A key institution of higher learning in Fujian with a century-old history and a glorious tradition, Fujian Normal University (FNU) has been hailed as the province’s “cradle of teachers.”
Consistent with its preeminent status as a major university in Southeastern China, FNU’s development has been a priority for the government since the early days of New China. Over the past decade or so, it has received on its campus many a national leader, including Li Ruihuan, Li Nanqing, Jia Qinglin, Zhou Guangzhao, Qian Weichang, and Luo Haocai. Virtually all the top leaders of the province have paid regular visits to the University to show their support for its work. The frequent visits by these dignitaries are indicative of the extent to which the leadership has been attaching importance to the University.
Located in Fuzhou, the capital city of Fujian province, the headquarters of FNU is made up of two campuses, the Qishan Campus and the Cangshan Campus, with a total land area of about 230 hectares. Right now, the University consists of 28 colleges, which together offer 56 undergraduate programs, over 120 master programs (including those conferring professional degrees in pedagogy, public administration, physical culture and arts), about 50 doctoral programs and 7 post-doctoral research centers.
These programs cover subject areas in literature, history, philosophy, physics, engineering, pedagogy, economics, law, business management, agriculture, etc.. A balanced and coordinated development of this wide spectrum of disciplines has given FNU a distinct identity as a multi-disciplinal comprehensive university. And by conferring a whole range of academic degrees, from bachelors to doctorates, these programs also enable FNU to set up a full-fledged educational system within its institutional framework.
FNU attaches the greatest importance to recruiting talented researchers and distinguished scholars for its teaching staff. Maintaining a high-quality, properly tiered, and professionally dedicated faculty has been its top priority. Right now, it has a 2,600-strong teaching and auxiliary staff.
Its faculty counts more than 700 full and associate professors, among whom two have been elected members of the Eurasian Academy of Sciences, seven have received the honorific title of “Young and Middle-aged Experts with Distinguished Services,” two are members of the subject-specific advisory groups under the State Council Commission for Regulating Academic Degrees, six are “Professors Extraordinaire” or “Minjiang Scholars”, one has been honored as “China’s Distinguished Teacher”, six as “Fujian’s Distinguished Teachers,” and 22 as “Fujian’s Distinguished Experts”, to mention just a small fraction of the countless honors and recognitions won by FNU scholars.
The school publishes a long list of scholarly journals, including The Journal of Fujian Normal University (the humanities and social sciences edition), The Journal of Fujian Normal University (the natural sciences edition).
The Journal of Subtropical Resources and Environment, and Foreign Languages and Literature. These periodicals have been circulated widely and received well. Both editions of the FNU Journal are designated as “core periodicals published in Chinese,” and the humanities and social sciences edition in particular has been listed as one of China’s top-ranking journals in social sciences and widely indexed.
Offering the students a superb education has always been FNU’s central concern, a cornerstone of its fine tradition and one of its unique characteristics. The school’s commitment to a quality education has remained firm throughout the years, undiminished and uncompromised even by its phenomenal expansion in recent decades. Its students have been distinguishing themselves internationally and nationally, winning prizes after prizes over the past couple of years in tough competitions over photography, programming, English, math modeling etc..
Among the three hundred thousand-odd graduates from its various academic programs are over 60% of the principals, master teachers and key members of the teaching staff of Fujian’s high schools, a substantial number of professors, scholars and researchers working in colleges and research institutes throughout the province, as well as an equally impressive number of government officials at different levels and corporate executives in business enterprises of various sizes.
Currently, China is making every effort to turn itself into a harmonious and innovative socialist society. The implementation of this strategic initiative has provided FNU with yet another historic opportunity for growth. Guided by Deng Xiaoping’s theory, the thought of “the three represents,” and the concept of “scientific development,” FNU has brought the latest five-year plan for its own development in line with the national and the regional socio-economic agenda.
Innovative work is being done in all its educational, scholarly and research endeavors. More high-end professionals and technicians are being trained on its campuses. The University is functioning as the key supplier of competent personnel for Fujian’s ambitious project to build up a prosperous economic zone on the west coast of the Taiwan Strait, as the wellspring of new ideas for tackling major social and economic problems confronting the country and the province, and as a center for scientific, technological and cultural exchanges with the outside world. And it is making great strides toward its goal of becoming a high-quality comprehensive university with unique characteristics and a cosmopolitan scope of vision.