National public university in Chengdu, Sichuan, China
Sichuan University
(
SCU
) is a
public university
in
Chengdu
,
Sichuan
, China. The university is affiliated with and funded by the
Ministry of Education
. The university is part of
Project 211
,
Project 985
, and the
Double First-Class Construction
.
[3]
In 1994, the then
Chengdu University of Science and Technology
and then Sichuan University merged to form Sichuan Union University (which was renamed Sichuan University in 1998). In 2000, the then West China University of Medical Sciences and then Sichuan University merged to establish the current form of Sichuan University.
[4]
History
[
edit
]
Old gate of the National Sichuan University
Sichuan University is one of the earliest institutions of
higher education in China
. Its earliest predecessor was the Sichuan Chinese and Western School (四川中西學堂), a school established in 1896 that combined traditional and modern methods of education. In 1902, it was merged with two
traditional Chinese academies
, the Jinjiang Shuyuan (錦江書院, founded 1740) and the Zunjing Shuyuan (尊經書院, founded 1875), and became known as the Sichuan Higher School (四川高等?堂, later 四川高等?校). In 1916, after another merger with a normal school, it was renamed the National Chengdu Higher Normal School (國立成都高等師範學校). In the late 1920s, the institution was briefly divided into three universities, namely the National Chengdu University, the Chengdu Normal University and the Public Sichuan University. In 1931, however, they were reintegrated to form the National Sichuan University (國立四川大學). By 1949, the National Sichuan University had been developed into one of the largest multidisciplinary universities in China, with arts, science, engineering, agriculture, law, and normal schools and a total of 25 departments.
After the foundation of the PRC, the name was changed to Sichuan University. In the 1950s, the national "adjustment of colleges and departments" (院系?整) was organized, after which SCU specialized in arts and science. The schools of engineering and agriculture was mostly split off to form two new universities: the
Engineering Institute of Chengdu
(成都工?院) and the
Sichuan Institute of Agriculture
. The normal school was merged into
Southwest Normal University
and
Sichuan Teachers College
. The school of law became part of the
Southwest College of Political Science and Law
. A number of departments in agriculture was transferred to the
Southwest Institute of Agriculture
, while the department of aeronautics was affiliated under the
Beijing Institute of Aeronautics
.
The north gate of Wangjiang Campus of SCU, taken on 17, Oct 2015
Engineering Institute of Chengdu, established in 1954, specialized in
chemical engineering
,
hydroelectricity
,
mechanics
,
textiles
, and
light industry
. In 1978, it was renamed to Chengdu University of Science and Technology (CUST).
The
West China School of Medicine
was originally founded as a private medical school, known as
West China Union College
. It became a public university after the foundation of the PRC, being renamed to Sichuan Medical College in 1953 and West China University of Medical Science (WCUMS) in 1985. It was established in 1910 by five Christian missionary groups from the U.S., UK and Canada, with offered courses in stomatology, biomedicine, basic medicine and clinical medicine.
In 1994, the SCU, CUST and WCUMS merged to form the Sichuan Union University (四川?合大?). The university adopted the current name in 1998.
Today, Sichuan University is the largest and most comprehensive university in
Western China
. SCU grants
doctorates
in twelve main disciplines and 111 subordinate disciplines. It also has six professional degree programs, and has 16 disciplines for
postdoctoral research
. The 109
bachelor's degree
programs SCU grants cover the main fields in
liberal arts
,
sciences
,
engineering
,
medicine
and
agriculture
. Its current student population is more than 70,000.
Sichuan University has been listed on the
Entity List
of the
United States Department of Commerce
's
Bureau of Industry and Security
since 2012 due to the Sichuan University Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology's involvement in nuclear weapons development.
[5]
[6]
Faculty
[
edit
]
Sichuan University has a current total staff of 11,357, among which 1,323 are
professors
, 2,345
associate professors
, 13 academicians of
Chinese Academy of Sciences
and
Chinese Academy of Engineering
, 434 PhD Supervisors, and 17 members of the Academic Degrees Committee and the Discipline Appraisal Group under the
State Council
. SCU has 23 professorships from the Yangtze River Scholar Award Plan (9 lecture professor).
