cultural city in Hunan province, central south of the People's Republic of China. Prof. Li Jian is secretary of the Communist Party of China's CSU Committee, and Prof. Huang Boyun, an academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, is president of CSU.

CSU is among the 32 universities first acceded to the "211 Project". CSU covers an area of 3,810,000 square meters and has a total floor space of 2,330,000 square meters.It also uses advanced teaching and research equipment with a total value of 620 million yuan (RMB). The university libraries have a collection of 4,390,000 volumes. Information digitalization and automatic management are applied in these libraries. The university has 3 top affiliated hospitals which enjoy good reputation.

At present, the total number of full-time students at CSU has reached more than 50,000, including more than 15,700 graduates working for master's and doctoral degrees, more than 33,000 undergraduates, more than 408 overseas students and about 12,000 students taking courses in degree and non-degree programs of adult education. The faculty-student ratio is about 1:8. Among its faculty members, there are 3 academicians of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), 13 academicians of Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE). Wang Dianzuo is an academician of both CAS and CAE. There are also 2 decreased academicians.
The fields of study at CSU cover 10 branches of learning, namely engineering, science, medicine, management, literature, law, economics, philosophy, education and history. The university now offers 75 undergraduate programs, 242 master's programs and 102 doctoral programs. It has 22 postdoctoral exchange centers, 17 national key disciplines, 4 national key laboratories, 7 national or ministry-level key training or research centers and 5 national talent training bases and research bases.

Among its faculty members, there are 3 academicians of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 12 academicians of Chinese Academy of Engineering, 574 doctoral supervisors, more than 898 full professors and more than 1985 associate professors.

CSU has outstanding scientific outputs and ranks 22nd among 751 universities in "Academic Achievements Ranking". In 2004, Prof. Huang Bo-Yun was awarded the 1st prize of the National Awards for Technical Invention for his significant contribution to research project "Preparation Technology of High-performance Carbon-Carbon Composite Braking Materials in Aviation" and filled the 6-year long vacancy for this prize.

CSU is now struggling for the goal of constructing of a high-level, research oriented comprehensive university well-known both at home and abroad.

Hunan University

Hunan University is situated at the foot of the picturesque Yuelu Hill and on the west bank of the rippling Xiangjiang River in Changsha, Hunan. Hunan University traces its origin to Yuelu Academy founded in 976 A.D. Officially named in 1926, it has always been honored as a “One-Thousand-Year-Old Institution”. Chairman Mao Zedong, one of the founding fathers of the People’s Republic of China, inscribed the name of the University in 1950. 

Hunan University is a comprehensive and well-coordinated university featuring studies in engineering, with a strong foundation in science, a unique cultural background in liberal arts and its own characteristics in economics and management. Hunan University, affiliated with the Ministry of Education of China, is included in China’s “211 Project” and “985 Project” for priority investment and construction. It has 30 colleges and departments, offering 12 first-order disciplines authorized to confer Ph.D. degrees, 69 second-order disciplines authorized to confer Ph.D. degrees, 171 master programs, 7 academic degree authorizations, 61 undergraduate programs, and 15 post-doctoral research centers. The programs cover 10 classes of disciplines ranging from philosophy, economics, laws, pedagogy, literature, history, to natural sciences, engineering sciences, management, and medicine.
Hunan University has a staff of over 4,700 of which are more than 1,976 full-time teachers, including more than 1,200 professors and associate professors, 2 members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 3 members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 9 members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences or Engineering working part-time for the university, and 17 Yangtze River Scholars. The student body totals nearly 30,000, of which are 20,800 undergraduate students and more than 10,600 graduate students. Hunan University covers a total area of 1,392, 000 square meters. The university library has a collection of over 400,000,000 volumes, and has well-equipped, widely accessible powerful Campus Computer Networks.   

The university attaches great importance to international cooperation and communication and has established cooperative ties with nearly 100 universities in over 30 countries and regions. The cooperation involves the exchange of faculty members and students, joint research projects, exchange of academic materials and references, and joint application for international research projects and funds, etc. Hunan University is also home to over 500 students from 48 countries and regions working for bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, doctoral degrees or studying the Chinese language and culture.

Hunan Normal University

HUNNU was founded in 1938, It's locates in Changsha, a famous city with great historical and cultural interests. It has 23 colleges, and offers 71 undergraduate programs, 147 master programs, and 55 Ph.D. programs.

Since it's founding, the University has educated over 200,000 students, including about 4,000 international students who are from more than 20 countries. Currently, over 35,000 undergraduates, graduates and international students are studying on campus. There are 880 professors and associate professors at the University.

The library of HUNNU has a collection of 3.17 million volumes, including 200,000 volumes of old traditional thread binding books, and subscribes 4,700 kinds of Chinese and foreign periodicals. There are 12 academic periodicals distributed to the public at home and abroad. The university has its own publishing house called Hunan Normal University Press. 

HUNNU highly values the academic exchanges with foreign universities and educational institutions abroad. HUNNU has established relations with nearly 100 foreign institutions of higher education for academic exchange.

The International College of Chinese Language and Culture of this university is specially designed to offer the course of Chinese to the oversea students. Currently more than 130 students who are from over 20 countries are studying here. The university also offers BA, MA, and Ph.D. programs in almost all of subject to the international students. The short-term training programs (from a week to months) for international students or teachers are characteristic and successful, and attract more than 600 students abroad each year. Students from any countries are warmly welcomed to study at HUNNU.

As an academic institution of higher education with a full range of disciplines, the University has become a national "211 Project" university--one of the country's 100 key universities in the 21st century that enjoy priority in obtaining national funds.   

HUNNU will be one of the best universities in China for the foreign students to enrich their lives and experiences and achieve their career ambitious.