South China Agricultural University

South China Agricultural University (SCAU) is a provincial public agricultural university in the Tianhe district of Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, and has been part of the Double First-Class Construction since 2022.华南农业大学（SCAU）是位于中国广东省广州市天河区的省属公立农业大学，2022 年起进入「双一流」建设高校行列。

Its history reaches back to the Guangdong provincial agricultural experiment station and its attached agricultural training institute of 1909, while the university itself was formed in November 1952 as South China Agricultural College.该校办学史可追溯至 1909 年设立的广东全省农事试验场及其附设农业讲习所，学校本体则于 1952 年 11 月以华南农学院之名组建。

In the 2026 Academic Ranking of World Universities it is placed in the 401-500 band, U.S. News ranks it 583rd for 2026-2027, and it appears in neither the 2027 Times Higher Education nor the 2027 QS world ranking.在 2026 年软科世界大学学术排名中，该校位列第 401-500 名区间；在 2026 至 2027 年度 U.S. News 全球大学排名中位列第 583 名；2027 年泰晤士高等教育世界大学排名和 2027 年 QS 世界大学排名均未收录该校。

History

• The school's earliest ancestor was the agricultural training institute attached to the Guangdong provincial agricultural experiment station, set up in 1909 at Shimagang in the Dongshan area of Guangzhou, where the Nonglin roads now run.学校最早的源头是 1909 年设在广州东山石马岗的广东全省农事试验场附设农业讲习所，即今农林上下路一带。
• Agriculture and forestry training classes were added in 1911, and in August 1917 the institute became the Guangdong Public Agricultural Specialised School with a four-year agriculture course under principal Huang Zungeng.1911 年附设办理农业、林业讲习所，1917 年 8 月改办为广东公立农业专门学校，设四年制农学科，由黄遵庚兼任校长。
• Deng Zhiyi took over as principal and director of the experiment station in June 1920, a forestry course was added in August 1921, and the school moved into higher agricultural education.1920 年 6 月邓植仪出任校长兼农林试验场场长，1921 年 8 月增设四年制林学科，学校由此进入高等农业教育阶段。
• In June 1924 the school was absorbed into National Guangdong University as its College of Agriculture, and in 1925 that university opened a second farm at Shipai Wushan.1924 年 6 月学校并入国立广东大学，改为其下属的农学院；1925 年国立广东大学又在石牌五山开辟第二农场。
• When National Guangdong University was renamed National Sun Yat-sen University in July 1926 the college became its agriculture division, was styled an agricultural science college in 1930 and a college of agriculture in 1931.1926 年 7 月国立广东大学改称国立中山大学，农学院随之改为农科，1930 年改称农科学院，1931 年又改为农学院。
• In 1931 Sun Yat-sen University began building a new campus at Shipai and took over about 3.5 square kilometres of land north of the village, the ground on which the agricultural college expanded.1931 年国立中山大学在石牌筹建新校址，共收用石牌北部约 3.5 平方公里土地，农学院此后的发展即以这片土地为基础。
• The private Lingnan University ran its own agricultural department from 1917, became Lingnan Agricultural College in 1921 and organised the work as its college of agriculture in 1927.私立岭南大学方面始于 1917 年创立的农学部，1921 年改为岭南农科大学，1927 年改设私立岭南大学农学院。
