Hunan University (HNU; ;

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...

: Húnán Dàxué''),'' colloquially abbreviated as HúDà (湖大), is a national key

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kn ...

located in

Changsha Changsha (; ; ; Changshanese pronunciation: (), Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is the capital and the largest city of Hunan Province of China. Changsha is the 17th most populous city in China with a population of over 10 million, and ...

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangx ...

, and a Double First Class University as well as a member of

Project 211 Project 211 () was an abolished project of developing comprehensive universities and colleges initiated in 1995 by the Ministry of Education of China, with the intent of raising the research standards of comprehensive universities and cultiva ...

and Project 985 of Chinese universities. Hunan University is considered one of China's leading

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

research universities.

History

Hunan University traces its history back to the Yuelu Academy, founded in 976 AD during the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the res ...

. Shuyuan was one form of private educational institution in China; another form was government-sponsored academies including imperial central school Taixue or

Guozijian The Guozijian,Yuan, 194. sometimes translated as the Imperial College, Imperial Academy, Imperial University, National Academy, or National University, was the national central institution of higher learning in Chinese dynasties after the Su ...

and regional schools. The Yuelu Academy was a venue for Chinese scholars and their students to meet and discuss sophisticated topics in Confucian Studies. In 976 AD, the Yuelu Academy was founded. In 1015, the calligraphy of "Yuelu Academy" was written by

Emperor Zhenzong of Song Emperor Zhenzong of Song (23 December 968 – 23 March 1022), personal name Zhao Heng, was the third emperor of the Song dynasty of China. He reigned from 997 to his death in 1022. His personal name was originally Zhao Dechang, but was changed ...

. In 1897, the modern school was founded, initially called Shiwu Institute (Xuetang) (时务学堂). In 1903, the modern university was renovated from Yuelu Academy into the Hunan Institute of Higher Education after founding the Shiwu school. In 1926; the Hunan Institute of Higher Education was renamed Hunan University. In

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into ...

, it was transformed from a provincial university into a national university, renamed the National Hunan University, and designated by the Ministry of education, becoming the fifteenth national university. From April 1938 to May 1941, the National Hunan University suffered serious losses and made it difficult to run the school, and during the Battle of Changsha, the National Hunan University was suspended. In 1949, the name Hunan University was again adopted and the calligraphy of "Hunan University" was written by

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also Romanization of Chinese, romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the List of national founde ...

in 1950 as soon as the People's Republic of China was founded. In 1959, Hunan University was officially restored after the national readjustment of higher education institutions. In 1963, it became a key university under the ministry and was subordinated to the First Ministry of Machinery Industry. In 1978, Hunan University's status as one of the 88 National Key Universities in China was reaffirmed. In 1996, Hunan University became one of the national key universities sponsored by the major national program "

". In 2000, Hunan University was selected as a member of the " Project 985" to facilitate efforts and progress toward a comprehensive, research-oriented, and internationalized world-class university. In November 2010, the National Supercomputing Changsha Center was laid in Hunan University campus under the management and operation of Hunan University. It is the first National Supercomputing Center in

Central China Central China () is a geographical and a loosely defined cultural region that includes the provinces of Henan, Hubei and Hunan. Jiangxi is sometimes also regarded to be part of this region. Central China is now officially part of South Cent ...

and the third of its kind apart from other two national centers situated in

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...

and

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern provi ...

. In 2011, along with nine other Project 985 universities, HNU officially participated in the

Excellence League The Excellence League (a.k.a. Excellence 9 League, E9 League) () is an alliance of 9 Chinese universities established in 2010. Membership History Beijing Institute of Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Southeast University, Harbin ...

, an alliance of 10 Chinese universities with a strong background in engineering. In 2015, HNU joined the BRICS Universities League, a consortium of leading research universities from

BRICS BRICS is an acronym for five leading emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The first four were initially grouped as "BRIC" (or "the BRICs") in 2001 by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill, who coined the te ...

countries. In 2017, Hunan University was listed in the

Double First Class University Plan The World First Class University and First Class Academic Discipline Construction (), together known as Double First Class (), is a tertiary education development initiative designed by the People's Republic of China central government in 2015 ...

