Northwest University (China)

Northwest University (Xibei Daxue, abbreviated Xida) is a public comprehensive university in Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi Province in northwestern China.西北大学（简称「西大」）是位于中国西北陕西省西安市的一所公立综合性大学。

It is affiliated with the Shaanxi Provincial People's Government, co-funded by the province and the Ministry of Education, and included in Project 211 and the first round of the Double First-Class Construction.学校隶属陕西省人民政府，由陕西省与教育部共建，并入选「211工程」和首轮「双一流」建设高校。

Its history traces back to two institutions founded in 1902, the Shaanxi University Hall in Xi'an and the accelerated civil-service programme of the Capital University Hall in Beijing, and it has carried the name Northwest University since 1950.学校历史可追溯至1902年创办的陕西大学堂与京师大学堂速成科仕学馆，1950年起沿用西北大学校名。

History

• In 1902 the Shaanxi University Hall was founded in Xi'an and is regarded as the first modern institution of higher education in northwest China.1902年，陕西大学堂在西安创办，被视为中国西北地区第一所现代意义的高等学校。
• The hall became the Shaanxi Higher College in 1905 and was later reorganised as the Shaanxi Higher School, one of the foundations of the republican-era university.1905年，陕西大学堂改为陕西高等学堂，后又改为陕西高等学校，成为民国初年建校的基础之一。
• In March 1912 Zhang Fenghui, the military governor of Shaanxi, founded a university in Xi'an on the basis of the Shaanxi Higher School, Guanzhong Law and Politics University, the Shaanxi Agricultural School, the Shaanxi Industrial School and the Shaanxi Keji School, naming it first Guanzhong University and then Northwest University.1912年3月，陕西大都督张凤翙以陕西高等学校、关中法政大学、陕西农业学堂、陕西实业学堂和陕西客籍学堂为基础，在西安创办大学，初名关中大学，后改称西北大学。
• That university was the first modern university in northwest China and one of the earliest founded by Chinese themselves, and by July 1913 it enrolled more than 1,800 students.这所大学是中国西北地区第一所现代意义上的大学，也是最早由中国人自行创办的大学之一，至1913年7月在校学生已超过1800人。
• It began sending large numbers of students to Japan in October 1913, and it published Xue Cong, one of China's earliest university journals.学校于1913年10月开始大量派遣学生赴日本留学，并创办中国最早的大学学报之一《学丛》。
• In the spring of 1915, as Shaanxi was drawn into warlord factional fighting, the university was abolished and replaced by the public Shaanxi Law and Politics Specialized School.1915年春，陕西卷入军阀派系斗争，西北大学被撤销，改为公立陕西法政专门学校。
• In January 1924 the republican government approved the creation of National Northwest University in Xi'an, merging the Shaanxi Law and Politics Specialized School, a water conservancy engineering school, the water conservancy and road engineering school attached to the Weibei Water Conservancy Bureau and the Jiazhong Commercial School.1924年1月，中华民国政府批准在西安创建国立西北大学，将陕西法政专门学校、水利工程专门学校、渭北水利局附设水利道路工程学校及甲种商业学校并入。
• It enrolled its first students in February 1924 and opened in March, but from April to November 1926 the warlord Liu Zhenhua besieged Xi'an for nearly eight months and faculty, students and funding drained away.学校于1924年2月招收第一批学生，3月正式开学；1926年4月至11月，军阀刘镇华围困西安近八个月，师生大量流失，经费匮乏。
• In January 1927 the university became Xi'an Zhongshan College, which was renamed Xi'an Zhongshan University in 1928 and Shaanxi Provincial Senior High School in 1931.1927年1月，学校改为西安中山学院，1928年改为西安中山大学，1931年又改为陕西省立高级中学。
• Its law and business lineage ran from the 1902 accelerated programme and preparatory politics programme of the Capital University Hall through the Beijing Law School and the Beijing Law and Politics School, the Beijing Law and Politics Specialized School of 1912 and Beijing Law and Politics University of 1923.其法商科源流上承1902年京师大学堂速成科与预备政科，历经京师法律学堂、京师法政学堂、1912年北京法政专门学校和1923年北京法政大学。
• In 1928 Beijing Law and Politics University was folded into National Beiping University as its law school, and in 1934 the law and business schools were combined into the Law and Business School that later became the source of National Northwest University's law and business faculty.1928年北京法政大学并入国立北平大学，改组为法学院，1934年法学院与商学院合并为法商学院，后来成为国立西北大学法商科的主体来源。
