Shaanxi Normal University

Shaanxi Normal University is directly under the Ministry of Education and is a university selected for world-class discipline development, a key institution under the national Project 211, and a participating university in the national Project 985 Innovation Platform for Advantageous Disciplines in teacher education. It is an important national base for training teachers for higher education and secondary schools, educational administrators and other advanced professionals, and is known as the “cradle of teachers.”

Its predecessor was Shaanxi Provincial Teachers College, established in 1944. It was renamed Xi’an Teachers College in 1954, merged with Shaanxi Teachers College in 1960 and took the name Shaanxi Normal University. In 1978, it came directly under the Ministry of Education. Over more than 70 years, the university has upheld the traditions of “Virtue, Accumulated Learning, Aspiration and Earnest Practice.” Rooted in western China and serving the whole country, it has become a comprehensive first-class normal university with significant influence, producing more than 300000 graduates of various types. It has developed a scholarly ethos of “Holding Fast to Principle and Taking Pride in Learning,” and a university ethos of “Generosity and Broad Cultivation, Unity of Knowledge and Action.” Its current Party Committee Secretary is Professor Cheng Guangxu, and its President is Professor You Xuqun.

The university is in Xi’an, the ancient capital regarded as one of the world’s four great historic and cultural cities. It covers 2800 mu across two campuses, Chang’an and Yanta. Construction of the Chang’an campus began in 2000, and it is now the main campus, primarily educating third- and fourth-year undergraduates and postgraduate students. The Yanta campus has a history of more than sixty years and mainly provides basic and general education courses for first- and second-year undergraduates, as well as teacher education, continuing education, distance education, teacher and administrator training, and international student education. Yanta is traditional, elegant and culturally rich, while Chang’an is modern, open and grand. The university has been designated a Civilized Campus by the Ministry of Education and the People’s Government of Shaanxi Province.

The university has a graduate school, 21 schools, 1 basic experimental teaching center and an ethnic education school providing preparatory education. It offers 65 undergraduate programs, doctoral degrees in 18 first-level disciplines, master’s degrees in 41 first-level disciplines, 1 professional doctoral authorization in education, and 24 professional master’s authorizations, including 9 Master of Engineering fields. It has 4 national key disciplines. Four doctoral dissertations were selected among China’s 100 outstanding doctoral dissertations, 7 received nominations for national outstanding doctoral dissertations, 68 received Shaanxi outstanding doctoral dissertation honors, and 16 master’s theses were recognized as national outstanding Master of Education professional degree theses. Its facilities include 2 national bases for basic discipline talent development and scientific research, 3 Ministry of Education discipline innovation and overseas expertise introduction bases, 1 national engineering laboratory, 4 national experimental teaching demonstration centers, 3 national virtual simulation experimental teaching centers, 1 Ministry of Education humanities and social sciences research base, 4 Ministry of Education country and regional studies centers, 1 General Administration of Sport key sports sociology research base, 1 national demonstration base for joint training of Master of Education students, 4 Ministry of Education key laboratories and engineering research centers, 17 Shaanxi key laboratories and engineering research centers, 5 Shaanxi key humanities and social sciences research bases, 1 Shaanxi key philosophy and social sciences research base, 1 research center for the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, 1 key public opinion information research center, 12 Shaanxi experimental teaching demonstration centers, 5 Shaanxi demonstration workstations for joint postgraduate training, and 60 research centers or institutes of various types. Its educational units include a School of Distance Education and a School of Teacher and Administrator Education. It also hosts the Ministry of Education’s Northwest Higher Normal Education Teacher Training Center, Northwest Educational Administrator Training Center and Basic Education Curriculum Research Center; Shaanxi’s Basic Education Resources Research and Development Center, Teacher Education Guidance Center and Administrator Education and Training Base; and dozens of academic associations and institutions, including the Chinese Society of Tang History and the Chinese Ancient Capital Society.

The university has 1752 teachers. Those with doctorates or master’s degrees account for 91% of the total, and those with doctorates account for 71%. There are 475 professors and 696 associate professors. Its faculty includes 5 jointly appointed academicians; 4 nationally recognized young and middle-aged experts with outstanding contributions; 3 leading philosophy and social science talents and 1 leading science and technology innovation talent under the national Ten Thousand Talents Program; 13 participants in the Changjiang Scholars Program; 6 national Hundred, Thousand and Ten Thousand Talents Project participants; 3 recipients of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars; 2 national distinguished teachers; 2 outstanding young talents under the national Ten Thousand Talents Program; 3 recipients of the National Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholars; 7 participants in national or provincial Four Batches programs in publicity and culture; 40 participants in the Program for New Century Excellent Talents; and 1 Shaanxi Sanqin Scholar. Another 44 have been selected for programs including Shaanxi experts with outstanding contributions, Shaanxi’s Three-Five Talents program, top talent in key provincial fields, Shaanxi young and middle-aged leaders in science and technology innovation, and provincial distinguished teachers. Another 35 have been selected for programs including Shaanxi Science and Technology Rising Stars, the Young Humanities and Social Sciences Talent Support Program for Shaanxi Universities, and the Shaanxi Hundred Young Writers and Artists Support Program.

