Shenyang Ligong University

I. History

Shenyang Ligong University was founded in 1948 as the first undergraduate defense industry institution established by the Chinese armed forces in northeastern China to train urgently needed ordnance specialists for the new republic. It is one of the republic’s “Seven Ordnance Universities.” Formerly named Northeast Military Industry Specialized School and Shenyang Institute of Technology, among other names, it was successively administered by the People’s Liberation Army’s Northeast Military Industry Department, Central Ordnance Administration, Ministry of Ordnance Industry, State Machinery Industry Commission, Ministry of Machinery and Electronics Industry and China North Industries Corporation. It came under Liaoning provincial administration in 1999 and adopted its current name in 2004.

II. Overview

The university is located on the scenic southern bank of the Hun River in Shenyang, Liaoning’s capital, and covers 1.13 million square meters. It is jointly developed by the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense and Liaoning Province, and by Liaoning with China North Industries Group Corporation Limited and China South Industries Group Corporation Limited. It is a Ministry of Education Excellent Engineer Education and Training Program pilot university, a host institution for Chinese Government Scholarship students and a school distinguished by national defense education. It was among the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s first development institutions for “Digital Intelligence—University-Enterprise Collaborative Demonstration Bases for Employment, Entrepreneurship and Innovation.” Throughout 77 years, it has remembered the mission of higher education and trained many high-quality defense science and technology professionals. Graduates with ideals, responsibility, technical expertise and innovative abilities work in defense companies, ordnance research institutions, active military units and other sectors. Many have become pillars of the defense industry and society, contributing to national rejuvenation and prosperity, defense modernization, economic development and social progress.

III. Faculty

The university has 1671 faculty and staff and a high-level faculty with a balanced age structure, led by jointly appointed academicians, centered on national high-level talent and supported by outstanding provincial talent. It has 1161 full-time teachers, including 634 with senior titles, and 671 doctoral and master’s supervisors. Its personnel have received 14 instances of national recognition, including the Hundred, Thousand and Ten Thousand Talents Project and Ministry of Education New Century Excellent Talent Program, and 152 provincial selections such as leading talent, outstanding experts and the Xingliao Talent Program. It has 18 provincial university Huang Danian-style teaching teams, teaching teams and research teams, and 24 industry experts, including deputy chairs of Ministry of Education teaching advisory committees and members of specialist committees of the China Ordnance Society.

IV. Disciplines

It is a multidisciplinary university centered on engineering, combining science, economics, management, literature, law and arts. It has 22 schools or departments, 49 undergraduate programs admitting students, master’s degree authorizations in 12 first-level and 2 second-level disciplines, 1 independently established interdisciplinary discipline, 1 second-level discipline outside the standard catalog and 7 professional master’s degree categories. It has 1 doctoral talent training project, 1 postdoctoral research station and 1 postdoctoral research workstation. It has 5 national distinctive disciplines; 1 discipline was selected for Liaoning’s new round of “Double First-Class” development; and 1 ranks in the global ESI top 1%.

V. Talent cultivation

The university has over 18400 full-time students of various types, including over 15000 undergraduates and over 3400 doctoral and master’s students. Focusing on fostering virtue and educating people, it explores the training of high-quality applied professionals, updated teaching concepts and teaching methods. It has 5 national first-class undergraduate program development sites, 2 national distinctive program sites, 1 national comprehensive reform pilot and 2 Excellent Engineer Education and Training Program subjects; 19 provincial first-class undergraduate program sites; 11 national and 117 provincial first-class undergraduate courses; and 7 provincial model courses integrating ideological and political education. It has 14 national or provincial practical education bases and engineering practice education centers, 11 provincial experimental teaching demonstration centers, 5 provincial virtual teaching and research offices, and 19 provincial model joint postgraduate training bases and innovation and academic exchange centers. It has 14 outstanding textbooks recognized by Liaoning Province or the ordnance industry and approval for 10 provincial modern industry colleges. Since 2021, incoming undergraduate quality has continued to improve, postgraduate admissions have expanded substantially, and the graduate destination placement rate has remained at least 92%.

VI. Research

Addressing industry and local economic needs, the university strengthens its characteristics and focuses its main research directions. Research capabilities have improved markedly, with major projects worth at least RMB 10 million appearing successively and received research funding rising in stages. Its national platforms include the National Shenyang Sino-Russian Science and Technology Cooperation Base, the National “863 Program” Laboratory for Basic Space Information Security Technology and the Weapons Museum, a National Science Popularization Education Base. It has 26 provincial or ministerial innovation platforms, including Liaoning university major science and technology platforms, key laboratories, technology innovation centers, engineering research centers and technology research centers. It also has 7 municipal key laboratories and 3 municipal proof-of-concept centers, and develops 10 provincial and 4 municipal think tanks. Numerous policy recommendations have received written comments from national leaders and principal provincial leaders, including the Liaoning Party secretary and governor.

VII. Distinctive strengths

The university has a clear national defense identity. It chairs the Liaoning Ordnance Society, is a member of the “B8 Collaborative Innovation Alliance” and the China Association of University-Owned Industries. Its Weapons Museum, the only one in northeastern China, is a national, Liaoning and Shenyang science popularization education base; a Liaoning open base for comprehensive reform in all-person, whole-process and all-round education; a Liaoning defense education base; a Liaoning patriotic education demonstration base; a Liaoning national security publicity, education and training base; and a Shenyang patriotic education base.

VIII. External exchanges

The university builds on its cooperation with Russia and strengthens exchanges with Belt and Road countries. It has stable partnerships with universities and research institutions in Russia, Belarus, Poland, the United Kingdom, United States, France, Germany, Finland, Canada, Malaysia and other countries. It was among the first institutions nationally, and the first in Liaoning, to pass quality accreditation for international student education in China. It has trained over 8000 international students from Russian-speaking countries. Joint programs with renowned Russian universities have produced over 700 graduates. It has a Ministry of Education-approved Sino-foreign cooperative institution without independent legal-person status, the Shenyang Ligong University-Tomsk Polytechnic University International School of Engineering, which recruits nearly 300 students annually to 4 programs, including mechanical design, manufacturing and automation. Its Confucius Institute with Tomsk State University in Russia has been named a Global Advanced Confucius Institute. The National Shenyang Sino-Russian Science and Technology Cooperation Base and Liaoning Russian Academician and Expert Workstation introduce international expertise for military and civilian institutes and enterprises. They have developed the Shenyang Hunnan Sino-Russian Science and Technology Innovation City, the first science park in the Liaoning-Shenyang region themed around Sino-Russian scientific innovation.

IX. Educational goals

Focusing on fostering virtue and educating people, the university will implement five strategies: “building on distinctive strengths, strengthening through talent, flourishing through openness, governing through culture and consolidating through quality.” It will practice the ordnance spirit of “Patriotism and Dedication, Unceasing Self-Improvement, Truth-Seeking and Pragmatism, and Pursuit of Excellence,” and uphold its motto, “High Aspirations and Diligent Learning, Both Virtue and Ability.” It will deepen educational reform, strengthen substantive development and improve educational quality, working tirelessly to become a high-level applied university with distinctive strengths.

(Data as of October 2025)