• The arts and science lineage began with the Beijing Women's Higher Normal School of 1908, which became Beijing Women's Normal University in 1924 and weathered the 1925 Women's Normal University storm alongside a rival National Beijing Women's University.文理科源流始于1908年创办的北京女子高等师范学校，1924年改为北京女子师范大学，并在1925年「女师大风潮」中与另立的国立北京女子大学并存。
• In 1928 the nine national institutions in Beijing, including both women's universities, were reorganised into National Beiping University, and after the university district system was abolished in 1929 the former women's university became the Women's College of Arts and Sciences.1928年，包括两所女子高校在内的国立九校改组为国立北平大学；1929年大学区制撤销后，原女子大学改为女子文理学院。
• After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of July 1937, the Ministry of Education ordered National Beiping University, National Beiping Normal University and the National Beiyang Institute of Technology to move west to Xi'an, where they formed National Xi'an Temporary University.1937年七七事变后，国民政府教育部命国立北平大学、国立北平师范大学和国立北洋工学院西迁西安，组成国立西安临时大学。
• In March 1938 the temporary university moved to Chenggu in southern Shaanxi and was subsequently renamed National Northwest Associated University, with six colleges covering law and business, arts and sciences, education, engineering, agriculture and medicine.1938年3月，国立西安临时大学迁往陕西城固，随后改为国立西北联合大学，设法商学院、文理学院、教育学院、工学院、农学院和医学院六个学院。
• In July 1938 the agriculture and engineering colleges were separated and merged into the National Northwest Agricultural College, today's Northwest A&F University, and the National Northwest Engineering College, today's Northwestern Polytechnical University.1938年7月，农学院和工学院分出，分别合并组成国立西北农学院（今西北农林科技大学）和国立西北工学院（今西北工业大学）。
• On 8 August 1939 the Ministry of Education renamed the Associated University National Northwest University, while its normal college became the National Northwest Normal College, today's Northwest Normal University, and its medical college became the National Northwest Medical College.1939年8月8日，教育部令国立西北联合大学改为国立西北大学，其师范学院分置为国立西北师范学院（今西北师范大学），医学院改为国立西北医学院。
• In April 1940 the Ministry of Education designated Xi'an as the permanent site, and in 1946 the university moved back from Chenggu to the campus of the wartime-relocated Northeastern University in the southwest corner of the city wall, now the Taibai campus, and in May 1946 the Hanzhong portion of the National Northwest Medical College was merged back as its medical college.1940年4月，教育部指定西安为永久校址；1946年学校从城固迁回西安，设址于抗战时期东北大学内迁时的校舍，即今太白校区；1946年5月，原国立西北医学院汉中部分重新并入，复称西北大学医学院。
• In December 1950 the government dropped the word national and renamed the institution Northwest University, which then stood among the fourteen comprehensive universities directly under the Ministry of Higher Education.1950年12月，政府去除「国立」二字，学校改名为西北大学，为中央高等教育部直属的14所综合大学之一。
• In 1958 the university was transferred to Shaanxi provincial administration, and over the following decades its medical, finance and economics, teacher-training, law, foreign-language and ethnic-studies units were detached to form or merge into the medical school and the school of economics and finance of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Shaanxi Normal University, Northwest University of Political Science and Law, Xi'an International Studies University and Northwest Minzu University.1958年学校改隶陕西省主管，此后其医学、财经、师范、法律、外语及民族等院系先后被拆分或与外校合并，发展为今天的西安交通大学医学院与经济与金融学院、陕西师范大学、西北政法大学、西安外国语大学和西北民族大学。
• The university was designated a national key university in 1978, became one of the first institutions authorised to confer doctoral and master's degrees in 1981, and later joined Project 211 and the first round of the Double First-Class Construction.1978年学校被确定为全国重点大学，1981年成为全国首批有权授予博士、硕士学位的高校，其后又入选「211工程」和首轮「双一流」建设。
• Its founding date was long contested, with anniversaries once counted from 1912 and an 85th anniversary held in 1997, before the university settled on 1902 as the year of its two source institutions.学校创建年份长期存在争议，曾以1912年为建校之年并于1997年举行85周年校庆，最终确定以两个源头的创办年份1902年为建校时间。

