Sichuan University

Sichuan University(SCU) is apublic universityinChengdu,Sichuan,China. The university is affiliated with and funded by theMinistry of Education.The university is part ofProject 211,Project 985,and theDouble First-Class Construction.

Sichuan University

Tứ Xuyên đại học
Motto	Hải nạp bách xuyên có thể bao dung nên rộng lớn
Motto in English	Sea, all water, receives all rivers; Utmost wit listens to all sides
Type	Public
Established	1896(1896)
President	Wang Jingsong( uông kính tùng )
Academic staff	6,787
Administrative staff	11,357
Students	70,000
Location	Chengdu , Sichuan , China
Colors
Affiliations	BRICS Universities League,Double First-Class Construction,211 Project,985 Project
Website	scu.edu.cn en.scu.edu.cn
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	Tứ Xuyên đại học
Traditional Chinese	Tứ Xuyên đại học
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Sìchuān Dàxué

In 1994, the thenChengdu University of Science and Technologyand 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.

History

Old gate of the National Sichuan University

Sichuan University is one of the earliest institutions ofhigher education in China.Its earliest predecessor was the Sichuan Chinese and Western School ( Tứ Xuyên Trung Quốc và Phương Tây học đường ), a school established in 1896 that combined traditional and modern methods of education. In 1902, it was merged with twotraditional Chinese academies,the Jin gian g Shuyuan ( cẩm giang thư viện, founded 1740) and the Zunjing Shuyuan ( tôn kinh thư viện, founded 1875), and became known as the Sichuan Higher School ( Tứ Xuyên cao đẳng học đường, later Tứ Xuyên trường cao đẳng ). In 1916, after another merger with a normal school, it was renamed the National Chengdu Higher Normal School ( quốc lập thành đô cao đẳng trường sư phạm ). 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 ( quốc lập Tứ Xuyên đại học ). 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" ( viện hệ điều chỉnh ) 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: theEngineering Institute of Chengdu( thành đô công học viện ) and theSichuan Institute of Agriculture.The normal school was merged intoSouthwest Normal UniversityandSichuan Teachers College.The school of law became part of theSouthwest College of Political Science and Law.A number of departments in agriculture was transferred to theSouthwest Institute of Agriculture,while the department of aeronautics was affiliated under theBeijing Institute of Aeronautics.

The north gate of Wang gian g Campus of SCU, taken on 17, Oct 2015

Engineering Institute of Chengdu, established in 1954, specialized inchemical engineering,hydroelectricity,mechanics,textiles,andlight industry.In 1978, it was renamed to Chengdu University of Science and Technology (CUST).

TheWest China School of Medicinewas originally founded as a private medical school, known asWest 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 ( Tứ Xuyên liên hợp đại học ). The university adopted the current name in 1998.

Today, Sichuan University is the largest and most comprehensive university inWestern China.SCU grantsdoctoratesin twelve main disciplines and 111 subordinate disciplines. It also has six professional degree programs, and has 16 disciplines forpostdoctoral research.The 109bachelor's degreeprograms SCU grants cover the main fields inliberal arts,sciences,engineering,medicineandagriculture.Its current student population is more than 70,000.

Sichuan University has been listed on theEntity Listof theUnited States Department of Commerce'sBureau of Industry and Securitysince 2012 due to the Sichuan University Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology's involvement in nuclear weapons development.

Faculty

Sichuan University has a current total staff of 11,357, among which 1,323 areprofessors,2,345associate professors,13 academicians ofChinese Academy of SciencesandChinese Academy of Engineering,434 PhD Supervisors, and 17 members of the Academic Degrees Committee and the Discipline Appraisal Group under theState Council.SCU has 23 professorships from the Yangtze River Scholar Award Plan (9 lecture professor).

Research

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 millionRMB.

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

University rankings

BCURNational	Domestic	15
Wu ShulianNational	Domestic	10
CUAANational	Alumni	18
QSNational	General	18
THENational	General	14–19
QSAsia (Asia version)	General	94
THEAsia (Asia version)	General	23
ARWUWorld	Research	98
QSWorld	General	=336
THEWorld	General	201–250
USNWRWorld	General	217

Sichuan University is one of the members ofProject 985(Top Type) and it is one of only two universities inWestern Chinaregion (alongsideXi'an Jiao tong University) ranking among the top-15 comprehensive research universities nationwide.It is consistently ranked # 1 inSouthwest China,which comprisesChongqing Municipality,Sichuan Province,Guizhou Province,Yunnan Province,andTibet Autonomous Regionwith a combination of more than 180 million population.

Internationally, Sichuan University is regarded as one of the most reputableChinese universitiesby theTimes Higher Education World Reputation Rankingswhere, it ranked 61st globally as of 2022.

As of 2024, Sichuan University was ranked #98 byAcademic Ranking of World Universitiesand #217 globally byU.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking.

Global Ranking of Sichuan University byU.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking

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

Central atrium of the engineering library on the Wang gian g campus, July 2013

The university has four libraries containing ca. 5.5 million volumes in total.The libraries also serve as the Collection Center for English Publications under the National Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization,Ministry of EducationInformation Center for Liberal Arts Literature andCALISSouthwest Sub-center.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.

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,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

Sichuan University's three campuses are located inChengdu,thecapital cityofSichuan Province.The older Wang gian g ( vọng giang ) campus is in central Chengdu, adjacent to the Jin gian g River and itstributarythe Jiang'an River. The nearby Huaxi ( Hoa Tây ) campus is the site of the medical school. The Jiang'an ( giang an ) campus was built in 2003 inShuangliu Countyabout 12.5 km away from the older campuses; it covers an area of about 4.7 km²and has total floorage of more than 2.7 million m².New attending students (most of them) will spend their first and second year in Jiang'an Campus (the newest campus) and then moving to Wang gian g campus for the rest of their college years.

Colleges and schools

The university has over 30 colleges or schools in various disciplines, including:

• 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 Wang gian g 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 modernstomatologyin 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.Peter Hesslerwrote that the students of that school were "The ultimate campus élite, the Brahmins of Sichuan University" and that students in other departments "resented" them.
• Institute ofSemioticsand 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 UniversityInstitute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction
• Sichuan University - Pittsburgh University Institute, a new academic entity jointly established by Sichuan University andthe University of Pittsburgh.

Notable people

Zhang Lan,social activist,educationist, and former vice-chairman of theChinese Central Government,andWu Yuzhang,revolutionary and educationist, were once the president of the university. Other notable people who studied at SCU include MarshalZhu De,one of the founding fathers of thePeople's Republic of Chinaand thePeople's Liberation Army;Guo Moruo,a literary expert and previous president ofChinese Academy of Science;Jinde Cao,dean of the School of Mathematics atSoutheast University;andBa Jin,a well-known Chinese author.

Other notable people include:

• Dai Bingguo
• Feng Youlan
• Ke Zhao
• Luo Niansheng
• Pu Baoming
• Song Yonghua
• Tong Dizhou
• Yang Keng
• Yang Shangkun
• Zhu Guangqian
• Tang Danhong

See also

• List of universities in China
• West China Union University

External links

• Official website