The university has 17502 full-time undergraduates, 17343 postgraduate students comprising 8341 full-time and 9002 part-time students, 66034 continuing and online education students, and more than 1100 international students. It has long treated quality as its lifeline and achieved substantial results through teaching management and reform. In recent years, it has received 8 national and 100 provincial teaching achievement awards. Eleven programs have been designated national distinctive programs and 22 provincial distinctive programs; 11 have become provincial comprehensive reform pilot programs; and 18 have been designated provincial first-class program development projects, comprising 9 development programs and 9 programs under cultivation. It has 2 national and 18 provincial experimental zones for innovative talent development models. Two projects covering 10 programs have been approved under the Ministry of Education’s Excellent Teacher Training Reform Program. Nine courses have been designated national quality courses and 47 provincial quality courses; 8 national quality open video courses and 8 national quality resource-sharing courses for teacher education; 5 national and 42 provincial quality resource-sharing courses; 1 national quality open online course; and 3 national and 3 provincial bilingual demonstration courses.

The university actively pursues a strategy of strengthening the institution through research, and its research capabilities continue to improve. Over the past 5 years, its humanities and social science researchers have undertaken 1105 projects at provincial or ministerial level or above, including 237 National Social Science Fund projects and 152 Ministry of Education projects, ranking among the leaders for 3 consecutive years. They published 737 books and 6340 academic papers, with 119 achievements receiving awards at provincial or ministerial level or above. In natural sciences, it secured 1168 government-funded research projects, including 3 key National Natural Science Foundation projects, 2 national major research instrument development projects, 1 project under the special fund for basic scientific instrument research, 1 continuation project of the Joint Research Fund for Overseas Chinese Scholars and Scholars in Hong Kong and Macao, and 3 Excellent Young Scientists Fund projects; 2 Ministry of Science and Technology National Science and Technology Support Program projects; and 1 major centrally funded Ministry of Education technology achievement commercialization project. Researchers published or contributed to 166 academic books, including 72 monographs, and published 8589 academic papers. Fifty-eight achievements received provincial or ministerial science and technology awards. A total of 806 patents were granted, including 642 invention patents and 2 foreign invention patents.

The university is a National Cultural Quality Education Base for University Students, a National Demonstration School for Standard Chinese Language Use, a National Ethnic Preparatory Education Base for Universities, a Ministry of Education Basic Reinforcement Training Base for High-Level Ethnic Minority Backbone Master’s Students, a Ministry of Education University Counselor Training and Study Base, and a Shaanxi University Counselor Training and Study Base. It places great emphasis on students’ all-round development and ethnic education, promotes a cultural spirit of virtue and earnest practice, and develops a high-quality campus culture. It has been designated a Model Unit for Ethnic Unity and Progress by the State Council, the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, the State Ethnic Affairs Commission and the People’s Government of Shaanxi Province; was among the first National Advanced Units for Spiritual Civilization Construction recognized by the Central Commission for Guiding Cultural and Ethical Progress; and has been named a National Advanced Collective for University Student Social Practice by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Ministry of Education and the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League for eighteen consecutive years.

The libraries on the two campuses cover 57800 square meters, hold 4.28 million printed books, and provide access to 77 domestic and international electronic resource platforms and 234 databases. The university also has an Education Museum comprising four sections: Chinese Education, Women’s Culture, History and Culture, and Painting and Calligraphy. It edits and publishes academic journals including the Journal of Shaanxi Normal University in philosophy and social sciences and in natural sciences, Contemporary Teacher Education, Journal of Chinese Historical Geography, and China Arts Education. The philosophy and social sciences edition of the Journal of Shaanxi Normal University was among the first selected for the Ministry of Education’s prestigious university philosophy and social science journal initiative and is one of 11 university social science journals receiving key national development support. Its publishing group, established more than thirty years ago, is among university presses with annual sales exceeding RMB 100 million. It is a comprehensive publishing and media enterprise covering books, periodicals, electronic, audio-visual and online publishing, radio and television program production, and educational and cultural services. It has distinctive strengths in humanities scholarship, popular culture, basic education and higher education. More than 600 books have received national, provincial or ministerial major awards, giving it considerable social influence. It edits and publishes 8 specialist secondary-school teaching reference periodicals with over forty years of publishing history, recognized as academic journals by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television; 7 are included among China’s core Chinese-language journals.

The university continues to expand international exchange and cooperation. It has established friendly partnerships with more than 130 universities and educational institutions in over 30 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, South Korea, Japan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Armenia, and in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, undertaking varied exchanges and cooperation. Responding actively to the Belt and Road Initiative, it initiated the Silk Road Teacher Education Alliance, Humanities and Social Sciences Alliance, and Books, Archives and Publishing Alliance. It began recruiting international students in 1965 and has educated more than 5600 students of various types from 103 countries worldwide. It hosts a Chinese Language Education Base of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council and a Hanban HSK Chinese Proficiency Test Center. As a Chinese partner institution, it has established 2 Confucius Institutes in the United States.

The university has an affiliated secondary school, primary school and kindergarten serving teaching and experimental purposes. The secondary school is a century-old renowned school, a Shaanxi key secondary school and one of the province’s first demonstration high schools. The primary school and kindergarten are provincial demonstration institutions. In recent years, drawing on its educational resources, it has jointly operated more than 10 primary and secondary schools and kindergartens with enterprises, including Jinyuan International School, Xi’an Qujiang No. 1 High School, Olympic Garden School, Greenland Chanba Primary School and Vanke Primary School.

The university was among the first in China to introduce socialized campus service reform. It developed an approach known as the “Shaanxi Normal University model,” and its use of information technology in campus services has also had broad national influence.

Shaanxi Normal University is taking the deepening of comprehensive educational reform as an opportunity to advance Double First-Class development and improve educational and teaching quality, research standards, social service capacity and internationalization. It is working toward becoming a comprehensive research university whose main distinctive strength is teacher education.

(The above data are as of March 2018.)