Jiangsu Normal University

Jiangsu Normal University is located in Xuzhou, a renowned historical and cultural city praised for its Chu and Han heritage and a combination of southern elegance and northern grandeur. It is jointly developed by the Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government and Ministry of Education and participates in Jiangsu’s High-Level University Development initiative. Its predecessor was an accelerated cultural secondary school for demobilized cadres of the Southern Jiangsu Military Region, established in Wuxi in 1952. Lieutenant General Liu Xiansheng, distinguished for his military service, was its first president. It formally entered the regular higher education admissions system in 1956 and became Jiangsu Teachers College in 1957. To support northern Jiangsu’s development, it moved north to Xuzhou in 1958. In 1959, it merged with Xuzhou Teachers College, formerly Yunhe Teachers College, to form Xuzhou Teachers Institute. During the nationwide university restructuring in the early 1960s, Premier Zhou Enlai instructed that “Xuzhou has a vast territory and needs a university,” allowing it to remain. It subsequently took root in northern Jiangsu and developed through hard work. It began admitting master’s students in 1979 and became one of China’s first master’s degree-awarding institutions in 1981. In 1989, Xuzhou Teachers College, formerly Xuzhou Teachers’ Continuing Education Institute, was incorporated. It became Xuzhou Normal University in 1996, incorporated Xuzhou Industrial School formerly under the Ministry of Coal Industry in 1999, and adopted its current name in 2011. It received approval for a doctoral talent training project serving special national needs in 2012 and doctoral degree authorization in 2024. It was in the third group of National Civilized Units, received the first National Civilized Campus honor and retained it in a subsequent round, and has been commended ten consecutive times by the provincial Party committee and government as a Jiangsu Civilized Unit.

Over more than seventy years, distinguished educators have included Professor Liao Xudong, a renowned Chinese linguist; Professor Wu Benxing, a poet and scholar of modern Chinese literature; Professor Wang Jinshan, a dramatist and historian of ancient Chinese literature; Professor Wu Ruyu, an ancient Chinese literature scholar; Professor Liu Baichuan, an educator; Professor Zhang Huanting, a psychologist; Professor Zang Yunpu, a historian; and Professor Luo Qixiang, a geographer. With “teacher ethics as their soul, scholarship as their foundation and education as their purpose,” these great teachers nourished students through profound learning and inspired later generations with noble character. They became models for teachers and students in practicing the teacher’s calling and cultivating commitment to family and country. In the new era, the university continues this tradition, combining recruitment and development of talent. Many renowned experts and scholars work here, pursue scholarship and mentor younger colleagues, forming a high-level faculty combining generations and complementary full-time and part-time members. Across more than half a century, it has advanced with the times and with national education. Generations have passed on its traditions, guided by its motto, “Honor Virtue and Deep Learning, Strengthen Aspiration and Act Promptly,” contributing to the journey toward a strong education nation.

It has four campuses—Quanshan, Yunlong, Kuiyuan and Jiawang—20 specialized schools or departments, Jingwen College, a School of Continuing Education, an International College and the first Ministry of Education-approved Sino-Russian cooperative institution without independent legal-person status, the Joint Engineering School of Jiangsu Normal University and Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University. It also has an independent college, Kewen College. It admits students to 66 undergraduate programs and has 2 first-level doctoral authorizations, Chinese language and literature and mathematics, 31 first-level master’s authorizations, 20 professional master’s categories and 1 postdoctoral research station, across 11 disciplinary categories. It may award master’s degrees to applicants with equivalent academic qualifications and recommend students for examination-exempt master’s admission. It has 1896 full-time teachers, including 1032 with senior titles. Among full-time teachers, 66.6% hold doctorates and 36.1% have overseas study or training experience. It has over 25300 regular full-time undergraduates, over 7700 doctoral and master’s students and over 900 international students. Since its founding, it has supplied society with over 350000 graduates, with outstanding alumni active in politics, economics, culture, science, technology and education in China and overseas.

