About Hunan University

Hunan University (HNU) 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.

HNU now 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 25 first-order disciplines authorized to confer Ph.D. degrees, 41 first-order disciplines authorized to confer Master's degree, and 22 academic degree authorizations, 2 key first-order disciplines and 14 key second-order disciplines honored at the national level, as well as 25 post-doctoral 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, 6 are members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering, 3 are invited-members at both Chinese Academies of Sciences and Engineering, 41 are members of the state's Thousands Talents Program, 10 are members of the state’s Ten Thousand Talents Program, 18 are distinguished professors of the Changjiang (Yangtze River) Scholars Programme, 21 have been honored with financial support from National Outstanding Youth Fund, 5 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,134 are reputed as New Century Excellent Talents in support programs of the Ministry of Education, 49 are members of Hundred Talents Program of Hunan Province, 15 are chair Professors of the Lotus Scholarship Program of Hunan Province,201 are Council Experts for Special Allowance, 4 are winners of the National Distinguished Teacher Prizes, 2 innovative research groups are supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), 8 innovative teams are supported by Program for Cheongkong Scholars and Innovative Research Team in Universities, and 11 groups are supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province.

The student body totals nearly 30,000, of which over 20,600 are undergraduates and 14,000 are graduates.