Research
[
edit
]
Jiang'an Campus of Sichuan University. The Ming-yuan Lake, the 1st teaching building, and the Jiang'an Library of SCU around it can be seen in the photo.
Sichuan University has two national key labs, six national engineering centers, five ministerial (MOE) key labs, 35 provincial key labs, 10 ministerial and provincial centers, four key research bases for humanities and social sciences, and four clinical research bases at the national level. The university has invested significantly in research, teaching and medical equipment, with a total value of about 530 million
RMB
.
SCU has undertaken and completed a number of national, ministerial and regional research projects, and has many achievements that are rated first class in China. The university publishes more than 4,000 research papers annually.
In 2002, the university's state and central government funding ranked fifth among Chinese universities; it was ranked seventh for the number of publications and eleventh for publications included in SCI. The citations ranked fifteenth among Chinese universities. The number of publications in science, engineering and medicine ranked sixth, and the citations ranked seventh among Chinese universities. In 2002, the university applied for 121 patents, 102 out of which were invention-oriented, making it number eighth among peer schools.
Rankings and Reputation
[
edit
]
Sichuan University is one of the members of
Project 985
(Top Type) and it is one of only two universities in
Western China
region (alongside
Xi'an Jiao tong University
) ranking among the top-15 comprehensive research universities nationwide.
[18]
It is consistently ranked # 1 in
Southwest China
, which comprises
Chongqing Municipality
,
Sichuan Province
,
Guizhou Province
,
Yunnan Province
, and
Tibet Autonomous Region
with a combination of more than 180 million population.
[19]
Internationally, Sichuan University is regarded as one of the most reputable
Chinese universities
by the
Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings
where, it ranked 61st globally as of 2022.
[20]
As of 2022, Sichuan University was ranked #101-150 band by
Academic Ranking of World Universities
and #304 globally by
U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking
.
[21]
[22]
Global Ranking of Sichuan University by
U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking
[21]
Discipline
|
2021
|
Physical Chemistry
|
74
|
Condensed Matter Physics
|
86
|
Chemical Engineering
|
38
|
Engineering
|
109
|
Electrical Engineering
|
165
|
Polymer Science
|
8
|
Computer Science
|
158
|
Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
|
56
|
Mathematics
|
188
|
Mechanical Engineering
|
86
|
Energy and Fuels
|
90
|
Pharmacology and Toxicology
|
34
|
Surgery
|
230
|
Facilities
[
edit
]
Central atrium of the engineering library on the Wangjiang campus, July 2013
The university has four libraries containing ca. 5.5 million volumes in total.
[23]
The libraries also serve as the Collection Center for English Publications under the National Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization,
Ministry of Education
Information Center for Liberal Arts Literature and CALIS Southwest Sub-center.
[24]
The National University Scientific and Technological Projects and Achievements Consulting Center, and Center for Medical Literature Retrieval in Southwest China are served by the SCU library as well.
The university museum is the only one of its kind in China with a comprehensive collection of over 40,000 cultural relics, and over 600,000 animal and plant specimens, ranking first in its holdings among the others in China.
[25]
[26]
The university stadium is fully equipped and served as the main field for the Sixth National Collegiate Sports Meet. Other facilities available include a campus web center, an analytic and testing center, university archives,
[27]
the university press, a national foreign language examination center and intensive language training center, four attached hospitals, and one attached health school. The university publishes 37 academic periodicals for domestic and overseas audience.
Campuses
[
edit
]
Sichuan University's three campuses are located in
Chengdu
, the
capital city
of
Sichuan Province
. The older Wangjiang (望江) campus is in central Chengdu, adjacent to the Jinjiang River and its
tributary
the Jiang'an River. The nearby Huaxi (?西) campus is the site of the medical school. The Jiang'an (江安) campus was built in 2003 in
Shuangliu County
about 12.5 km away from the older campuses; it covers an area of about 4.7 km
2
and has total floorage of more than 2.7 million m
2
. New attending students (most of them) will spend their first and second year in Jiang'an Campus (the newest campus) and then moving to Wangjiang campus for the rest of their college years.