Academics

• As of October 2019 the university had 24 schools and departments together with a graduate school, and it offered 89 undergraduate majors.截至2019年10月，学校设有24个院（系）和研究生院，开设89个本科专业。
• Geology is the university's only first-level national key discipline.地质学是学校唯一的一级学科国家重点学科。
• Its second-level national key disciplines in the earth sciences are mineralogy, petrology and mineral deposits, paleontology and stratigraphy, structural geology, geochemistry, Quaternary geology, and mineral prospecting and exploration.学校在地学领域的二级学科国家重点学科包括矿物学岩石学矿床学、古生物与地层学、构造地质学、地球化学、第四纪地质学和矿产普查与勘探。
• Political economy, specialized history and botany complete the list of second-level national key disciplines, while the history of science and technology is a national key discipline under cultivation.政治经济学、专门史和植物学同样属于二级学科国家重点学科，科学技术史则为国家重点（培育）学科。
• The State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics is its principal national research platform, and the university also hosts the National Micro-detection System Engineering Technology Research Center.大陆动力学国家重点实验室是学校主要的国家级科研平台，学校还设有国家微检测系统工程技术研究中心。
• Six national talent training bases, in geology, physics, chemistry, history, economics and life science and technology, are complemented by a national base for cultural quality education of college students.学校拥有地质学、物理学、化学、历史学、经济学和生命科学与技术六个国家人才培养基地，并设有国家大学生文化素质教育基地。
• In 1992 archaeologists from the university uncovered the site of the Tang-dynasty Shiji Temple on the Taibai campus, recovering statues, inscribed steles, porcelain, roof tiles and fragments of murals.1992年，西北大学考古人员在太白校区发现唐代实际寺遗址，出土造像、碑刻、瓷器、瓦当与壁画残片。
• The university museum grew out of a relic room set up in 1945 by the Ministry of Education's Northwest Art and Cultural Relics Investigation Team, and it is counted among the earlier and richer university history museums in China.西北大学博物馆的前身是1945年教育部西北艺术文物考察团设立的文物室，是中国高校中成立较早、藏品较丰富的历史类博物馆之一。
• Its library holds 160,000 thread-bound ancient books, the largest such collection among universities in northwest China, including Dunhuang Buddhist manuscript scrolls, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing woodblock editions, and Ming and Qing manuscript copies and drafts.学校图书馆藏有线装古籍16万册，数量居中国西北高校之首，其中包括敦煌佛经写本、宋元明清刻本以及明清抄本与稿本。
• Twenty-five of those works are listed in the National Catalogue of Precious Ancient Books, and the library belongs to the third batch of National Key Protection Units for Ancient Books.其中25部古籍入选《国家珍贵古籍名录》，图书馆也是第三批全国古籍重点保护单位。
• Northwest University First Hospital is the university's directly affiliated hospital.西北大学第一医院是学校的直属附属医院。
• Northwest University Affiliated First Hospital, known locally as Xi'an First Hospital, and Northwest University Affiliated Hospital, or Xi'an Third Hospital, are jointly built and managed.西北大学附属第一医院（西安市第一医院）与西北大学附属医院（西安市第三医院）为学校共建共管医院。
• In the 2018 Nature Index the university placed 50th among Chinese universities.在2018年度自然指数排行榜中，西北大学位列中国高校第50位。
• In the 2026 ShanghaiRanking Chinese university ranking, its main list placed the university 70th in the country.在2026年软科中国大学排行榜中，学校位列中国高校主榜第70名。
• The museum's four branches, devoted to the earth, biology, history and university history, hold 5,185 items and sets, including 105 precious cultural relics, displayed in 20 exhibitions.博物馆设地球、生物、历史、校史四个分馆，馆藏5185件套，其中珍贵文物105件套，设有20个陈列展览。
• Its collection includes the epitaph of In no Manari, a Japanese envoy to the Tang court.馆藏包括遣唐使井真成的墓志铭等珍贵文物。

