Guizhou University

Guizhou University was founded in 1902 and evolved through periods as Guizhou University Hall, Provincial Guizhou University, National Guizhou College of Agriculture and Engineering, and National Guizhou University before taking its present name in October 1950. In November 1951, Chairman Mao Zedong personally inscribed its name. It merged with Guizhou Agricultural College and other institutions in August 1997 and with Guizhou University of Technology in August 2004. Through more than 120 years, it has become a national Project 211 and Double First-Class university, jointly developed by the Ministry of Education and the People’s Government of Guizhou Province. In 2021, the Guizhou Provincial Government Work Report first explicitly called for strengthening Guizhou University. In November that year, the provincial education department and 10 other departments jointly issued an implementation plan, proposing a comprehensive high-level university that is first-class nationally and internationally known, meeting the requirements of Chinese characteristics, world standards and Guizhou’s needs. In 2023, the provincial Party committee and government decided to concentrate efforts on strengthening the university to lead high-quality higher education development in Guizhou. It is also among the first National Demonstration Universities for Party-Building Work and first National Civilized Campuses, and a pilot institution for the Ministry of Education’s comprehensive reform of education by all staff, throughout the process and across all aspects.

It covers 4645.83 mu, with an additional 1181.26-mu teaching and experimental farm. The library holds more than 4.07 million printed and 3.08 million electronic volumes. Its full range of disciplines covers 13 categories: literature, history, philosophy, science, engineering, agriculture, medicine, economics, management, law, education, the arts and interdisciplinary studies. It has 38 schools, more than 34000 full-time undergraduates and 17636 postgraduate students. It has 4161 serving staff, including 2803 full-time teachers, 63.22% of whom hold doctorates.

It has 1 discipline under world-class development, 1 national key discipline, 2 disciplinary clusters serving distinctive local industries at universities jointly developed by the ministry and province, 11 domestic first-class development disciplines and 10 regional first-class development disciplines. One discipline ranks in the global ESI top 1 per thousand and 13 in the top 1%. It has 84 first-class programs under the Double Ten Thousand Plan, including 52 national programs; doctoral degrees in 22 first-level disciplines and 4 professional categories; and master’s degrees in 50 first-level disciplines and 28 professional categories.

Its talent includes 7 top-level professionals such as academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 70 national leading talents, 34 national young talents, 20 members of Ministry of Education higher education teaching guidance committees, 1 convener of a State Council discipline evaluation group and 3 members of the Ministry of Education’s Science and Technology Committee. Ninety-five experts are linked with the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee, including 19 priority-linked experts. One researcher has appeared on the global Highly Cited Researchers list for 6 consecutive years, and 5 are on Elsevier’s Highly Cited Chinese Researchers list.

It has 1 national key laboratory, 1 national Belt and Road joint laboratory, 34 research platforms at ministerial level or above, 97 provincial research platforms and 10 postdoctoral research stations. It has 3 national Huang Danian-style university teacher teams, 1 National Model Teacher, 1 National Advanced Collective in the Education System and 1 National Outstanding Teacher; 44 national teaching platforms and 2 national teaching teams; 2 distinguished teachers and 2 teaching teams for Ministry of Education model courses integrating ideological and political education, and 1 national university studio for distinguished ideological and political course teachers; 11 provincial teaching teams and 93 provincial distinguished teachers; 14 provincial model course teaching teams and 14 distinguished teachers for integrating ideological and political education, and 2 Guizhou university studios for distinguished ideological and political course teachers.

Focused on Guizhou’s main strategy of pursuing the Four Modernizations through the Four New priorities and its positioning as Four Zones and One Highland, the university draws on distinctive disciplines and talent, concentrates on six major industrial clusters and advances refined development of rich mineral resources. It is committed to applying research on Guizhou’s land and contributing to high-quality provincial development. Its innovation team for green pesticides and environmentally friendly pest control was named a National Advanced Collective in Poverty Alleviation. Its School of Agriculture received National Advanced Primary-Level Party Organization and National Advanced Collective in the Education System honors, while individuals received national honors such as National Model Teacher and National March 8th Red-Banner Pacesetter. Its poverty alleviation and rural revitalization work has been selected for the Ministry of Education’s exemplary targeted assistance projects at provincial universities for 7 consecutive years.

It has paired partnerships with Zhejiang University, China Agricultural University and East China Normal University. Five high-level universities outside the province–Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Zhejiang University, Central South University and the University of Science and Technology of China–provide group-based discipline development assistance. It has comprehensive agreements with more than 500 enterprises and research organizations, including Moutai Group, Huawei, DBN Group, the National Astronomical Observatories, Guizhou Phosphate Chemical Group, China Tobacco’s Guizhou branch and Guiyang Agricultural Investment Group, covering talent development, research and commercialization. It implements Guizhou’s Science and Technology Talent Support Plan for Three Regions, Science and Technology Commissioner Action, Doctoral Village Heads, and Professors and Doctorate Holders in Enterprises initiatives. These bring high-level professionals to grassroots industrial services. Multidimensional university-locality and university-enterprise cooperation covers all 9 prefecture-level cities or prefectures and 88 counties in Guizhou, improving the level and effectiveness of cooperation.

The university pursues openness and advances international exchanges, with steadily expanding international education and improving quality. It is a Ministry of Education educational foreign assistance base, Ministry of Science and Technology international science and technology cooperation base, and host institution for Chinese Government Scholarship and International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship students. It has established a Chinese teaching center at Presbyterian College in the United States and Confucius Institutes at the University of The Gambia in Africa and the University of Salamanca in Spain. It jointly operates cooperative education institutions and programs with universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Thailand. It has cooperation agreements with 220 universities and research institutions in 47 countries and in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, 2 national Plan 111 overseas expertise introduction bases, and 1 Ministry of Science and Technology national Belt and Road joint laboratory. Nearly one thousand international students from 70 countries study at undergraduate, master’s, doctoral and Chinese-language levels. It also plays active roles in international organizations such as SEAMEO, the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization; AUN, the ASEAN University Network; and EPU, the Eurasia-Pacific academic association. Since 2008, it has hosted, organized or co-organized China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week activities for 19 consecutive years. Its international exchange achievements demonstrate its global influence and high level of internationalization.

Looking ahead, the university upholds its motto of enlightened virtue, the pursuit of goodness, broad learning and action. Taking education and talent development as its foundation, it serves its locality and works toward becoming a comprehensive high-level university with regional characteristics and influence in China and abroad.