Colleges and schools
[
edit
]
The university has over 30 colleges or schools in various disciplines, including:
[28]
- Wu Yuzhang Honors College, the elite undergraduate college of Sichuan University. Each year, only about 1.5% freshmen from various L&S and Engineering majors of Sichuan University will be able to join Wu Yuzhang Honors College.
- College of Physical Science and Technology
- The College of Physical Science and Technology is located in Wangjiang Campus. The Department of Physics was established in 1928. There are two key national disciplines: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Nuclear Technology. Other study areas include Optics and Condensate Matter Theory. Condensate Matter physics carries out its research in the microscopic electron transportation lab.
- College of Arts
- College of Foreign Languages and Cultures
- College of Mathematics
- College of Computer Science
- College of Software Engineering
- College of Electrical Engineering
- College of Electronics and Information Engineering
- School of Chemical Engineering
- School of Pharmacy
- College of Water Resource & Hydropower
- West China College of Stomatology
, which was the earliest hospital of stomatology and had a significant role in the development of modern
stomatology
[29]
in China. A dental clinic called Renji Dental Clinic was founded in 1907, and was expanded to the first dental hospital in China in 1912. In 1917 the medical faculty of West China Union University (WCUU) established a department of dentistry, which in 1921 became the school of dentistry of WCUU. It was renamed as Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan Medical College in 1953. It was renamed as the School of Stomatology, West China University of Medical Sciences in 1985 and as the West China College of Stomatology, Sichuan University in 2000.
[
citation needed
]
Peter Hessler
wrote that the students of that school were "The ultimate campus elite, the Brahmins of Sichuan University" and that students in other departments "resented" them.
[30]
- Institute of
Semiotics
and Media Studies (ISMS), founded in 2006 by Professor Henry (Yiheng) Zhao. The ISMS has research focused on the semiotics of video games, brand, fashion, tourism, gift, celebrities and other topics of popular culture. Interdisciplinary studies integrating semiotics with Marxism, psychoanalysis, gender studies phenomenology, existentialism, hermeneutics, and post-modernism have been an ISMS focus.
- West China Medical Center of Sichuan University
.
- Sichuan University-
the Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Institute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction
- Sichuan University - Pittsburgh University Institute, a new academic entity jointly established by Sichuan University and
the University of Pittsburgh
.
Notable people
[
edit
]
Zhang Lan
,
social activist
, educationist, and former vice-chairman of the
Chinese Central Government
, and
Wu Yuzhang
, revolutionary and educationist, were once the president of the university. Other notable people who studied at SCU include Marshal
Zhu De
, one of the founding fathers of the
People's Republic of China
and the
People's Liberation Army
;
Guo Moruo
, a literary expert and previous president of
Chinese Academy of Science
;
Jinde Cao
, dean of the School of Mathematics at
Southeast University
;
[31]
and
Ba Jin
, a well-known Chinese author.
Other notable people include:
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"About SCU - SiChuan University"
.
Archived
from the original on 3 May 2021
. Retrieved
30 June
2019
.
- ^
"Sichuan University"
.
Archived
from the original on 2014-06-05
. Retrieved
2013-01-28
.
- ^
"?育部 ?政部 ?家?展改革委?于公布世界一流大?和一流?科建?高校及建??科名?的通知 - 中?人民共和??育部政府???站"
.
www.moe.gov.cn
.
Archived
from the original on 2019-03-27
. Retrieved
2018-06-19
.
- ^
"?校?介 School Introduction"
.
Sichuan University
. Retrieved
2023-10-12
.
- ^
"Huawei among more than 140 Chinese entities on US trade blacklist"
.
South China Morning Post
. 2019-05-30.
Archived
from the original on 2022-01-22
. Retrieved
2022-01-22
.
- ^
"U.S. universities keep ties to Chinese schools that support China's military buildup, report says"
.
NBC News
.