, the most recent major program for developing top research comprehensive universities in China. For more than 1000 years, academic activities have been carried on here. In the course of its development from Yuelu Academy to Hunan University, this long-established institution has cultivated a large number of outstanding scholars and has been honored as an "Ancient Millenarian Academy, Famous Centennial University". Additionally, ''

Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The Thes''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...

'' named Hunan University the "One Thousand Year Old University" due to its incredible longevity and recognized it as "China's oldest higher education institution".

Academics and administration

Hunan University is a national key university under the direct administration of the Ministry of Education of China, and a member of Project 211 and Project 985, as well as the Double First Class University Plan. In October 2020, Hunan University has been selected as the National Intellectual Property Demonstration University among the first batch of 30 demonstration universities by the China National Intellectual Property Administration and the Ministry of Education of China. The administration is led by a CPC secretary and a president. The current secretary is Deng Wei and the president is Duan Xianzhong. Central Teaching Building

It has the following colleges and departments: *Architecture *Biology *Business Administration *Chemistry and Chemical Engineering *Chinese Language and Literature *Civil Engineering *Computer Science and Electronic Engineering *Design *Economy and Trade *Educational Science *Electrical and Information Engineering *Robotics *Environmental Science and Engineering *Finance and Statistics *Foreign Languages and International Studies *Journalism and Communication and Film and Television Arts *Law *Marxism Studies *Mathematics and Econometrics *Materials and Engineering *Mechanical Vehicle Engineering *Physical Education *Physics and Microelectronics Science * Yuelu Academy

Cooperation

Hunan University has established academic cooperation or academic exchange programs with over 160 oversea universities and research institutes since 1990s. Hunan University is one of the Project 985 universities in China to form the BRICS Network University, a network of the

member countries' higher education institutions engaged in cooperation and joining the BRICS Network University.

Students and Academics

There are more than 30,000 full-time students, including more than 20,800 undergraduates and more than 14,000 graduate students. Hunan University has started to recruit international students since 1990s and is one of the Project 985 universities in China to launch an international student program taught entirely in English. Its campuses home to more than 1,000 international students from over 108 countries and regions in the world, as well as Hong Kong (China), Taiwan (China) and Macau (China), working for bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, doctoral degrees or studying the Chinese language and culture through the Self-Financed Program, the Partial Scholarship Program and the Full Scholarship Program. A number of scholarships include the Distinguished Foreign Students Scholarship, Hunan Provincial Government Foreign Students Scholarship, Chinese Government Scholarship, Silk Road Scholarship Program and Confucius Institute Scholarship.

Rankings

Hunan University is ranked in the top 300 research universities in the world based on several global university rankings such as ''

ARWU The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong University ...

'', ''

US News ''U.S. News & World Report'' (USNWR) is an American media company that publishes news, consumer advice, rankings, and analysis. It was launched in 1948 as the merger of domestic-focused weekly newspaper ''U.S. News'' and international-focused ...

, and CWTS Leiden''.

General Rankings

*The 2008 Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) World University Rankings ranked Hunan University 15th in China. * In the 2020 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), Hunan University ranked 201–300th in the world and 48–77th in Asia and Oceania region. *As of 2022, the U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking ranked Hunan University 168th globally, 25th in Asia, and 12th in China.

Research Rankings

* Hunan University ranked 14th worldwide in the 2016

Nature Index The Nature Index is a database that tracks institutions and countries and their scientific output since its introduction in November, 2014. Each year, Nature Index ranks the leading institutions (which can be companies, universities, government agen ...

Rising Stars. In 2018, Hunan University was elected among 16 universities in the world by ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

'', called " Movers and Shakers". In the

Annual Table 2022 by Nature Research, which measures the largest groups of papers published in 82 leading high-quality science journals, Hunan University ranked 62nd among the leading research academic institutions globally, 27th in the Asia-Pacific, and 20th in China. * Hunan University ranked 127th globally and 51st in Asia by the

CWTS Leiden Ranking The CWTS Leiden Ranking is an annual global university ranking based exclusively on bibliometric indicators. The rankings are compiled by the Centre for Science and Technology Studies ( Dutch: ''Centrum voor Wetenschap en Technologische Studies ...