Campus

• Northwest University has three campuses in Xi'an, Taibai in Beilin District, Taoyuan in Yanta District and Chang'an in Chang'an District, covering about 2,365 mu, and it enrols more than 24,000 students with more than 2,400 faculty and staff.西北大学在西安设有太白、桃园、长安三个校区，分别位于碑林区、雁塔区和长安区，总占地面积约2365亩，在校学生24000余人，教职员工2400余人。
• The Taibai campus stands at 229 Taibai North Road, just outside the southwest corner of the Xi'an city wall and beside the moat and the South Ring Road, on the site occupied by the exiled National Northeastern University after the Mukden Incident of 1931.太白校区位于太白北路229号，坐落在西安城墙西南角外，北临护城河与环城南路，其地原为1931年九一八事变后流亡的国立东北大学所在地。
• Its Great Hall, the former auditorium of Northeastern University in exile, is now a Shaanxi provincial cultural relic protection unit, and the stele inscribed by Zhang Xueliang was re-erected in 1992 from a rubbing after the original was destroyed in the civil war.校区大礼堂原为东北大学内迁时的礼堂，现为陕西省文物保护单位；张学良题写的石碑在内战中损毁，学校于1992年依据拓片重立。
• The campus contains the site of the Sui and Tang Shiji Temple, where the Three Treatises master Jizang resided and the Pure Land master Shandao later came, and where Jianzhen studied for a year, and a memorial pavilion was built in 1995 with one million yen donated by 45 people associated with the Japanese Pure Land school.校区内有隋唐实际寺遗址，三论宗创始人吉藏曾在此居住，净土宗善导后来到此，鉴真亦在此学习一年；1995年，日本净土宗门下45人捐资100万日元修建了遗址纪念亭。
• The university museum, rebuilt in 2012, occupies a building with one underground and three above-ground storeys, 16,000 square metres of floor space and 5,100 square metres of exhibition galleries, and it is open to the public.西北大学博物馆于2012年复建，主体为地下一层、地上三层，总建筑面积1.6万平方米，其中陈列展厅面积5100平方米，对外开放。
• The Chang'an campus lies at No. 1 Xuefu Avenue in Guodu, 16 kilometres from the city centre, next to the Chang'an campus of Xi'an International Studies University and within a cluster that also includes Northwest University of Political Science and Law, Xi'an University of Posts and Telecommunications and Shaanxi Normal University.长安校区位于西安市长安区郭杜街道学府大道1号，距西安市区16公里，紧邻西安外国语大学长安校区，并与西北政法大学、西安邮电大学、陕西师范大学等高校同处郭杜教育科技产业开发区。
• Construction began around 2005 after excavations uncovered the tomb of Li Boyi, Prince of Longxi Commandery of the Tang dynasty, and his wife, and most of the university's schools have since moved to the campus.长安校区约于2005年开始建设，前期考古发掘发现了唐陇西郡王李博乂夫妇合葬墓，此后学校绝大部分院系迁至该校区。
• The campus library opened for trial use on 27 September 2011 with 37,500 square metres of space, a designed capacity of four million volumes and 4,200 reading seats, and it uses an RFID system for self-service borrowing and returns.长安校区图书馆于2011年9月27日试开馆，建筑面积3.75万平方米，设计藏书量400万册，阅览座位4200个，并采用RFID智能图书管理系统实现自助借还。
• The campus gymnasium, with 33,791 square metres of floor space and more than 9,400 seats, hosted rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline at the 14th National Games in 2021 and goalball and boccia at the 11th National Games for Persons with Disabilities.长安校区体育馆总建筑面积33791平方米，设有9400余个座位，2021年承办了第十四届全运会艺术体操、蹦床比赛以及第十一届全国残运会盲人门球、硬地滚球项目。

Reputation

• In the Academic Ranking of World Universities 2026, Northwest University is placed in the 401-500 band.在2026年软科世界大学学术排名中，西北大学位列第401-500名区间。
• The QS World University Rankings 2027 place it in the 1001-1200 band.在2027年QS世界大学排名中，学校位列第1001-1200名区间。
• The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2027 also place it in the 1001-1200 band.在2027年泰晤士高等教育世界大学排名中，学校同样位列第1001-1200名区间。
• In the U.S. News Best Global Universities ranking for 2026-2027 it is ranked 668th in the world.在2026-2027年度U.S. News全球大学排名中，学校位列世界第668名。
• Nationally, it was designated a key university in 1978, entered Project 211 and the first round of the Double First-Class Construction, and is co-administered by the Ministry of Education and Shaanxi Province.在国内，学校于1978年被确定为全国重点大学，入选「211工程」与首轮「双一流」建设，并由教育部与陕西省共建。
• The 2018 Nature Index placed it 50th among Chinese universities, and the 2026 ShanghaiRanking Chinese university ranking placed it 70th on the main list.2018年度自然指数将其列为中国高校第50位，2026年软科中国大学排行榜则将其列为主榜第70名。
• Its national key disciplines span geology, political economy, specialized history and botany, and its research platforms include the State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics.学校的地质学、政治经济学、专门史、植物学等国家重点学科覆盖多个领域，科研平台包括大陆动力学国家重点实验室。
• The library's status as a National Key Protection Unit for Ancient Books, with 25 titles in the National Catalogue of Precious Ancient Books, is a national distinction in ancient-book preservation.学校图书馆作为全国古籍重点保护单位，并有25部古籍入选《国家珍贵古籍名录》，这是古籍保护领域的国家级资质。
• The university museum is described by the university as one of the earlier and richer history museums among Chinese universities, with more than 5,000 items and sets in its collections.学校称其博物馆为中国高校中成立较早、藏品较丰富的历史类博物馆之一，馆藏超过5000件套。