• In the nationwide restructuring of 1952 the agriculture college of National Sun Yat-sen University, the agriculture college of Lingnan University and the animal husbandry and veterinary department of Guangxi University were combined into South China Agricultural College under the Ministry of Agriculture.1952 年全国院系调整时，国立中山大学农学院、私立岭南大学农学院以及广西大学农学院畜牧兽医系和部分病虫害系合并成立华南农学院，隶属农业部。
• Mao Zedong wrote the name of the new college in his own hand, and the institution was designated one of the national key universities in 1979.毛泽东亲笔题写华南农学院校名，学校并于 1979 年被列为全国重点大学。
• The college was renamed South China Agricultural University in 1984 and counted among the 88 national key universities supported in the 1990s.1984 年学校改名为华南农业大学，是 20 世纪 90 年代国家重点建设的 88 所大学之一。
• During the Cultural Revolution Red Guards plastered cement over the names carved on the college's foundation stone, including that of Zou Lu, and traces of the slogans remain on several old buildings.文化大革命期间，红卫兵用水泥涂抹了农学院奠基石上镌刻的名字，其中包括邹鲁，校内多栋旧建筑至今仍留有标语痕迹。
• In the 2000 reform of university administration the university passed from the Ministry of Agriculture to the government of Guangdong province.在 2000 年的国家高校管理体制改革中，学校由农业部划归广东省主管。
• It established its only independent college, the Pearl River College, in Conghua in 2006, and was selected for the Guangdong high-level university programme in 2015.学校 2006 年在从化设立唯一的独立学院华南农业大学珠江学院，2015 年又进入广东省高水平大学整体建设高校行列。
• In 2020 it opened the Guangzhou Dublin International College of Life Sciences and Technology, its first Sino-foreign cooperative teaching institution.2020 年学校正式设立华南农业大学广州都柏林国际生命科学与技术学院，这是该校首个中外合作办学机构。
• In February 2022 the university entered the second round of the Double First-Class Construction with crop science as its designated discipline.2022 年 2 月，学校以作物学为入选学科，正式进入第二轮「双一流」建设高校及建设学科名单。
• Its Wushan campus occupies part of the former Shipai campus of National Sun Yat-sen University, whose bell-shaped master plan the surviving buildings still follow.该校五山校区占据国立中山大学石牌校园的一部分，留存建筑至今仍沿用原校园钟形布局的走向。
• Building 3 was completed on 16 November 1931 as the agriculture hall of Sun Yat-sen University, and Building 2 followed on 19 October 1934 as its agricultural chemistry hall.3 号楼于 1931 年 11 月 16 日建成，原为中山大学农学院农学馆；2 号楼于 1934 年 10 月 19 日建成，原为农林化学馆。
• The observatory raised in 1936, a grey three-storey concrete block with two dome-shaped turrets, is now Building 10 and houses the Guangdong Rural Policy Research Centre.1936 年建成的天文台是一座灰色三层水泥建筑，顶层两侧各有一个圆顶小塔，现为 10 号楼，也是广东农村政策研究中心的办公地点。
• Hongmantang, a brick-arch shell hall built in 1958 without a single pillar in its 700-square-metre auditorium, was demolished as unsafe in 1999 and rebuilt in 2009 at the demand of alumni.红满堂建于 1958 年，700 多平方米的大厅不用一根柱子，是全国首个砖拱薄壳建筑；1999 年因被定为危楼而拆除，2009 年依校友要求重建。
• The university marked its centenary in 2009, when it commissioned a new school song and rebuilt Hongmantang, and it opened the South China Agricultural Museum in Building 16 on 9 November 2019.学校 2009 年迎来百年校庆，当年征集新校歌并重建红满堂；2019 年 11 月 9 日又在 16 号楼开设华南农业博物馆。

