Northwest Normal University is located in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China. It is a key university jointly built by the Gansu provincial People 's government and the Ministry of Education, and one of the 14 universities in the western region supported by the state. It has 9 postdoctoral research stations in education, Chinese language and literature, history, mathematics, chemistry, physics, Marxist theory, geography and psychology, 7 first-level disciplines with doctoral degree authorization in education, chemistry, Chinese language and literature, history, mathematics, physics and geography, and 57 second-level disciplines with doctoral degree authorization. 30 first-level disciplines for master's degrees, 164 second-level disciplines for master's degrees, 77 undergraduate programs.
Northwest Normal University has a strong scientific research capacity. In recent years, the number and quality of papers on basic theories of natural science that have been included in SCIE have steadily increased, and the number of included papers ranks among the top 10 normal universities in the country. The social sciences have a prominent and distinctive research advantage in the fields of Northwest history and geography, ethnic education, curriculum and instruction theory, ancient books collation, Dunhuang studies, etc.
Northwest Normal University has always emphasized extensive international academic exchanges and cooperation. It has signed academic cooperation and exchange agreements with more than 70 research institutions overseas and has trained more than 1,400 international students. At present, the university has established Confucius Institutes in cooperation with the University of Khartoum in Sudan, the Free International University of Moldova, and the University of Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Northwest Normal University began enrolling international students in 1982 and is one of the first institutions in the northwest region to be recognized by the Ministry of Education as qualified to accept foreign students. In 2008, the university was included in the "Independent Recruitment List of Government Scholarship Students" and began to recruit "Chinese Government Scholarship students". In 2009, the school began to recruit "Confucius Institute Scholarship students". At present, the school has 405 international students from 26 countries.
