Hunan Agricultural University

Hunan Agricultural University (HAU) is a provincial public university in Changsha, Hunan, China, focused on agriculture and jointly built by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Hunan Provincial People's Government.湖南农业大学（HAU）是中国湖南省长沙市的省属公立大学，以农科为特色，由农业农村部与湖南省人民政府共建。

It traces its origin to the Xiuye School founded in Changsha in 1903 and took its present name in February 1994, after more than four decades as Hunan Agricultural College.学校源头可追溯至1903年在长沙创办的修业学堂，在经历四十余年的湖南农学院时期后，于1994年2月更名为湖南农业大学。

Its campus of 2.27 square kilometres in the Donghu area of Furong District lies between the Liuyang River and the Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences.校园位于芙蓉区东湖一带，占地2.27平方公里，南临浏阳河，北接湖南省农业科学院。

History

• On 8 October 1903 the Qing government approved the establishment of the Xiuye School in Changsha by the educator Zhou Zhenlin together with Yu Fantong and Xu Zhi.1903年10月8日，清政府批准教育家周震鳞与俞蕃同、许直等人在长沙创办修业学堂。
• The school was renamed Hunan Private Xiuye Middle School in 1912, when a board of directors that included Zhou Zhenlin, Zhu Jianfan and Xu Teli took over its governance.1912年，学校更名为湖南私立修业中学校，并成立由周震鳞、朱剑凡、徐特立等人组成的校董会。
• An agriculture department opened in 1923, and teachers and students cleared hillside land south of Changsha to plant trees, open fields and run cotton and rice trial plots.1923年学校开设农业部，师生在长沙南郊开垦荒山、造林辟田，设立棉花与水稻试验场。
• The school became Hunan Private Xiuye Agricultural School in 1930 and Hunan Private Xiuye Senior Agricultural Vocational School in 1934.学校于1930年更名为湖南私立修业农业学校，1934年再度更名为湖南私立修业高级农业职业学校。
• After 1949 the Hunan provincial government took the school into public ownership as the Provincial Xiuye Agricultural and Forestry College under the provincial agriculture and forestry department.1949年后，湖南省人民政府将学校收归公有，改设湖南省立修业农林专科学校，由省农林厅接管。
• In January 1951 the College of Agriculture of Hunan University was merged into it to create Hunan Agricultural College, organised in university, junior college and senior agriculture divisions.1951年1月，湖南大学农学院并入该校，成立湖南农学院，下设大学部、专科部与高农部。
• The national reorganisation of July 1952 moved its horticulture, agricultural economics, soil science and plant pathology departments to Huazhong Agricultural College.1952年7月的全国院系调整中，学校的园艺、农业经济、土壤与植物病虫害四系转入华中农学院。
• Its veterinary prevention group went to Jiangxi Agricultural College and its irrigation section to Wuhan University, while the senior agriculture division became Changsha Agricultural School.其兽医科防治组并入江西农学院，农田水利科并入武汉大学，高农部则分出成立湖南省长沙农业学校。
• Hunan Agricultural College bred the sweet potato variety Xiangza No. 9 in 1955, among the first new crops released by the young institution.1955年，湖南农学院育成番薯新品种“湘杂9号”，是这所年轻学院最早推广的作物品种之一。
