Hunan University

Hunan University is a key national university directly under the Ministry of Education and a university included in the "Project 211", "Project 985" and "World-Class University" initiative. The university originated from Yuelu Academy, which was founded in 976 AD. In 1903, Yuelu Academy merged with Hunan Higher School, which was reformed from Shiwu School founded in 1897. In 1926, it was renamed Hunan University, and in 1937, it became one of the 16 national universities in China. In 2000, Hunan University merged with Hunan University of Finance and Economics to form the new Hunan University.

Over the long course of running the school, the school has developed an educational tradition of "teaching for the people, patriotism and pragmatism, practical application and inclusiveness", and has accumulated the Huda spirit centered on the school motto "seeking truth from facts and being a pioneer" and the school spirit "Learning, thinking, diligence and knowledge". Among the teachers and students, 43 members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering have emerged. "There are many talents in Chu, and they are most abundant here" is a vivid portrayal of the school's continuous production of talents.

The university now has 31 colleges, covering 13 major disciplines including philosophy, economics, law, education, literature, history, science, engineering, management, medicine, agriculture, art, and interdisciplinary studies. It has 87 undergraduate programs, 38 first-level disciplines authorized for master's degrees and 34 first-level disciplines authorized for doctoral degrees. The university has been approved as an independent review unit for degree authorization. Chemistry, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering have been included in the list of "world-class disciplines" for construction. The School of Marxism has been selected as a national key school of Marxism. Five disciplines are in the top 1‰ of ESI globally, and engineering is in the top 1‰. In 2025, it ranked 43rd globally in the Nature Index.

The school aims to cultivate leading talents for the new era. There are more than 39,000 full-time students, including more than 22,000 undergraduates and more than 16,000 postgraduates. There are two bases for the Ministry of Education's top-notch Student Training Program 2.0 and four national experimental teaching demonstration centers. 16 national teaching achievement awards were won in 2022, ranking fifth in the country. Four first National Textbook Construction Awards, selected for the "101" Program in chemistry, computer science and artificial intelligence, and selected for the Ministry of Education's "14th Five-Year Plan" higher education textbook system construction team in strategic emerging fields. Approved as a pilot for the enrollment reform of the Strong Foundation Program, a university for the construction of the National College of Outstanding Engineers, selected for the National Excellent Program, and approved as a national characteristic demonstration software college and a national first-class cyber security college. 54 national first-class undergraduate programs and 94 national first-class undergraduate courses were selected. It was selected as one of the first batch of national innovation and entrepreneurship colleges and one of the first batch of national demonstration universities for deepening innovation and entrepreneurship education reform. Since 2019, it has won 10 national gold awards in innovation and entrepreneurship competitions such as the "China International College Students Innovation Competition" and the "Challenge Cup". The university has established partnerships with more than 200 overseas institutions and universities, including the University of California, Berkeley and the National University of Singapore.

The school has 4,265 staff members, including 2,375 full-time teachers. There are 334 national high-level talents and 235 National Young Talents. Among them, there are 5 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 42 recipients of the National Natural Science Foundation of China's Youth Science Fund (Class A), and 5 national teaching masters. It has seven National Natural Science Foundation of China "Innovative Research Group" projects, one of the first batch of philosophy and social sciences innovation teams of the Ministry of Education, one innovation team of the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, 14 national-level teaching teams, and four Huang Danyan-style teacher teams of national universities.

The university has 7 national key laboratories (including co-built ones), 2 national engineering technology research centers, 1 national engineering research center, 1 national energy research and development innovation platform, 3 national international cooperation bases, 1 national defense key discipline laboratory, 1 Ministry of Education Integrated research platform, 13 Ministry of Education key laboratories and engineering research centers, and Ministry of Education Higher Education institutions 6 science and technology innovation bases and 1 key laboratory of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Since 2019, it has led 12 National Science and Technology Awards (including 4 National Science and Technology Awards in 2024, including 1 first prize of Invention Award, ranking 7th among first-class university construction universities in terms of the number of awards) and 23 Ministry of Education Humanities and Social Sciences Awards. We have developed the first set of technologies, including ultra-low frequency underwater acoustic radar technology and equipment, eddy current dampers, gas dynamic pressure bearing technology, large permanent magnet wind turbines, and three-dimensional five-axis laser processing equipment. It has a national university science park and has been approved as one of the first batch of technology transfer and transformation bases of higher education institutions by the Ministry of Education and a national intellectual property demonstration university. The National Supercomputing Center in Changsha, which is operated and managed by the university, is the third national supercomputing center. The computing power level of the Tianhe New generation supercomputer system is internationally advanced and domestically leading.

The university has two campuses, the South Campus and the Finance Campus, covering an area of 1.5433 million square meters (2,315 mu). The Sci-Tech Port campus, which is under construction, covers an area of about 1,067,000 square meters (1,600 mu). The first phase of its construction will be put into use in 2026, the 100th anniversary of Hunan University's naming, providing strong impetus for the university's high-quality development.