Yunnan Agricultural University

Yunnan Agricultural University originated in 1938 as the School of Agriculture of National Yunnan University. It became the independent Kunming Agriculture and Forestry College in 1958 and merged with Yunnan Agricultural Labor University in 1971 to form Yunnan Agricultural University. It gained master’s degree awarding authority in 1983, became a Yunnan provincial key university in 1993, gained doctoral degree awarding authority in 2003 and established a postdoctoral research station in 2007. Since 2009, responding to Yunnan’s regional economic and social needs, it has established Yunnan Rural Cadres College, Yunnan Food Safety Management College and the Yunnan Institute for Plateau Characteristic Agricultural Industries. In 2013, the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Science and Technology approved its New Rural Development Institute.

The university covers 3803 mu, with 624000 square meters of buildings. It has 1848 serving faculty and staff, including 1 academician and more than 700 teachers with senior professional titles; 22536 full-time students and 8412 adult education students; and 22 schools. It has exchange and cooperation relationships with 75 institutions in 23 countries and became a host institution for Chinese Government Scholarship international students in 2014.

It has 5 national teaching, research and social service platforms, including the National Engineering Research Center for Applied Agricultural Biodiversity Technology, the National Basic Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center for Agricultural Programs, the State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resources in Yunnan jointly supported by the province and ministry, and a China-ASEAN Education and Training Center. Its 50 ministerial or provincial research platforms include the Yunnan branch of the National Agricultural and Rural Big Data Center and the National-Local Joint Engineering Research Center for Germplasm Innovation and Utilization of Southwestern Chinese Medicinal Materials. It has 227 off-campus practical teaching bases, 25 provincial or ministerial key disciplines, 1 postdoctoral research station, doctoral degrees in 3 first-level and 10 second-level disciplines, master’s degrees in 12 first-level and 58 second-level disciplines, and 72 undergraduate programs. It has 12 national or provincial teaching teams and 31 national or provincial distinguished teachers, has received 46 national or provincial teaching achievement awards, and has 252 approved national or provincial Quality Engineering projects. Its resources include 2 national comprehensive program reform pilots, 2 national Excellent Engineer Education and Training Program programs, 2 national Excellent Agriculture and Forestry Talent Education and Training projects, 4 national off-campus practice education bases for university students, 2 national quality resource-sharing courses, 1 national quality open video course, 2 Yunnan regional high-level university innovative talent training base projects, and 80 lead-edited textbooks under 12th Five-Year Plans at various levels.

It has undertaken more than 3100 projects, including those of the UN Global Environment Facility, the European Union, national Project 973, Project 863, the Science and Technology Support Program and key national foundation projects. It has received more than 370 awards, including a first prize for scientific research from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), an Outstanding Scientific Award from the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), a second prize in the State Technological Invention Awards, a Ho Leung Ho Lee Science and Technology Progress Award and a special prize in the Yunnan Science and Technology Progress Awards.

A research paper by Academician Zhu Youyong’s team was published in full as a Nature cover article. Its optimized crop diversity planting technology and pollution-free ultra-high-yield winter potato technology were selected by the provincial Party committee and government for major research achievement promotion and have been applied on more than 200 million mu. Professor Li Zhengyou’s team was the first in China to establish the three-line hybrid japonica rice system, received a National Science Conference Award and set a world hybrid japonica rice yield record of 1108.55 kilograms. Professor Zeng Yangzhi’s team spent 35 years studying the Xishuangbanna miniature pig inbred line, breeding 28 generations and reaching internationally leading standards. Professor Sheng Jun’s team focuses on developing and utilizing Yunnan’s distinctive biological resources and provides important technical support for upgrading its plateau agriculture through agricultural big data and health foods such as Pu’er tea. Professor Wei Hongjiang’s team successfully cooperated with US scientists to clone the world’s first pigs with endogenous retrovirus activity inactivated, achieving several breakthroughs in xenotransplantation research and publishing in the authoritative international journal Science.

For nearly 80 years, the university has devoted itself to agriculture and the border region. Responding to Yunnan’s biological and ethnic cultural diversity, major national and local economic and social needs, and the needs of modern plateau agriculture, it follows an educational philosophy centered on people, quality, talent, research and distinctive strengths. Its character combines cultivating upright, skilled people from border-region ethnic communities with sincere agricultural learning and practice that brings biological resource advantages into play. It has educated more than 100000 professionals, represented by Academician Zhu Youyong, with scientific commitment, attachment to the land and concern for farmers, providing strong intellectual and talent support for national and regional development. In recent years, it has advanced comprehensive reform, substantive development and distinctive development, continually improving standards. Honors include selection among the national top 50 universities for exemplary graduate employment experience and top 50 for exemplary innovation and entrepreneurship experience, National Advanced Institution for Employment Work, National Advanced Institution for Spiritual Civilization Construction, and a National University Campus Culture Development Outstanding Achievement Award.