• In 1956 the plant physiologist Hu Dujing publicly disputed parts of Lysenko's theory of staged plant development, a challenge that weakened Lysenkoism in Chinese science.1956年，植物生理学家胡笃敬对李森科“植物阶段发育论”的部分观点提出异议，动摇了李森科主义在中国科学界的地位。
• From 1969 staff took turns working at Tengqiao commune in Ya County, Hainan, now Sanya, to multiply hybrid rice seed for farmers.自1969年起，学院教员轮流前往海南崖县藤桥公社（今三亚）参加杂交水稻良种繁育，向农民推广制种技术。
• In 1975 the Hunan party committee set up six branch colleges at Xiangtan, Chenzhou, Hengyang, Changde, Shaoyang and Qianyang, teaching agriculture, veterinary medicine and tea to worker-peasant-soldier students.1975年，中共湖南省委在湘潭、郴州、衡阳、常德、邵阳、黔阳设立6所分院，面向工农兵学员教授农学、兽医与茶叶等专业。
• After the national entrance examination was restored in 1977 the Shaoyang branch was folded into Hunan University's Shaoyang branch and the Xiangtan, Chenzhou and Qianyang branches were closed.1977年恢复高考后，邵阳分院并入湖南大学邵阳分校，湘潭、郴州、黔阳三所分院则被撤销。
• The college was approved in 1978 as one of Hunan's first institutions to enrol graduate students, began doctoral training in 1987 and opened its first postdoctoral station in 1995.1978年，学院成为湖南省首批招收研究生的高校之一，1987年开始招收博士研究生，1995年设立首个博士后科研流动站。
• A 1981 provincial programme on grain production in the Dongting Lake region sent its staff to several counties to test rice, wheat and cotton cultivation and to build extension bases.1981年，学院承担“发展洞庭湖区粮食生产的综合技术研究”课题，派员赴多个县市试验水稻、小麦与棉花栽培并建立推广基地。
• Its remaining out-of-town branches left in 1987, when Hengyang became Hunan Forestry College, and in May 1989, when Changde joined Changde Junior College.1987年衡阳分院独立为湖南林业高等专科学校，1989年5月常德分院并入常德高等专科学校，至此长沙市以外的分院全部撤并。
• In 1987 the rapeseed breeder Guan Chunyun released Xiangyou No. 11, the first low-erucic, low-glucosinolate rapeseed variety developed in mainland China.1987年，油菜育种家官春云主持育成“湘油11号”，这是中国大陆第一个低芥酸、低硫苷的油菜品种。
• The Ministry of Education approved the change of name to Hunan Agricultural University in February 1994, and from 1997 the university recruited undergraduates from across China.1994年2月，教育部批准学校更名为湖南农业大学，1997年起面向全国招收本科生。
• Dongfang Science and Technology College, an independent college, was established in November 2002, extending the university's teaching to applied and vocational degrees.2002年11月，学校成立独立学院东方科技学院，将教学延伸至应用型与职业技术型学位。
• A teaching and research base was built in 2012 on the former seed farm at Yanxi town in Liuyang, and the university has since shown interest in a Liuyang campus.2012年，学校在浏阳市沿溪镇原种场基础上建立教学科研综合基地，此后又表达了建设浏阳校区的意向。
• In June 2019, after the first China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo in Changsha, the university opened a China-Africa agricultural development and cooperation base.2019年6月，首届中非经贸博览会在长沙举办后，学校成立“中非农业发展与合作基地”。

