Hunan Agricultural University

Hunan Agricultural University(HUNAU), a key provincial university under the co-construction of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Hunan Provincial People’s Government, is the pioneering construction unit of the National “2011” Collaborative Innovation Center and one of the first national research institutes of new rural development as well. Graded "Excellent" in the undergraduate teaching assessment by the Ministry of Education and titled "the National Civilized Unit" and "National Civilized Campus", HUNAU aims to become one of the domestic first-class universities in Hunan Province (Class A). Located in Changsha, a famous city bearing long history and profound culture in China, the campus covers an area of 3,414 acres, offering a quiet and attractive paradise to realize dreams for both teachers and students.

The history of HUNAU can be traced back to Xiuye Academy on October 8, 1903, where such great celebrities as Zhou Zhenlin, Huang Xing, Xu Teli, Mao Zedong were successively employed. In March 1951, Hunan Agricultural College, whose name was an inscription by Chairman Mao Zedong, was established by merging the Agricultural College of Hunan University with Hunan Provincial Xiuye Agricultural and Forestry College (originating from Xiuye Academy). In March 1994, it was renamed Hunan Agricultural University.

Supported by 20 schools or colleges, HUNAU enriches its categories of disciplines, covering agronomy, engineering, literature, science, economics, management, law, medicine, pedagogy and art. Known for the long history of postgraduate education, and especially as the first batch of master's degree-granting units in the nation, HUNAU is now in possession of 10 post-doctoral research stations, 11 first-category doctoral degree disciplines, 20 first-category master's degree disciplines, and 11 categories of professional master's degree disciplines. There are 72 bachelor's programs, two junior college education programs. There are one national key discipline, two provincial-level featured disciplines, and 16 provincial-level key disciplines. The ESI disciplines in the field of animal and plant science and agricultural sciences rank among the top 1% in the world.

HUNAU has 1,371 full-time teachers; two academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, four academicians belong to both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, two academicians of American Academy of Sciences, 827 experts with senior professional titles, and 310 doctoral supervisors. Among the teachers, there are 81 talented experts who are “young or middle-aged experts” with outstanding contributions at national level or outstanding professional talents at national level, or recipients of special allowance from the State Council, etc. There are 322 honorable teachers, including professors of “Furong Scholars” Program, province-level teacher masters, Hunan Province outstanding teachers, etc. There are two scientific and technological innovation team of the Ministry of Education, three outstanding scientific research talents and their innovative teams of the Ministry of Agriculture, six province-level innovation teams, two national teaching teams, six province-level outstanding teaching teams.

With a total of 27,570 full-time undergraduate students and 5,044 graduate students, what HUNAU has achieved is rather impressive: eight specialties admitted to experimental specialty of outstanding agricultural and forestry personnel education and training plans (first group), one national comprehensive reform pilot project, six national specialties, five national top-quality open courses, and two national experimental teaching demonstration centers, one national virtual simulation experiment teaching center, one national off-campus practice base for university students, four national agricultural science and education talents training cooperation bases, one national key construction base of vocational education teacher training, and one national agricultural master's practice demonstration base. There were 11 national-level teaching achievement awards and One doctoral thesis was selected into 100 nation-level excellent doctoral thesis, with two more nominated. Besides, HUNAU has taken its lead in the employment rate of graduates, awarded as the model unit of graduate employment.

HUNAU has one national “2011” collaborative innovation center, three provincial “2011” collaborative innovation centers, eight national scientific research platforms and eight provincial scientific research platforms. HUNAU has won 27 national scientific and technological achievements awards, more than 500 provincial and ministerial ones. With more than 300 new varieties approved and 1400 patents granted, the selected varieties of rapeseed, rice, corn, potato, peanut, tea, grape, cotton, citrus, pig, tobacco, vegetables and other practical products have been widely promoted throughout China.

As one of the earliest colleges that hold the Sino-foreign Educational Cooperation Programs in Hunan Province, HUNAU has established close ties with over 40 universities and international institutions in more than 20 countries, including Ohio State University (in the U.S.A) Greenwich University(in the U.K), and Kagoshima University(in Japan).