Student life

• The motto, Gong Cheng Qin Pu, usually rendered as public spirit, sincerity, diligence and simplicity, was fixed during the National Northwest Associated University period, and a stone sculpture bearing the four characters was erected at the Taibai campus west gate for the centenary in 2002.校训「公诚勤朴」确定于国立西北联合大学时期；2002年百年校庆时，学校在太白校区西门入口处树立了刻有这四个字的石雕。
• The anniversary day is 15 October, and the university holds major celebrations at decadal intervals, including its 100th and 110th anniversaries.校庆日为每年10月15日，学校一般每隔十年举行校庆纪念，包括100周年和110周年校庆。
• A school song was approved in the autumn of 1938 but never set to music because the university was reorganised, and only on 2 August 2002 did the university settle on the present lyrics and score after listening to two candidate songs and four tunes.1938年秋，国立西北联合大学常务委员会通过校歌歌词，但曲未谱成即逢学校改组；直到2002年8月2日，学校在试听两首校歌、四支曲调后才确定现今版本的词曲。
• In February 1996 the men's basketball team won the Shilang Cup at a national university invitational tournament in Quanzhou, Fujian, and took third place in the Egret Cup.1996年2月，校男子篮球队赴福建泉州参加全国大学生男子篮球邀请赛，获「施琅杯」冠军和「白鹭杯」季军。
• In August 1996 the team represented Shaanxi at the fifth National University Games and won the men's group A championship.1996年8月，校男子篮球队代表陕西参加第五届全国大学生运动会，获得男子甲组冠军。
• The team won the first CUBA B-level North Division title in September 1998, finished sixth at the second CUBA national quarter-finals in April 2000 and seventh at the third edition in April 2001, when it was also Northwest regional runner-up.1998年9月，校篮球队获得首届CUBA B级北区冠军；2000年4月获第二届CUBA全国八强赛第六名；2001年4月获第三届CUBA西北赛区亚军和全国八强赛第七名。
• The Chang'an gymnasium now serves as the main venue for opening ceremonies, graduation galas and anniversary celebrations, and its movable wooden floor allows conversion between basketball and ice events.长安校区体育馆如今是学校开学典礼、毕业晚会和校庆晚会等重大活动的主要场地，其活动木地板可实现篮球与冰雪赛事的转换。
• Free shuttle buses connect the three campuses for staff and students, with separate summer and winter timetables.三个校区之间开行免费班车，供教师、职工与学生乘坐，班车时刻表分为夏季与冬季两版。

Notable people

• Zhang Fenghui, the Shaanxi military governor who founded the university in 1912, is commemorated by a statue on the Chang'an campus.1912年创办学校的陕西大都督张凤翙，其塑像立于长安校区。
• Li Yizhi, a water conservancy expert and former president, is also honoured with a statue on the Chang'an campus.水利专家、前校长李仪祉同样在长安校区立有塑像。
• The physicist Hou Boyu, who taught at the university, is the third figure commemorated with a statue there.物理学家侯伯宇是第三位在长安校区立像的人物，他长期在校任教。
• Hou Wailu, a historian, served as president from 1950 to 1958.历史学家侯外庐于1950年至1958年担任校长。
• Zhang Qizhi, another historian, was president from 1985 to 1991.历史学家张岂之于1985年至1991年担任校长。
• The linguists Li Jinxi and Luo Changpei both taught at the university and appear on its list of notable professors.语言学家黎锦熙与罗常培均曾在校任教，列入学校知名教授名录。
• The paleontologist Shu Degan and the geologist Zhang Bosheng are likewise listed among its professors.古生物学家舒德干与地质学家张伯声同样位列学校知名教授之中。
• Yang Zhongjian, a paleontologist, served as president of National Northwest University from 1948 to 1949.古生物学家杨钟健于1948年至1949年担任国立西北大学校长。
• The novelists Jia Pingwa and Chi Zijian are among the university's alumni.小说家贾平凹与迟子建均为学校校友。
• Zhang Weiying, an economist, and Huang Jianxin, a film director, also studied at the university.经济学家张维迎与电影导演黄建新也曾在校就读。
• Wang Qishan, a senior Chinese political figure, is counted among its alumni.中国资深政治人物王岐山亦被列为学校校友。
• Sun Qingwei became acting president in November 2023 and president in April 2024, while Jiang Lin has served as party secretary since November 2023.孙庆伟于2023年11月任代理校长、2024年4月正式就任校长，蒋林自2023年11月起任党委书记。
• Other professors on the university's list include the calligrapher Shen Yinmo, the historian Chen Dengyuan and the educator Li Shizeng.学校知名教授名录中还有书法家沈尹默、历史学家陈登原和教育家李石曾。