Academics

• Its 2022 prospectus listed 80 undergraduate majors spanning agronomy, engineering, science, economics, management, law, literature, medicine, education and art.学校2022年开设80个本科专业，涵盖农学、工学、理学、经济学、管理学、法学、文学、医学、教育学与艺术学10个门类。
• Graduate training runs through 11 first-level doctoral programmes, 24 first-level master's programmes and 14 professional master's categories, as recorded in 2022.截至2022年，学校拥有博士学位授权一级学科11个、硕士学位授权一级学科24个、硕士专业学位授权类别14个。
• Six disciplines sit in the top 1 per cent of the Essential Science Indicators, namely plant and animal science, agricultural sciences, environment and ecology, chemistry, engineering, and biology and biochemistry.植物与动物科学、农业科学、环境与生态学、化学、工程科学、生物与生物化学6个学科进入ESI全球前1%。
• The university holds one national key discipline and one Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs key discipline, alongside three Hunan first-class construction disciplines and seven in provincial cultivation.学校有国家重点学科1个、农业农村部重点学科1个，以及湖南省国内一流建设学科3个、省国内一流培育学科7个。
• By 2022 it operated nine national research platforms and 83 provincial or ministerial ones, most of them devoted to crop, animal and food science.至2022年，学校建有国家级科研平台9个、省部级科研平台83个，多数集中于作物、动物与食品科学。
• Among them is the national-local joint engineering research centre for traditional Chinese medicine resources and veterinary drug creation.其中包含中药资源与中兽药创制国家地方联合工程研究中心。
• A national engineering research centre for the utilisation of plant functional components supports its work on tea and medicinal plants, alongside a Hunan key laboratory of plant hormones and growth development.国家植物功能成分利用工程技术研究中心支撑其茶叶与药用植物研究，学校另设有植物激素与生长发育湖南省重点实验室。
• The rapeseed programme begun under Guan Chunyun produced a series of high-yield, high-oil varieties that were grown in Hunan, Jiangxi and Guangxi.官春云开创的油菜育种项目培育出一批高产高油品种，在湖南、江西、广西等地推广种植。
• Zou Xuexiao's pepper breeding team assembled more than 4,000 germplasm accessions and released 165 new pepper varieties grown in China and abroad.邹学校主持的辣椒育种团队建成4,000余份育种材料的种质资源库，培育出165个辣椒新品种，在国内外广泛种植。
• In March 1975 the horticulturist Liu Ziming published a study placing the origin of cultivated rice on the Yunnan-Guizhou plateau rather than in India.1975年3月，园艺学家柳子明发表论文，认为栽培稻起源于中国云贵高原而非印度。
• Tea scientist Liu Zhonghua worked on cultivation technique and on the extraction of functional components, a field in which the university holds a national engineering centre.茶学家刘仲华钻研茶叶种植技术与功能成分提制，学校在这一领域拥有国家级工程研究中心。
• In 1984 the National Science and Technology Commission set up a ramie technology development centre whose planting division was run by the college's ramie institute.1984年，国家科委在湖南设立苎麻技术开发中心，其种植部门由学院苎麻研究所主管。
• The library, founded with the college in 1951, held about 1.6 million printed volumes and 1.5 million e-books in 2019, with more than 30 Chinese and foreign databases.图书馆1951年随学校创立，至2019年藏有中外文印刷型图书约160万册、电子图书约150万册，中外文数据库30余个。
• It publishes the Journal of Hunan Agricultural University in natural science and social science editions and, since 1987, the journal Crop Research with the Hunan Crop Society.学校出版《湖南农业大学学报（自然科学版）》《湖南农业大学学报（社会科学版）》，并与湖南省作物学会合办《作物研究》。
• The natural science journal began in 1951 as the college bulletin, was renamed in 1956 and resumed publication in 1974 after the Cultural Revolution.自然科学版前身为1951年创办的《湖南农学院院刊》，1956年更名，受“文化大革命”影响停刊后于1974年复刊。
• In 2021 the teaching staff included four academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and six dual-appointed academicians, with one national teaching team and six Hunan excellent teaching teams.2021年，学校有中国工程院院士4人、双聘院士6人，并拥有1个国家教学团队与6个湖南省优秀教学团队。
• It keeps links with more than 130 universities, government bodies and international organisations in over 40 countries, including cooperation agreements with the University of Hawaii and Kagoshima University.学校与40多个国家的130多所大学、政府机构及国际组织保持联系，并与美国夏威夷大学、日本鹿儿岛大学等签订合作办学协议。