Looking forward to the future, by adhering to HUNAU motto of “Sincerity, Sedulity, Practicality, and Creativity”, HUNAU will abide by the philosophy of viewing “quality as the cornerstone to establish HUNAU, academics as the root to thrive HUNAU, and talents as the key to strengthen HUNAU.”, to fully display the characteristics of “the integration of industry, teaching and research”. As a university of over 100 years, HUNAU is making unremitting efforts to improve the quality, aiming to be a first-class agricultural university in China, as well as a high-level teaching-research-oriented university with distinctive characteristics and prominent advantages.

Established in July 2003, the International College (IC) of Hunan Agricultural University is the earliest college in Hunan Province to set up Sino-foreign Educational Cooperation Program for Undergraduate Project approved and evaluated by the Ministry of Education (MOE) of PRC. The College is committed to cultivating international, inter-disciplinary and applied talents. It has established stable cooperative relations with many high-quality universities in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia and other countries. The college has more than 110 full-time and part-time faculty and staff members. The college’s English and professional teaching team is composed of teachers who have the background of studying abroad, can teach in Chinese and English, have solid professional knowledge and master advanced international teaching concepts and methods, so as to ensure that students enjoy high-quality educational and teaching resources. Besides, there are five or six excellent foreign language teachers and more than 20 foreign experts all the year round who usually come from Britain, America, Canada, Australia, etc. While imparting knowledge to students, improving their language skills and professional levels, they also provide a multi-cultural communicative environment, so that students can get familiar with the environment as soon as possible and shorten the adaptation period abroad. At the same time, IC has introduced five to six first-class full-time spoken English teachers and over 20 specialists from UK, USA, Canada, Australia and other English speaking countries all the year round.

IC has been running 5 Sino-foreign Educational Cooperation Programs ratified by MOE, that is, two 4-year undergraduate programs in Biology and Environmental Sciences and two 3-year undergraduate programs in Accounting and Business Management with the University of Greenwich, UK, and undergraduate programs in Food Science and Engineering with the University of Hawaii, Manoa, USA. There are two programs approved by the Department of Education (DOE) of Hunan Province for the undergraduate course of international education, namely, the undergraduate program of Agricultural and Forestry Economic Management, Food Science and Engineering with the University of California, Fresno, USA.

In addition, there are also inter-university exchange projects with Oregon State University, University of Oregon and University of Minnesota Delux, USA; University of British Columbia, Brook University, Canada; and University of South Australia, Australia. The Administration Offices in charge of the operation of these joint programs have been set up to supervise and ensure teaching quality, to provide consultation and guide of studying abroad for students.

Since its foundation in 2003, IC has enrolled students in Hunan Province for 16 years. Since 2014, it has officially enrolled undergraduates from other provinces in China. Since the first graduates in 2006, the pass rate of IELTS for students studying abroad has reached more than 70%, the pass rate of visa for students studying abroad has reached 100%, and the rate of studying for master's degree in overseas universities has reached more than 90%. More than 700 students have gone abroad to further their studies. Almost 600 students have received master's degrees from foreign universities. More than 100 students are studying for master's and doctoral degrees in foreign universities. Most graduates work in the UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Changsha and other locations with a wide range of working areas like administrative office, banking, security exchanges, civil aviation, taxation, education, publishing, foreign trade, medical treatment, machinery manufacturing.

Since 2006, leaders from MOE and the DOE have visited IC for many times to inspect and investigate Sino-foreign Educational Cooperation Programs and they have agreed on the normalization and characterization of IC in Sino-foreign Educational Cooperation Programs, and highly valued the education idea, teaching quality and teaching team building of IC. In December 2013 and July 2016, two research projects on the training and teaching reform of Sino-foreign Educational Cooperation Programs were awarded the Hunan Teaching Achievement Award successively. Sino-foreign Educational Cooperation Programs were successively awarded the Teaching Achievement Prize of Hunan province. In December 2014 and November 2015, the undergraduate education programs of Biological Science and Environmental Science passed the assessment of MOE successively. In 2016, IC participated in the Hunan Foreign-Related-Education English Talent Competition and won the first prize of the group and individual. In January 2018, the undergraduate education program (Food Science and Engineering) with the University of Hawaii, Manoa, USA, was approved by the MOE, which is an important achievement of IC in the 13th Five-Year Plan.