Hunan University

Hunan University is situated at the foot of the picturesque Yuelu Mountain and on the west bank of the rippling Xiangjiang River in the historically and culturally renowned City of Changsha, capital of Hunan Province. It enjoys the title of an "Ancient Millenarian Academy, Famous Centennial University". As one of the key and most comprehensive universities affiliated with the Ministry of Education, it has been included in the state's "Project 211" and "Project 985" for priority investment and construction. Professor Jiang Changzhong is the Secretary of the CPC Hunan University Committee and Professor Duan Xianzhong the President.

Hunan University, an extension of one of the four famous Academies of the Song Dynasty, dates back to the period of the founding of Yuelu Academy in 976 AD. The university has maintained the glorious culture and education standards inherited from the historical institute in the process of the numerous changes faced with during the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. It was reconstructed into Hunan Institute of Higher Learning in 1903, renamed Hunan University in 1926, and subordinated to the Republic of China's Ministry of Education as one of several state universities in 1937. After liberation and the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Central People's Government appointed Li Da, a well-known philosopher and educator, as the first President of Hunan University. Chairman Mao Zedong inscribed the name of the University. In 1953, when readjusting China’s higher education institutions, Hunan University was named the Central-South Institute of Civil Engineering. Later it was renamed Hunan Polytechnic College, and was finally, named Hunan University in 1959. Since 1963, the University has been affiliated with the Ministry of Mechanical Industry and in 1978 it was approved as a key and comprehensive university of China, and became directly affiliated with the Ministry of Education in 1998. In 2000, Hunan University and Hunan Institute of Finance and Economics merged to give shape to a new wide-ranging Hunan University.

Carrying forward the celebrated traditions of quality education and personnel cultivation, Hunan University continues to focus on the essence of its motto "Seeking Truth from Facts; Daring to be Pioneers" and the style of "Be Profound, Intelligent, Diligent and Dedicated in the Pursuit of Knowledge". It has adopted distinctive teaching style featuring "solid foundation, active thinking, strong adaptability, and good comprehensive quality". Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the university has produced numerous senior professionals. Many of our graduates have become academic experts, entrepreneurs and high ranking officials in government organs and private sectors, while 34 faculty and alumni members have been elected as academicians of the Chinese Academy of Science and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. The employment rate of the fresh graduates keeps a record of over 95%.

The University has Graduate School and 23 colleges and departments. Professional disciplines involve 11 subject categories, namely philosophy, economics, law, education, literature, history, science, engineering, management, medicine and arts, which offer 24 first-order disciplines authorized to confer Ph.D. degrees, 36 first-order disciplines authorized to confer Master's degree, and 22 professional degree authorizations, 2 key first-order disciplines and 14 key second-order disciplines honored at the national level, as well as 25 post-doctoral research programs.

It has a staff of over 4,000 with a faculty of more than 1800, of which, over 1,100 are professors and associate professors, 8 are members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering, 53 are members of the state's Thousand Talents Program, 13 are members of the state’s Ten Thousand Talents Program, 15 are distinguished professors and outstanding young teachers of the Changjiang (Yangtze River) Scholars Programme, 21 have been honored with financial support from National Outstanding Youth Fund, 6 are members of the Academic Degree Commission under the State Council, 23 are members of the state's Outstanding Talents Project of the 21st century, 2 are honored as young and middle-aged leading talents in the National Innovative Talent Promotion Program, 134 are reputed as New Century Excellent Talents in support programs of the Ministry of Education, 64 are members of Hundred Talents Program of Hunan Province, 17 are chair professors of the Lotus Scholarship Program of Hunan Province, 201 are Council Experts for Special Allowance, and 4 are winners of the National Distinguished Teacher Prizes. The University also has 3 innovative research groups supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), 8 innovative teams supported by Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in Universities, and 11 groups supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province.

The full-time student body totals nearly 35,000, of which over 20,000 are undergraduates and 15,000 are graduates. The University has established national basic-course teaching bases in science and engineering (chemistry), national demonstration college of software, national undergraduates' cultural-quality education base, 7 national-level teaching teams, 6 bilingual model courses, 6 experimental projects of innovative talent cultivation, 4 national demonstration centers of experimental teaching, 5 national comprehensive reform pilot majors for the Program of Culturing Outstanding Engineers, 5 national undergraduate internship bases, and one national VR experimental teaching center.

