Overview
Chinese Name: 湖南大学
English Name: Hunan University
Abbreviation: 湖大(Huda); HNU
Established: 976 AD
Location: Hunan
Website: https://www.hnu.www.cn
Brief introduction of Hunan University
Hunan University is located in Changsha长沙, a famous historical and cultural city in China, in front of the Xiang River湘江, and in the back of the Mountain Yuelu岳麓, known as “a famous century-old school”.
Originated from the Yuelu Academy岳麓书院 founded in 976 AD, it is the longest institution of higher learning in China, after thousands of years of changes, the continuity of cultural education has always been maintained.
In 1903, it was reorganized into Hunan Higher School.
In 1926, it was officially named Hunan University.
In 1937, it became one of the 16 national universities in the country.
In 2000, Hunan University merged with Hunan University of Finance and Economics to form the new Hunan University.
Since the reform and opening up, the university has successively entered the ranks of national key universities, “Project 211“, “Project 985” and “world-class universities”. On September 17, 2020, the general secretary Xi Jinping习近平 came to the school to investigate, gave high praise to the school’s talent training and cultural inheritance, and put forward the major scientific thesis that Yuelu Academy is the source of the party’s ideological line of seeking truth from facts.
Education Achivements and Rankings
The university has 27 colleges, covering 11 disciplines including philosophy, economics, law, pedagogy, literature, history, science, engineering, management, medicine, and art. It has formed a discipline layout with a solid foundation of science, engineering, humanities, and social disciplines, like medicine, and active new interdisciplinary disciplines. It has 74 undergraduate majors, 37 first-class disciplines authorized for master’s degree, 30 first-class disciplines authorized for doctor’s degree, and 28 post-doctoral research mobile stations. There are 2 first-class disciplines and 14 second-class disciplines of national key disciplines.
Hunan University has strong scientific research strength and outstanding scientific and technological achievements. There are 2 state key laboratories, 2 national engineering technology research centers, 1 national engineering laboratory, 3 national international cooperation bases, 1 national defense key discipline laboratory of the Bureau of Science, technology, and industry for national defense, 9 key laboratories, and engineering research centers of the Ministry of Education, and 5 discipline innovation bases.
Academic Ranking of World Universities, also known as the “Shanghai Ranking”, placed Hunan University 31st in China.
As of 2021, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings ranked Hunan University 65th in Asia and 31st in China with its teaching and research performance.
Hunan University has built a national science park, approved the first batch of scientific and technological achievements transformation and technology transfer bases of universities by the Ministry of Education, established industry-university research cooperation relations with 33 provinces and thousands of enterprises, conquered a number of cutthroat technologies in key fields, broke the monopoly of foreign technology in many directions, and a series of innovative technologies are widely used in electric power, aerospace and other key areas of the national economy.
The national supercomputing Changsha center operated and managed by the university is the third national supercomputing center, providing high-performance computing, big data, artificial intelligence, and other services to nearly 2000 users such as universities, scientific research institutions, governments, enterprises, and institutions.
Yuelu Academic
Yuelu Academy covers an area of 21000 square meters and is the largest existing academy complex in China.
Yuelu Academy has experienced many wars in its history, and has been destroyed seven times and rebuilt seven times, and the main existing buildings are Ming and Qing dynasty’s relics. Since the last century, after several major repairs, some of the buildings destroyed by the war have been renovated. The ancient building of Yuelu Academy adopts the courtyard form of central axis symmetry and multi-depth layout. The main buildings such as the first gate, the main gate, the second gate, the lecture hall, and the imperial library are concentrated on the central axis, and the lecture hall is arranged in the center of the central axis.
The shrines are lined up on both sides in addition to creating a sense of depth and visual effect of solemnity, magic, and remoteness, the courtyard of the central axis symmetry and layer by layer also embodies the social and ethical relationship between Confucian culture, which is orderly in respect and inferiority, different in rank, and distinct in primary and secondary.
Famous Alumni
The school has more than 4,000 teaching staff, including 2,257 full-time teachers, 12 academicians, 11 members of the disciplinary review group of the Degree Committee of the State Council, 56 national-level special talents, 25 winners of the National Outstanding Youth Science Fund, 30 winners of the National Outstanding Youth Science Fund国家杰出青年科学基金, 6 national-level famous teachers, and 14 young scientific and technological innovation leaders in the Innovation Talent Promotion Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology科技部创新人才推进计划.
The school has cultivated and nurtured a large number of outstanding talents represented by Wang Fuzhi王夫之, Zeng Guofan曾国藩, Zuo Zongtang左宗棠, Yang Changji杨昌济, Mao Zedong毛泽东, He Shuheng何叔衡, Cai Hesen蔡和森, Li Da李达, etc. Among the teachers and students, 39 faculty members and academicians of the “two academies” have emerged.