Archived
from the original on 2022-01-22
. Retrieved
2022-01-22
.
- ^
"2024 Best Chinese Universities Ranking"
. Shanghai Ranking. 2024
. Retrieved
April 17,
2024
.
- ^
"Wu Shulian University Ranking"
. Chinese Academy of Management Science. 2023
. Retrieved
March 5,
2024
.
- ^
Chinese Universities Alumni Association (2024).
"Alumni Association (22nd Edition): Chinese University Rankings 2024"
. Retrieved
January 16,
2024
.
Alternative URL
- ^
"QS University Rankings 2025 - China (Mainland)"
. Top Universities. 2025
. Retrieved
June 4,
2024
.
- ^
"THE University Rankings 2024 - China"
. Times Higher Education (THE). 2024
. Retrieved
October 21,
2023
.
- ^
"QS World University Rankings: Asia 2024"
. QS Quacquarelli Symonds Limited. 2024
. Retrieved
November 8,
2023
.
- ^
"Asia University Rankings 2024"
. Times Higher Education. 2024
. Retrieved
April 30,
2024
.
- ^
"Academic Ranking of World Universities"
. Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. 2023
. Retrieved
August 20,
2023
.
- ^
"QS World University Rankings"
. QS Quacquarelli Symonds Limited. 2025
. Retrieved
June 4,
2024
.
- ^
"THE World University Rankings"
. Times Higher Education. 2024
. Retrieved
October 21,
2023
.
- ^
U.S.News & World Report (2022).
"Best Global Universities - US News"
. Retrieved
July 20,
2023
.
- ^
"2022 Best Chinese Universities Ranking"
.
www.shanghairanking.cn
.
Archived
from the original on 2022-10-28
. Retrieved
2022-10-31
.
- ^
"ShanghaiRanking's Best Chinese Universities Ranking"
.
www.shanghairanking.com
.
Archived
from the original on 2022-04-19
. Retrieved
2022-04-19
.
- ^
"World Reputation Rankings"
.
Times Higher Education (THE)
. 2022-10-06.
Archived
from the original on 2022-11-16
. Retrieved
2022-11-16
.
- ^
a
b
"Best Global Universities Rankings: Sichuan University"
.
U.S. News & World Report
. U.S. News & World Report. 21 October 2021.
Archived
from the original on 5 April 2022
. Retrieved
5 August
2022
.
- ^
"ShanghaiRanking's Academic Ranking of World Universities"
.
www.shanghairanking.com
.
Archived
from the original on 2022-08-15
. Retrieved
2022-08-17
.
- ^
"Brief Introduction to the Library"
.
Archived
from the original on 2013-01-12
. Retrieved
2013-01-28
.
- ^
"CALIS website"
.
Archived
from the original on 2008-05-17
. Retrieved
2008-09-02
.
- ^
"Introduction Of Sichuan University Museum"
.
Archived
from the original on 2010-12-02
. Retrieved
2010-12-24
.
- ^
"四川大?博物?"
. December 5, 2008. Archived from
the original
on 5 December 2008.
- ^
"四川大??案?"
.
archives.scu.edu.cn
.
Archived
from the original on 2022-01-07
. Retrieved
2022-01-07
.
- ^
"List of disciplines"
.
Archived
from the original on 2008-08-31
. Retrieved
2008-08-30
.
- ^
"Sichuan University at hxkq.org"
.
Archived
from the original on 2008-05-14
. Retrieved
2009-09-11
.
- ^
Hessler, Peter (2022-05-09).
"A Teacher in China Learns the Limits of Free Expression"
.
The New Yorker
.
Archived
from the original on 2022-05-10
. Retrieved
2022-05-10
.
- ^
"???院"
.
math.seu.edu.cn
.
Archived
from the original on 2019-12-29
. Retrieved
2020-02-26
.
- ^
"Yang Keng"
.
Forbes
. Retrieved
2023-04-13
.
External links
[
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]
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30°37′59″N
104°05′16″E
/
30.63301°N 104.08772°E
/
30.63301; 104.08772