2022 based on the number of their scientific publications in the period 2017–2020. For the proportion of their scientific publications that rank among the top 1%, 5%, and 10% in their fields by citations, Hunan University ranks 43rd in the world (7th in Asia), 10th globally (3rd in Asia), and 14th in the world (2nd in Asia) respectively. *In 2020, a research paper by Loet Leydesdorff, a famous scientometrician, employs data from 205 China's leading research-intensive universities, including in the CWTS Leiden Ranking 2020, to classify them into three main groups: Top, Middle, and Bottom. Hunan University (with a Z-score of 10.2) ranks 2nd only to Tsinghua University (z=11.0), which leads the "High Group of 32 Universities". *In 2022, 32 HNU faculty members were included in

Clarivate Clarivate Plc is a British-American publicly traded analytics company that operates a collection of subscription-based services, in the areas of bibliometrics and scientometrics; business / market intelligence, and competitive profiling for ph ...

's list of Highly Cited Researchers, placing HNU at # 33 globally and third in China, behind only the

Chinese Academy of Science The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republ ...

and

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (; abbr. THU) is a national public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. The university is a member of the C9 League, Double First Class University Plan, Projec ...

Subject Rankings

* Hunan University has been ranked in the top 30th global universities in "

" by several international rankings, including U.S. News Rankings, URAP ranking, and

NTU Ranking The Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities or NTU Ranking is a ranking system of world universities by scientific paper volume, impact, and performance output. The ranking was originally published from 2007 to 2011 by the ...

. In the 2022

Academic Ranking of World Universities The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong Universi ...

(ARWU) by Subjects, it ranked in the global top 100 for several specific fields and subjects.

Notable alumni

Among its prominent alumni are Wang Fuzhi, a celebrated philosopher in Chinese history; Wei Yuan, a reformist who first advocated to learn from the West;

Zeng Guofan Zeng Guofan, Marquis Yiyong (; 26 November 1811 – 12 March 1872), birth name Zeng Zicheng, courtesy name Bohan, was a Chinese statesman and military general of the late Qing dynasty. He is best known for raising and organizing the Xiang ...

, the first Chinese to initiate the Modernization Movement (at the time called Yangwu Yundong, a movement to imitate overseas technology and industry) and to make arrangements for a modern factory in China; Zuo Zongtang, a national hero who arranged to build China's first modern navy and took great pains to defend and develop

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwes ...

;

Guo Songtao Guo Songtao ( zh, 郭嵩燾, s=郭嵩焘, p=Guō Sōngtāo, w=Kuo Sung-t’ao; 11 April 1818 – 18 July 1891) was a Chinese diplomat and statesman during the Qing dynasty. He was among the first foreign emissaries to be sent abroad by the Qin ...

, China's first ambassador to a foreign country;

Cai E Cai E (; 18 December 1882 – 8 November 1916) was a Chinese revolutionary leader and general. He was born Cai Genyin () in Shaoyang, Hunan, and his courtesy name was Songpo (). Cai eventually became an influential warlord in Yunnan ( Yu ...

, a major leader in defending the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeas ...

; Zhang Fengxuan, the first Chinese to set foot on the continent of Antarctica; and Ci Yungui, the chief designer of China's first super computer. A extensive list of Hunan university alumni can be found

here Here is an adverb that means "in, on, or at this place". It may also refer to: Software * Here Technologies, a mapping company * Here WeGo (formerly Here Maps), a mobile app and map website by Here Television * Here TV (formerly "here!"), a ...

References

External links

* *
University history
{{Coord, 28, 10, 49, N, 112, 57, 10, E, region:CN_type:edu_source:kolossus-zhwiki, display=title Universities and colleges in Changsha Universities and colleges in Hunan Project 985 Project 211 Plan 111 Ancient universities 976 establishments Yuelu District 1903 establishments in China Educational institutions established in 1903 1926 establishments in China Educational institutions established in 1926