Academics

• SCAU is organised into 24 schools and departments and offers 95 undergraduate programmes, 107 master's programmes and 60 doctoral programmes, together with nine professional master's degrees and a professional doctorate in veterinary medicine.华南农大设有 24 个学院（部），开设 95 个本科专业、107 个硕士专业和 60 个博士专业，并有 9 种硕士专业学位以及兽医专业博士学位。
• As of March 2020 it employed about 3,374 staff, of whom 2,111 were full-time teachers, including 473 full professors and 819 associate professors, with 298 doctoral supervisors and 1,314 master's supervisors.截至 2020 年 3 月，学校有教职工约 3374 人，其中专任教师 2111 人，含正高级 473 人、副高级 819 人，博士生导师 298 人、硕士生导师 1314 人。
• It counted 78 appointments at national talent programme level and 203 at provincial level, along with four national teaching masters and four national teaching teams.学校有院士、万人计划等国家级人才 78 人次，珠江学者、广东省特支计划等省级人才 203 人次，以及国家级教学名师 4 人和国家级教学团队 4 个。
• Eight national research platforms include the State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilisation of Subtropical Agricultural Biological Resources and the National Engineering Research Centre for Plant Space Breeding.学校建有 8 个国家级科研平台，其中包括亚热带农业生物资源保护与利用国家重点实验室和国家植物航天育种工程技术研究中心。
• Other national platforms cover pig seed industry engineering, zoonosis prevention and control agents, livestock and poultry breeding, veterinary microbial drug resistance, precise processing of livestock products and precision aerial spraying.其余国家级平台分别聚焦生猪种业工程、人兽共患病防控制剂、畜禽育种、兽医微生物耐药性风险评估、畜禽产品精准加工以及精准农业航空施药技术。
• The university holds 11 postdoctoral stations, three Ministry of Education key laboratories, nine key laboratories of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and 15 Guangdong key laboratories.学校拥有 11 个博士后科研流动站、3 个教育部重点实验室、9 个农业农村部重点实验室和 15 个广东省重点实验室。
• Further platforms include 34 Guangdong engineering technology research centres, three Ministry of Education engineering research centres, eight provincial industry-academia demonstration bases and two provincial humanities research bases.学校还建有 34 个广东省工程技术研究中心、3 个教育部工程研究中心、8 个广东省普通高校产学研结合示范基地和 2 个广东省人文社科重点研究基地。
• Several national and provincial testing and policy bodies sit on the campus, among them the Guangzhou sub-centre for plant variety testing and the Guangdong Rural Policy Research Centre.农业农村部植物新品种测试广州分中心、畜禽产品质量监督检验测试中心等国家级与省级机构设在校内，广东农村政策研究中心亦在此办公。
• In the fourth round of national discipline evaluation, published in December 2017, veterinary medicine was rated A- and animal husbandry B+, with crop science, horticulture, agricultural resources and environment and plant protection rated B.2017 年 12 月公布的全国第四轮学科评估中，兽医学获评 A-，畜牧学获评 B+，作物学、园艺学、农业资源与环境、植物保护获评 B。
• By January 2022 eleven subject areas had entered the top one percent of the Essential Science Indicators ranking, and plant and animal science had reached the top one per thousand.截至 2022 年 1 月，学校有 11 个学科领域进入 ESI 全球前 1%，其中植物学与动物学进入全球前 1‰。
• Between 2018 and 2021 the university took part in twelve projects that won national science and technology awards in the natural science, technological invention and scientific progress categories.2018 至 2021 年间，学校共有 12 个项目获得国家自然科学奖、技术发明奖和科学技术进步奖三类国家科学技术奖。
• In ShanghaiRanking's Global Ranking of Academic Subjects for 2023 its agriculture and its veterinary medicine were each placed sixth in the world.在 2023 年软科世界一流学科排名中，该校农学位列全球第 6 位，兽医学同样位列全球第 6 位。
• The QS World University Rankings by Subject for 2024 placed its agriculture and forestry at 41st in the world, and QS ranked it in the 401-450 band in its 2024 Asia ranking.2024 年 QS 世界大学学科排名将该校农业与林业列为世界第 41 名，2024 年 QS 亚洲大学排名则将其列入第 401-450 名区间。
• Its research profile centres on tropical and subtropical agriculture, subtropical agro-bioresources, rice and crop genetics, pig breeding, veterinary medicine and agricultural aviation.学校的研究重心集中在热带与南亚热带农业、亚热带农业生物资源、水稻与作物遗传、生猪育种、兽医学科以及农业航空等领域。
• The State Key Laboratory for Subtropical Agro-bioresources, run jointly with the provincial government, is the university's largest single research base.亚热带农业生物资源保护与利用国家重点实验室由学校与地方政府共建，是该校规模最大的单一科研基地。
• The National Engineering Research Centre for Plant Space Breeding carries the university's work on seed carried into orbit and returned for selection and trial planting.国家植物航天育种工程技术研究中心承担该校将种子送入太空、返回后选育与试种的相关工作。
• Teaching is grouped around agriculture, engineering, science, humanities, economics, management, law and art, an eight-field structure the university describes as multidisciplinary and research-oriented.教学围绕农、工、文、理、经、管、法、艺八个门类组织，学校将这一结构表述为多学科协调发展的研究型大学格局。
• The Guangzhou Dublin International College of Life Sciences and Technology, founded in 2020, is the university's first Sino-foreign cooperative teaching institution.2020 年成立的广州都柏林国际生命科学与技术学院，是该校首个中外合作办学机构。