Campus

• The college opened in 1951 on the site of the old Bible institute at Jiucaiyuan, moved to Fengshushan in Dongtang in 1952 and reached its present Donghu site in 1960, where it has stayed ever since.1951年学院在韭菜园圣经学院旧址办学，1952年迁至东塘枫树山，1960年迁入今东湖校址，此后校址再未变动。
• The 2.27 square kilometres include trial fields, with the Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences to the north, Donghu lake to the east and the Liuyang River to the south.校园连同试验基地共2.27平方公里，北邻湖南省农科院，东接东湖，南临浏阳河。
• Yiyuan Lake and the Bihe Pavilion ponds, with their wetlands, break up the flat farmland that makes up most of the grounds.逸苑湖与碧荷轩池塘等人工湖泊及湿地，点缀在占据校园大部分面积的平坦农田之间。
• A double row of maples along the road to the library turns red each autumn and is known locally as the Red Maple Avenue.图书馆前道路两侧遍植枫树，秋季叶色转红，形成当地闻名的“红枫大道”。
• The Gengyuan demonstration garden, planted with rapeseed for spring viewing, was closed to visitors in 2018 to protect teaching and research.以油菜花供春季观赏的耕园农业科技示范园，出于教学科研考虑已于2018年封闭管理。
• Replica buildings commemorating the Xiuye School have been added since 2019 as a setting for the university's history.2019年以来，校内陆续修建纪念前身修业学堂的仿古建筑，作为校史教育的场景。
• Three structures, the Siyuan Hall, the No. 1 Teaching Building and the former residence of Liu Ziming, were listed as Changsha immovable cultural relics on 22 March 2014.思源馆、第一教学楼与柳子明故居3处建筑，于2014年3月22日被列为长沙市不可移动文物。
• The campus has eleven numbered academic buildings and four residence areas named Fengze, Zhilan, Donghu and Jin'an, each with about a dozen halls.校园有11栋编号教学楼，以及丰泽、芷兰、东湖、金岸4个学生生活区，每区各有十余栋宿舍。
• Metro Line 6 stops at Nongkeyuan Nongda station beside the campus, linking it to central Changsha and to Huanghua International Airport.长沙地铁6号线农科院农大站紧邻校园，可直达长沙市区与黄花国际机场。
• The site is bounded by busy Renmin Road East on the north, farmland on the west and lakes on the east, which give the surrounding Donghu district its name.校园北靠繁忙的人民东路，西侧为农田，东侧为湖泊，周边东湖街道即因这些水面得名。

Reputation

• In the 2026 Academic Ranking of World Universities, Hunan Agricultural University is placed in the 701-800 band of the global list.2026 年软科世界大学学术排名第 701-800 名区间。
• It ranks 1,127th in the 2026-2027 U.S. News Best Global Universities ranking, a placing that keeps it inside the world's top 1,200 institutions.在 2026-2027 年度 U.S. News 全球大学榜单中，学校位列第 1,127 名，仍处于全球前1200所高校之列。
• The university is not included in the 2027 QS World University Rankings.未进入 2027 年 QS 世界大学排名。
• It is also absent from the 2027 Times Higher Education World University Rankings.未进入 2027 年泰晤士高等教育世界大学排名。
• Since the ninth five-year plan it has received 182 awards, 13 of them national and 169 provincial or ministerial, mostly for crop and animal breeding.自“九五”计划以来，学校共获奖励182项，其中国家级13项、省部级169项，多与作物和畜禽育种相关。
• It is listed in the national project for building the basic capacity of universities in central and western China and in Hunan's domestic first-class university construction.学校被列入国家“中西部高校基础能力建设工程”，也是湖南省“国内一流大学”建设高校。
• The 2024 CWTS Leiden Ranking placed it 840th in the world for publication impact in the 2019-2022 period.2024年CWTS莱顿排名按2019至2022年的论文影响力，将其列为世界第840位。
• The 2022 Alumni Association ranking placed it 14th among Chinese agriculture and forestry universities and 111th overall, with a four-star high-level university rating.2022年校友会中国农林类大学排名中，学校位列第14名，综合排名第111名，并获评四星级中国高水平大学。
• In the 2022 Academic Ranking of World Universities subject tables its agricultural sciences stood in the 76-100 band worldwide.在2022年软科世界一流学科排名中，学校农业科学位居全球第76-100名区间。
• U.S. News ranked its agricultural sciences 127th in the world in 2022, the highest placing of any of its subjects in that year.2022年U.S. News将其农业科学列为世界第127名，是该校当年排名最高的学科。