In 2021, it received approval for a High-Quality Normal University project under the 14th Five-Year Education Powerhouse Promotion Program. In 2022, it was selected as an assisting institution under the Ministry of Education’s Collaborative Teacher Education Quality Improvement Plan. It has received 11 National Teaching Achievement Awards, 73 Jiangsu Teaching Achievement Awards, 1 National Postgraduate Education Achievement Award and 22 postgraduate education or teaching achievement awards from teaching advisory committees. Eleven outstanding teaching resources have been included in the national Smart Higher Education Platform. It has 24 national first-class undergraduate program development sites, 4 national distinctive programs and 16 provincial first-class undergraduate sites; 4 national, ministerial or provincial teaching teams and 5 provincial university outstanding teaching teams; 34 national first-class undergraduate courses, 6 national quality resource-sharing courses and 1 national model course integrating ideological and political education. It has 8 national quality or planned textbooks, 2 second prizes in the National Outstanding Textbook Awards for basic education and 1 nationally recognized advanced individual in textbook development. It has 1 Ministry of Education virtual laboratory, 3 first-round New Liberal Arts research and reform practice projects, 1 high-level talent training project in the ministry’s second round of New Engineering research and practice projects, and 1 Ministry of Education virtual teaching and research office for linguistics courses. It undertakes 1 national off-campus practical education base development project and 1 Ministry of Education Excellent Teacher Training Reform project. It has 2 national experimental teaching demonstration centers, 1 national virtual simulation experimental teaching center, 2 national virtual simulation teaching projects and 1 national virtual simulation “gold course.” The Ministry of Education and State Language Commission designated it among the first National Language Commission Language Application Training Bases and the country’s only training institution in the field of education through reciting classics. It is a National Model School for Standardized Language and Writing and a National Language and Writing Promotion Base.

Ten disciplines appear in the 2025 ShanghaiRanking Best Chinese Subjects Ranking, with Chinese language and literature in the top 12%. Nine disciplines—chemistry, engineering, materials science, mathematics, general social sciences, computer science, plant and animal science, agricultural sciences and environment/ecology—rank in the global ESI top 1%. Eight disciplines were selected for the fourth phase of provincial priority discipline development, and 10 are provincial key disciplines under the 14th Five-Year Plan. It has 43 ministerial or provincial research platforms, including a jointly developed provincial-ministerial collaborative innovation center and a National Development and Reform Commission scientific innovation platform. Its Language Science Laboratory was among the first Jiangsu university philosophy and social science laboratories approved. Over the past five years, it obtained 363 national research projects: 160 National Social Science Fund projects, including 7 major, 2 leading-talent and 10 key projects; and 203 National Natural Science Foundation projects, including 1 Distinguished Young Scholars and 2 Excellent Young Scientists projects. It published 22 papers in leading journals such as Science Advances, Nature Communications and PNAS. It received 53 ministerial or provincial research awards, including Ministry of Education Outstanding Scientific Research Achievement Awards for Higher Education Institutions. Forty-eight cases were selected for the National Professional Degree Teaching Case Database, and 4 outputs for the National Library of Philosophy and Social Science Achievements. It has 2 Jiangsu priority think tanks under cultivation and has produced influential work on the Belt and Road and regional economic and social development. Its Handbook of Language Conditions in Belt and Road Countries received an Outstanding Report Award in the first China Think Tank Academic Achievement Awards.

The university promotes government-industry-education-research innovation, strengthens original innovation and integrated research, encourages interdisciplinary integration and serves high-quality national and regional development. It deepens strategic cooperation with local governments and was among the province’s first “dual-high coordination” pilots. Focusing on Jiangsu’s “51010” strategic emerging industry cluster system and Xuzhou’s “535” modern industrial system, it accelerates joint development of key laboratories, collaborative innovation centers and engineering or technology centers with leading enterprises as dual principal partners, undertaking research and commercialization. It has jointly established 66 new R&D institutions and industry-education-research bases with Xuzhou, Lianyungang, Taizhou and other locations. Its Technology Transfer Center is a National Technology Transfer Demonstration Institution. Its university science park has received National University Science Park, National Technology Business Incubator and National University Student Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Internship Base titles. It led the establishment of the Huaihai Economic Zone Alliance for Rural Excellent Teacher Education and received approval for the zone’s first IELTS test center. It became a Jiangsu special training base for demobilized military officers entering universities in 2017 and one of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs’ first national Veterans Affairs Research Bases in 2021.