In recent years, the University has witnessed numerous achievements, such as one First Prize and 7 Second Prizes in the National Teaching Achievement Assessment; 25 courses rated as national Excellent Courses; 8 video courses listed as national Excellent Open Courses; and 22 courses as national excellent courses for resource sharing. Over the past five years, students from Hunan University have won nearly 1,400 awards for contests above provincial level, including first prize in the National Extracurricular Science and Technology Work Competition, Champion of the CCTV Cup English Speaking Contest, first prize for the Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM), perseverance award at the Formula SAE, and champion of the Formula Student China (FSC). In the 10th National Zhou Peiyuan Mechanics Competition, Hunan University was the only champion in team competition of “theoretical design and operation”. In 2015 and 2016, it respectively won first prize and three first prizes in the Contemporary Undergraduate Mathematical Contest in Modeling (CUMCM) and the National Undergraduate Innovative Mechanical Design Contest. Internationally, an undergraduate student of the University won both iF Design Award and Red Dot Award. In the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ACM-ICPC), Hunan University won a gold award.

Hunan University is equipped with 2 state key laboratories, 2 national engineering technology research centers, one national-level international research center, one national-level international cooperation base, one state laboratory of engineering, one key discipline laboratory of the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, 5 key laboratories of the Ministry of Education, 4 engineering technology centers of the Ministry of Education, 2 discipline innovation and talent introduction bases of institutions of higher education under the Ministry of Education, 14 key laboratories of Hunan Province, one engineering technology research center of Hunan Province, one provincial engineering laboratory, 4 key laboratories of institutions of higher education of Hunan Province, 3 key laboratories of mechanical industry, and 15 provincial-level social science research bases. It has participated in establishing three national “2011 Collaborative Innovation Centers”, and led the preparation for two provincial collaborative innovation centers.

Over the past decade, the University has undertaken over 8,000 scientific research projects at various levels, gained two second-class prizes of the national natural science awards, 4 second-class prizes of the national technological invention awards, 14 second-class prizes of the National Science and Technology Advancement Awards, one Gold Prize of China Patent Award, one gold prize awarded by the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation, 17 first prizes and 24 second prizes of the Outstanding Scientific Research Achievements of the Institutions of Higher Education under the Ministry of Education, 36 first and 60 second prizes of the Science and Technology Award of Hunan Province, and 11 first, 24 second, and 30 third prizes of Outstanding Achievements in Humanities and Social Sciences of Hunan Province.

The Hunan University National Science Park in Changsha National High-Tech Industrial Development Zone has 56 high-level platforms for university-government, university-enterprise, and inter-university cooperation, and established collaborative relations with 32 provincial, municipal and autonomous region governments, as well as thousands of enterprises. The National Supercomputing Center in Changsha under the overall management and operation of Hunan University is the third one in China, which provides high-performance computing, cloud computing, and big data processing service for hundreds of institutions of higher education, scientific research institutions, government departments, and enterprises.

Hunan University enjoys academic exchanges with over 160 universities and research institutes across the world. More than 300 foreign experts come every year for long or short term courses. The enrollment of overseas students from over 70 countries and regions, as well as Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau, exceeds 1,000. Confucius Institutes of Honam University, University of Regina, and Colorado State University have been established. Now Hunan University boasts the largest number of overseas Confucius Institutes among all higher educational institutions in the province.

The University occupies a total area of 1,531,960 square meters with its school buildings covering 1,045,930 square meters. The university library boasts a total collection of over 6.9 million books and 128 TB of digital resources (Chinese and English). Advanced IPv6 campus network has been equipped, with 10Gb wired cable backbone network covering all teaching buildings, office buildings and students' apartments, accompanied by simultaneous coverage of wireless campus network in teaching areas of both south and Caiyuan campus. The computers connected with the campus network amount to over 30,000, enjoying a bandwidth of 6.7 G, which realizes a multi-channel informationized teaching, administration and service based on mobile technology.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, Hunan University has received great attention and high praise from senior leaders of both the Central Government and local authorities, such as Liu Shaoqi, Hua Guofeng, Hu Yaobang, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, Zhu Rongji, Wen Jiabao and Li Keqiang. On their visits and inspection, they have commended Hunan University with "Cradle of the Talents of Xiang and Chu", "The Kingdom of Chu, unique home of talents; today's academy of Yuelu, the prosperous cradle of all", and "Ancient Millenarian Academy, Famous Centennial University".

(Update: Feb. 2017)

For more detailed information about HNU's programs, please click http://www.campuschina.org/universities_art/index.html?key=680F718796D93A82