Student life

• The academic year is divided into two semesters of 18 teaching weeks, running from September to January and from February to June, with final examinations in week 19.学校实行两学期制，秋季学期为9月至次年1月，春季学期为2月至6月，各18个教学周，考试一般安排在第19周。
• Undergraduate rooms in the four residence areas house four students each, and lights go out at 11 pm for undergraduates in all areas.四个学生生活区的本科宿舍多为四人一间，各生活区本科生宿舍均在晚上11时熄灯。
• In 2022 the university had 40 university-level and 43 college-level student societies, all supervised by the Communist Youth League committee and recruited at annual fairs.截至2022年，学校有40个校级社团与43个学院级社团，均由共青团湖南农业大学委员会主管，每年通过招新活动吸收成员。
• The college's earliest student covenant required physical training and cultural activities, and its assessment scheme was later promoted by the provincial education department.学院建校之初的《同学爱国公约》即要求加强体育锻炼、积极参加文娱活动，其评比制度后来为湖南省教育厅推广。
• The alumni association was approved by the provincial education and civil affairs departments on 9 March 2001, and the university charter counts visiting and honorary professors as alumni.2001年3月9日，湖南省教育厅、省民政厅批准成立湖南农业大学校友总会，学校章程将名誉教授、客座教授等也纳入校友范围。
• The university has enrolled international students since 1998 and recruits from Belt and Road countries for agricultural training and joint research.学校自1998年开始招收留学生，并面向“一带一路”共建国家招生，开展农业培训与合作研究。
• Its motto, Pucheng Fenmian Qiushi Chuangxin, calls for simplicity and sincerity, diligence and endeavour, truth seeking and innovation.校训“朴诚、奋勉、求实、创新”，倡导朴实诚信、勤勉奋发、实事求是、勇于创新。
• The school song was written by Yu Sha and set to music by Zou Qiyan, and the emblem carries Mao Zedong's calligraphy of the university name above the No. 1 Teaching Building.校歌由音乐家于沙作词、邹启炎谱曲，校徽上方为毛泽东手书的毛体校名，中心绘有第一教学楼。
• A memorial hall to Yuan Longping and a teaching building renamed Longping Building keep the memory of the honorary president on campus.校内的袁隆平纪念馆与以他命名的“隆平楼”，让这位名誉校长的记忆留在校园之中。
• Because demand for rooms exceeds supply, some undergraduates and postgraduates rent flats in the apartment blocks immediately outside the campus gates.由于宿舍床位紧张，部分本科生与研究生选择在校门外的小区租房，以求生活便利。

Notable people

• Zhou Zhenlin, an educator and revolutionary, was among the founders of the Xiuye School in 1903 and served as its first head.周震鳞是教育家与革命家，1903年参与创办修业学堂并出任首任校长。
• Xu Teli, later famous as an educator of the Communist movement, sat on the school's board of directors from 1912.徐特立后来以共产主义教育家的身份闻名，自1912年起担任该校校董。
• Li Yizhi was the first president of Hunan Agricultural College, serving from March 1951 to July 1954, and a statue of him stands on the central square.李毅之自1951年3月至1954年7月出任湖南农学院首任院长，学校中心广场立有他的塑像。
• Liu Ziming, a horticulturist, argued in 1975 that cultivated rice originated in the Yunnan-Guizhou plateau and also worked on the introduction of grapes to southern China.园艺学家柳子明1975年提出栽培稻起源于云贵高原，并为中国江南地区的葡萄引种栽培做出贡献。
• Hu Dujing, a plant physiologist who had taught at the college since its founding, challenged Lysenko's staged development theory in 1956.植物生理学家胡笃敬自建院起在校任教，1956年对李森科的阶段发育论提出质疑。
• Guan Chunyun, a rapeseed breeder and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, served as president from 1995 to 2000.油菜育种家、中国工程院院士官春云于1995年至2000年担任校长。
• Zou Xuexiao, a pepper geneticist and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, has been president since 2018.辣椒遗传育种专家、中国工程院院士邹学校自2018年起担任校长。
• Liu Zhonghua, a tea scientist and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, is known for work on tea quality and functional components.茶学家、中国工程院院士刘仲华以茶叶品质与功能成分研究著称。
• Yuan Longping, the agronomist known as the father of hybrid rice, was honorary president and often attended the university's opening ceremonies.被誉为“杂交水稻之父”的农学家袁隆平担任学校名誉校长，常出席开学典礼等重大活动。
• Qu Dongyu, a graduate of the university, has been Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization since 2019.校友屈冬玉自2019年起担任联合国粮食及农业组织总干事。
• Gan Lin, another graduate, served as vice-governor of Hunan and later as head of China's National Anti-Monopoly Bureau.另一位校友甘霖曾任湖南省副省长，后出任国家反垄断局局长。
• Zhou Jizhong, who graduated in 1981, became a presidential professor at the University of Oklahoma and a research scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.1981届毕业生周集中，后来成为美国俄克拉何马大学校级教授、橡树岭国家实验室研究员。