Sichuan University

Overview

Sichuan University, in Sichuan, Chengdu, is a public research university directly administered by the Ministry of Education. It was founded in 1896 by the orders of Emperor Guangxu. Originally named the Sichuan Chinese and Western School, it was the first modern tertiary education institution in China. In 1994, the institution merged with Chengdu University of Science and Technology and Sichuan University to become the Sichuan United University. It was renamed Sichuan University in 1998 and two years later, absorbed the West China University of Medical Sciences.

The university is a comprehensive institution comprising 34 colleges. These offer 138 undergraduate programs, 438 master’s programs, 32 professional master’s programs, 354 doctoral programs, and 37 postdoctoral research stations. The categories of study these cover are history, law, philosophy, humanities, medicine, science, and engineering, management, economy, agriculture, art, and education. Among the courses, 46 are national key disciplines and four are national key cultivated disciplines.

Sichuan University has a strong research culture. Its researchers conducted their projects in nationally accredited laboratories and engineering centers, state-level international cooperation bases, key laboratories, and key research centers. The institution has been receiving nearly 2 billion Chinese yuan in funding annually since 2016. Numerous scientific papers authored or co-authored by researchers from the university are indexed by SCI. Additionally, experts in social sciences and humanities have been involved in published works such as a Chinese dictionary, a collection of works from the Song Dynasty, and Ru Zang or a collection of Confucianism works.

The scientific papers produced by the faculty and researchers of the university are easily accessible from the four libraries of the institution, together with 6.65 million volumes. Students can also access a collection of English publications and medical literature. Other facilities in the university include a museum that houses over 85,000 cultural artifacts and more than 870,000 specimens of flora and fauna. There are beyond 280,000 volumes of historical archives, too, 9,000 of which are valuable due to their nature and age. Moreover, students can take care of their physical fitness at gymnasiums around campus that have complete equipment.

Its dedication to teaching and research has allowed Sichuan University to produce renowned personalities, including Gu Jiegang who wrote the seven-volume Debates on Ancient History, Li Jieren who authored The Great River Trilogy, Wu Dayou who is considered the Father of Chinese Physics, and Jiang Zhujun or Jiang Zhuyun, a Communist revolutionary executed by the opposing party.