Wuhan University is a key university under the direct administration of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. Wuhan University dates back to Ziqiang Institute, which was founded in 1893 by Zhang Zhidong, governor of Hubei and Hunan Provinces in late Qing Dynasty after the Qing Government approved his memorial to the throne. Later, its name changed for several times before it was finally named National Wuhan University in July 1928. By the end of 1946, the university had six colleges. During its 111 years history, Wuhan University has gradually formed a glorious innovative tradition and is now enjoying a very high academic prestige.
The university now has 47,000 students, including 30,000 undergraduates and 17,000 graduates. The teaching staff consists of more than 3,400 teachers, including 2,100 or so professors and associate professors, 814 doctor supervisors, 4 academicians of Chinese Academy of sciences, 7 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 2 academicians of the international Eurasian Academy of Sciences and several well-known senior scholars of arts and social sciences.
During the last ten years the university has established relations of academic cooperation and exchanges with over 300 universities, colleges and scientific research institutions in more than 60 countries and regions, 200 of which have signed collaboration agreements.
Since the 1950s, Wuhan University has taken a lead in enrolling international students in China. Ever since then, the university has recruited and trained several thousand foreign students coming from more than 50 different countries and regions worldwide. All students have received systematic training and a substantial part of them have earned Bachelor’s, Master’s or Doctoral Degree. At present there are over 1800 long-term international students at Wuhan University, and half of them are actively pursuing degrees.
The college, with abundant teaching resources and quality teaching and scientific research strength, has 25 teachers giving Chinese language courses to foreigners. Among them, 15 are professors or associate professors, 4 are the members of the World Chinese Language Society for Foreigners, and 23 are the members of China Chinese Language Society for Foreigners.
Wuhan University accepts international students into its Bachelor, Master, Doctoral programs as well as other advanced programs in liberal arts, sciences, and medicine. The university also provides a special Bachelor of Arts program called the Chinese Language for International Students and there have been seven groups of graduates from the program. Besides all levels of Chinese language teaching, the university provides courses such as Chinese literature, Chinese history, Chinese economy, Chinese philosophy and Chinese law for international students. To fulfill their different requirements, these courses will introduce basic knowledge of the society, economy, history and culture of China.
The College of Foreign Students Education (also know as the Foreign Students Education School – FSES) of Wuhan University is a dedicated school for foreign students enrollment, administration and management, as well as the Chinese language teaching and training. It is also one of the few centers for HSK examination and for the qualification examination for the teachers teaching Chinese language to foreigners in China.