Anhui Agricultural University

Anhui Agricultural University is located in Hefei, Anhui’s capital. With a long history and rich heritage, it is one of the province’s earliest higher education institutions. It is jointly supported by the provincial government, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and National Forestry and Grassland Administration, and is an Anhui high-level university with local characteristics and an institution under cultivation for Double First-Class status.

It originated as Provincial Anhui University, founded in Anqing, then the provincial capital, in 1928. It was renamed National Anhui University in 1946, moved in full to Wuhu in 1949 and became Anhui University. In 1954, Anhui University was divided into Anhui Teachers College and Anhui Agricultural College. The independent agricultural college moved from Wuhu to Hefei and was renamed Anhui Agricultural University in 1995.

Over nearly a century, the university has upheld its traditions and revolutionary heritage, developing a spirit of dedication, innovation and striving; the motto “Down to Earth”; an institutional ethos of unity, diligence, truth-seeking and innovation; a teaching ethos of respectful instruction, diligence and advancing knowledge; and a learning ethos of broad learning, prompt action and effective expression. It has educated more than 400000 agricultural pioneers and outstanding members of society, including over 220000 undergraduate and postgraduate graduates in regular higher education.

It has 20 schools or departments and 29928 regular full-time students, including 220 international students and 7204 master’s and doctoral students. Its 2365 serving faculty and staff include 1485 full-time teachers, 62.3% of whom have associate senior or higher titles. It has 53 national-level talents and 281 provincial talent selections.

One discipline ranks in the global ESI top 1 per thousand and 6 in the top 1%. It has 1 national key discipline under cultivation, 19 provincial or ministerial key disciplines, 1 Anhui Double First-Class discipline under cultivation, 4 Anhui peak disciplines and 4 peak disciplines under cultivation. It has 7 first-level postdoctoral research stations, doctoral degrees in 11 first-level disciplines, master’s degrees in 27 first-level and 1 second-level discipline, and 19 professional master’s categories. Its 58 undergraduate admission programs include 17 national and 17 provincial first-class undergraduate program development sites, 5 national distinctive programs and 2 national comprehensive program reform pilots. It has 2 national teaching teams and 25 national first-class courses. In recent years, projects it led have received 4 second prizes in the National Teaching Achievement Awards.

The university emphasizes organized research and has 100 national, provincial or ministerial research platforms, including the National Key Laboratory of Tea Plant Germplasm Innovation and Resource Utilization and the National-Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Crop Stress-Resistance Breeding and Disaster Reduction. It has 1 Ministry of Education innovation team and 11 provincial 115 industrial innovation teams. Since the 14th Five-Year Plan, projects it led have received 1 second prize in the National Science and Technology Progress Awards, 1 first prize in the National Harvest Awards for Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, 1 Anhui Major Science and Technology Achievement Award, 5 first prizes in the Anhui Science and Technology Progress Awards and 34 other provincial or ministerial awards. It has secured 483 National Key Research and Development Program and national foundation projects as lead institution, including 110 National Natural Science Foundation projects in 2025 and 24 Ministry of Education humanities and social science projects. As first institution, it has published more than 1200 Chinese Academy of Sciences Quartile 1 papers, including 15 in journals affiliated with Cell, Nature and Science; developed 35 national and 79 provincial new varieties; led 2 international standards; and produced 46 policy advisory reports receiving affirmative instructions from provincial or ministerial leaders.

Committed to strengthening agriculture and serving the nation, the university extends its Dabie Mountains path of educational and institutional development, prosperity through agriculture and university-locality collaboration. It supports transformation and upgrading of leading distinctive agricultural industries in at least 60% of Anhui’s counties. It hosts the secretariat of the 1+5 Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Alliance, established by the provincial government with the national team for agricultural science and technology innovation, and is developing the Anhui Jianghuai Granary Research Institute to a high standard. It proposed and implements the Modern Young Farmer Training Plan. It has developed a university-county cooperation mechanism of one station, one alliance and one center, a new agricultural technology extension service model integrating four entities, and an industrial assistance model in which the university supports industries, industries bring enterprises together, enterprises connect major producers, and major producers help farming households.

The university pursues openness and close relationships with local governments, leading universities, institutes and enterprises. With local partners, it has established 8 comprehensive experimental stations, 32 specialist experimental stations, research centers or institutes, and 199 Science and Technology Backyards. It leads a rural revitalization enterprise strategic alliance of 283 leading companies and a provincial rural development university alliance of 58 institutions, and leads initiatives linking one hundred universities with one hundred counties to revitalize one thousand villages and a major survey spanning one hundred universities, one thousand towns and ten thousand villages. It implements an internationalization strategy and has stable partnerships with universities and research institutes in more than 30 countries and regions. It is approved as a host institution for Chinese Government Scholarship international students, a national demonstration international science and technology cooperation base, and a Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs teaching base for international agricultural training.

The university maintains a socialist educational direction, strengthens the Party’s comprehensive leadership and implements a program to shape a new generation for the era. It is a provincial demonstration university for Party-building work, with 1 national benchmark school or department, 5 national model Party branches, 1 national studio for teacher Party branch secretaries who lead both Party-building and academic work, and 3 national Strengthening the Nation special action teams for such secretaries. It is among Anhui’s first comprehensive reform pilot universities for education by all staff, throughout the process and across all aspects, and among its first universities developing integrated smart ideological and political platforms for teaching, administration and services. One collective has received National Advanced Collective in the Education System recognition, and its case was selected as an excellent example in the Ministry of Education’s one-stop student community showcase. Signature campus activities include the Shennong Lecture Hall and Farming, Science and Innovation Cultural Festival.

Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the university is studying and implementing the spirit of the Party’s 20th National Congress and successive plenary sessions of the 20th Central Committee, Xi Jinping’s important statements on education and agriculture, rural areas and farmers, and his important speeches during visits to Anhui. It implements provincial Party committee and government requirements for the 1+5 agricultural innovation alliance and Jianghuai Granary Research Institute, pursues excellence through grounded work, and accelerates development into a distinctive high-level university integrating agriculture, industry and commerce, contributing more to a beautiful Anhui through Chinese modernization. (Data as of October 2025.)