Campus

• The university holds 5.466 square kilometres of land in all, of which the Wushan main campus in Tianhe district covers 2.93 square kilometres and the Zengcheng teaching and research base 2.536 square kilometres.学校土地总面积为 5.466 平方公里，其中位于天河区五山的校本部占地 2.93 平方公里，增城教学科研基地占地 2.536 平方公里。
• The Wushan campus is the largest single university site in Guangzhou and adjoins the campus of South China University of Technology.五山校区是广州市单块占地面积最大的大学校园，与华南理工大学校园相邻。
• Its buildings total 1.45 million square metres, and because the site was the Shipai campus of National Sun Yat-sen University many Lingnan-style buildings survive.校园建筑总面积达 145 万平方米；由于此地原为国立中山大学石牌校园，校内保留了大量岭南风格的旧建筑。
• The landscape is summed up as five lakes, four grass seas and one forest, with lakes named Poyang, Ningyin, Hongze, Chaohu and Zhaoyang and an arboretum at the centre.校园景观被概括为「五湖四海一片林」，五湖指鄱阳湖、宁荫湖、洪泽湖、巢湖和昭阳湖，一片林则指位于校园中部的树木园。
• Trees cover about 60 percent of the campus, and the flowering pink bauhinia of early spring has given it the name Bauhinia Campus.校园森林覆盖率约 60%，早春盛开的宫粉羊蹄甲使学校获得「紫荆校园」之称。
• Building 4, finished in October 1935 as the physics, mathematics and astronomy classrooms of Sun Yat-sen University's science college, now houses the School of Marxism.4 号楼建于 1935 年 10 月，原为中山大学理学院物理数学天文教室，现为马克思主义学院办公楼。
• Building 5 of 1934 is a palace-style hybrid of Chinese and western forms and holds the university history museum, and the lion-head fountain opposite it was built in 1935 with a diameter of about six metres.1934 年建成的 5 号楼是中西合璧的宫殿式建筑，现为校史馆；其对面的狮头喷水池建于 1935 年，直径约 6 米。
• The hexagonal stone-arch bell pavilion of 1934 stands about seven metres high on a 36-square-metre base in front of Building 4.1934 年建成的石坊钟亭位于 4 号楼右前方，为六角攒尖亭，高约 7 米，占地面积 36 平方米。
• Building 16, originally staff housing of Sun Yat-sen University, was converted in 2019 into the South China Agricultural Museum, the only museum in the region devoted to agriculture and agricultural natural resources.16 号楼原为中山大学教职员宿舍，2019 年改造为华南农业博物馆，是华南地区唯一以农业和农业自然资源为主题的博物馆。
• The museum has eight exhibition halls covering Guangdong agricultural history, traditional tools, soils and rocks, plants, animals, insects, South China Sea marine life and forestry resources.该馆设广东农业历史、传统农具、土壤与岩石、植物世界、动物世界、昆虫世界、南海海洋生物、林业资源与利用共 8 个展厅。
• The library dates from a reading room opened in 1909 and now provides 36,000 square metres of space in a main building with Taishan and Qilin branches, holding 2.6053 million volumes.图书馆起源于 1909 年设立的图书室，现有馆舍面积 3.6 万平方米，由总馆、泰山区分馆和启林区分馆组成，藏书 260.53 万册。
• Undergraduates live in the Huashan, Taishan and Qilin residence districts and postgraduates in Yanshan, and the campus has six canteens, among them Xiyuan, Zhiyuan and Heyuan.本科生住在华山区、泰山区和启林区，研究生住在燕山区；校内共有 6 间饭堂，包括西园、芷园和荷园等。
• Guangzhou Metro Line 3 stops at Wushan station, whose exit A opens onto the university's south-west gate, and since December 2023 four Zijing minibus routes have linked the dormitory districts to that gate.广州地铁 3 号线五山站 A 出口正对学校西南门；2023 年 12 月起，四条「紫荆小巴」线路把各宿舍区与该门连接起来。