As one of China’s first universities qualified to admit international students, it has hosted students from 76 countries and regions. It is an entrusted host university for Chinese Government Scholarship students and a target institution under “Study in Jiangsu,” and participates in the Ministry of Education’s exchange program for teachers and students from mainland, Hong Kong and Macao higher education institutions. It led the establishment of the China (Jiangsu)-Latin America University Alliance and Jiangsu-Russia University Cooperation Alliance, joined the University of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and BRICS Universities League, and has friendly partnerships with 161 universities in countries including the United Kingdom, United States, Australia and Russia. It has been recognized as an Advanced Chinese Partner Institution of Confucius Institutes. It established the world’s first overseas Mencius Institute in Malaysia, 7 overseas branches of its Belt and Road Research Institute and 5 overseas preparatory centers for study in China. Its bodies include the Belt and Road Research Institute with a Commonwealth of Independent States Research Center, Pakistan Research Center, Australia Research Center and China-Latin America People-to-People Exchange Research Base; 3 are on the Ministry of Education’s registered country and regional research center list. It jointly develops research platforms with institutions such as Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 and the University of Wisconsin-Madison and runs cooperative education and credit recognition programs with universities in the United States, United Kingdom, Russia and other countries.

Upholding its fundamental task of fostering virtue and educating people, the university links ideological and political education with student development. The State Council named its Party Committee Student Affairs Department a National Model Collective for Ethnic Unity and Progress. Its “Coffee Time: Meet the Professors” educational website was recognized by the Ministry of Education as an outstanding university ideological and political website. The university received titles including the third National Demonstration Unit for University Peer Mental Health Work, National University Student Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Employment Service Base, and National University Graduate Employability Training Base. It has received National May Fourth Red Flag Youth League Committee and Branch honors and National Outstanding Unit in Summer “Three Visits to the Countryside” Cultural, Scientific, Technological and Health Social Practice for University and Secondary Vocational Student Volunteers. It was designated in the ministry’s third group of schools distinguished by defense education. Students have won major honors including gold in China’s “Internet+” Undergraduate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, a special prize in the Challenge Cup National Extracurricular Academic Science and Technology Works Competition, gold in the Challenge Cup Chinese Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Plan Competition or “Creating Youth” competition, China Youth Science and Technology Innovation Awards, Chinese University Student Star of Self-Improvement titles, gold in the China Youth Volunteer Service Project Competition and first prizes in national university arts exhibitions. Postgraduate students have won 39 first prizes in the National Master of Education Subject Teaching Skills Competition and 14 special prizes in Jiangsu’s Master of Education Practical Innovation Competition, and 89 dissertations have been named outstanding master’s theses in Jiangsu. Commissioned by the Ministry of Education, it organizes national university summer volunteer service promoting standard spoken Chinese to support rural revitalization. Its volunteering and social practice have been widely reported by Xinwen Lianbo, People’s Daily and other media. Its innovative training model integrates sport and education for high-level athletes. It has supplied 37 instances of football talent to the Jiangsu Super League, won both the high-level men’s and women’s university football titles in the 2025 Jiangsu Governor’s Cup, and its women’s team placed second in the first national football league for football-major students. It has achieved notable results in promoting high-quality, sufficient graduate employment.

From humble beginnings in Liangxi, the university has persevered through difficulties and maintained its educational tradition, valuing virtue and ability and renewing its ideas. Its community is advancing with determination, focusing on “reform, expansion, transformation and upgrading” and implementing “one integration and dual-high development” to achieve high-quality results. Looking ahead, it will promote its spirit of “upholding sound principles while innovating, firm aspiration and courageous action,” further open its thinking and advance boldly. It will improve new teacher education and coordinate education, science and technology, and talent as an integrated whole, moving toward a distinctive high-level local university and contributing to a strong education nation and province.