Reputation

• The 2026 Academic Ranking of World Universities places SCAU in the 401-500 band, and U.S. News puts it 583rd in its 2026-2027 global ranking.2026 年软科世界大学学术排名将华南农大列入第 401-500 名区间，2026 至 2027 年度 U.S. News 全球排名则将其列为第 583 名。
• The university is absent from the 2027 Times Higher Education world ranking and from the 2027 QS world ranking, and no QS place is claimed for it.该校未进入 2027 年泰晤士高等教育世界大学排名，也未进入 2027 年 QS 世界大学排名。
• It joined the second round of the Double First-Class Construction in February 2022, when crop science was named as its designated discipline.学校于 2022 年 2 月进入第二轮「双一流」建设，作物学被列为建设学科。
• SCAU is a provincial university rather than a ministry-run one, and its 2000 transfer to Guangdong is often paired with its earlier status as a national key university from 1979.华南农大是省属高校而非部属高校，其 2000 年划归广东省管理与 1979 年成为全国重点大学的经历常被一并提及。
• It belongs to the Guangdong high-level university programme, which selected 13 institutions, and to the provincial 211 scheme funded by Guangdong and the Ministry of Agriculture rather than the national 211 project.学校是广东省高水平大学建设高校之一，该计划共选出 13 所高校；它参与的是广东省与农业部共建的「省 211 工程」，并非教育部「211 工程」。
• It has joined the 2011 Plan, the 111 Plan, the Excellence Engineer and Excellence Agricultural and Forestry Talent programmes and the state programme for publicly funded graduate study abroad.学校入选「2011 计划」「111 计划」、卓越工程师教育培养计划、卓越农林人才教育培养计划以及国家建设高水平大学公派研究生项目。
• It is a member of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao University Alliance and of the CDIO engineering education alliance.学校是粤港澳高校联盟和 CDIO 工程教育联盟的成员。
• Its agricultural science was ranked 21st in the world by U.S. News in the 2024-2025 subject tables, a subject result rather than a main institutional ranking.在 2024 至 2025 年度 U.S. News 学科榜单中，该校农业科学位列世界第 21 名，这属于学科排名而非学校综合排名。

Student life

• The university motto is cultivate virtue, learn broadly, seek truth and innovate, a four-part formula shortened in Chinese to xiude, boxue, qiushi and chuangxin.校训为「修德 博学 求实 创新」，「修德」意为修心养德，「博学」取自《中庸》，「求实」由「实事求是」演化而来，「创新」意为破旧立新。
• A new school song, Golden Ideal, with lyrics by Zhang Yueheng and music by Yue Xiaoyun, was commissioned and recorded before the centenary celebrations of 2009.2009 年百年校庆前夕，学校重新征集并录制了新校歌《金色的理想》，由张岳恒作词、岳晓云作曲。
• The Bauhinia Science and Technology Culture Festival doubles as the campus open day in spring, and in the 2018 blossom season a single day drew more than 200,000 visitors.紫荆科技文化节同时是春季校园开放日，2018 年赏花季单日客流超过 20 万人。
• Since 2019 outside vehicles have needed a reservation to enter during the blossom season, a measure adopted after crowds jammed the roads inside the campus.由于游客过多导致校内车流人流拥堵，学校从 2019 年起在赏花季实行校外车辆预约进校制度。
• SCAU yogurt, made by a university-owned food company in the Qilin North district, sold 200,000 bottles in a single day during the 2018 blossom season.华农酸奶由校办企业广州市华农大食品科技有限公司生产，厂房位于启林北区，2018 年赏花季曾单日售出 20 万瓶。
• The men's basketball team won the CUBA national second-division final on 14 August 2020, the university's first title in that competition.2020 年 8 月 14 日，学校男子篮球队首次夺得 CUBA 中国大学生二级联赛总决赛冠军。
• Sports facilities include the Tian Jiabing training hall, four standard rubber tracks and two 50-metre pools, and a new gymnasium of 52,450 square metres opened on 4 July 2024.体育设施包括田家炳综合训练馆、四个标准塑胶跑道运动场和两个 50 米标准游泳池；一座 52450 平方米的新体育馆于 2024 年 7 月 4 日启用。
• The gymnasium, designed by the team of the architect He Jingtang at the South China University of Technology design institute, cost nearly 440 million yuan and seats almost 8,000 in its main arena.该馆由华南理工大学建筑设计研究院何镜堂院士团队设计，总投资近 4.4 亿元，主场馆可容纳近 8000 人。
• Basketball stars Kobe Bryant visited the Tian Jiabing hall in 2010 and 2012, and Stephen Curry followed in 2016, part of a flow of film and sports events onto the campus.NBA 球星科比·布莱恩特于 2010 年和 2012 年两次到访田家炳综合训练馆，斯蒂芬·库里也在 2016 年到访，电影路演与体育活动由此常进校园。
• Student activity space includes a student centre, an auditorium and a maker space, and the six canteens are spread across the residence districts rather than gathered in one place.校园内设有学生活动中心、大礼堂和创客空间，六间饭堂分布在各学生生活区而非集中一处。

Notable people

• Ding Ying was one of the professors who, from the late 1920s, made agricultural research and field experimentation central to the college's work and its reputation at home and abroad.丁颖是 1920 年代后期起重视农业科研与试验研究、并提升农学院国内外学术地位的教授之一。
• Chen Huanyong belonged to the same group of discipline leaders, alongside Deng Zhiyi and Shen Pengfei, who tied the college's teaching to experiment stations and production.陈焕镛与邓植仪、沈鹏飞同属这一批学科带头人，他们把学院教学与试验场和生产实践结合起来。
• Deng Zhiyi served as principal from June 1920 while also directing the provincial agriculture and forestry experiment station.邓植仪自 1920 年 6 月起任校长，同时兼任农林试验场场长。
• Huang Zungeng, the experiment station director, became principal of the Guangdong Public Agricultural Specialised School when it was founded in August 1917.黄遵庚以农林试验场场长身份兼任 1917 年 8 月改办成立的广东公立农业专门学校校长。
• Zou Lu, president of National Sun Yat-sen University, is named on the college foundation stone, although the inscription was covered with cement during the Cultural Revolution.国立中山大学校长邹鲁的名字镌刻在农学院奠基石上，文化大革命期间该石刻被水泥涂抹。
• He Jingtang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, led the design team for the university's 2024 gymnasium through the South China University of Technology institute.中国工程院院士何镜堂带领华南理工大学建筑设计研究院团队，设计了该校 2024 年启用的体育馆。
• Mao Zedong wrote the college's name by hand in 1952, an inscription that has remained associated with the institution since its founding as a separate university.1952 年毛泽东亲笔题写华南农学院校名，这幅题字自学校独立建校起便与之相随。