Northwest A&F University (NWAFU) is a key national comprehensive university under the administration of the Ministry of Education. Supported by the Ministry of Education's “Project 985” and “Project 211”, it is one of the universities listed in the National “World-Class University and First-class Discipline”Project. NWAFU is located in Yangling, Shaanxi Province, the birthplace of Chinese agricultural civilization and today’sNational Agriculture High-tech Industrial Demonstration zone.
The University originated from National Northwest Junior College of Agriculture and Forestry founded in 1934, which was the earliest institution of higher agriculture and forestry education in northwest China.Since its establishment, NWAFUhas been closely bound up with the fate of the country and the nation, assuming the responsibility of rejuvenating northwest China, boosting agricultural prosperity, and cultivating talents.
In September 1999, to implement the strategy of western development and promote the coordinated reform of the science and education system, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council made overall plans. Seven teaching and scientific research institutions merged, namelyNorthwest Agricultural University, Northwest Forestry College, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest Institute of Water Resources Science, Shaanxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shaanxi Provincial Academy of Forestry, and Northwest Institute of Botany, and became today’s Northwest A&F University, jointly constructed by the Ministry of Education and the Provincial Government.NWAFU has been entrusted a mission to support and lead the development of modern agriculture in arid and semi-arid areas.
In 2019, the Ministry of Education and other six provincial ministries and bureaus jointly issued guidelines to further support NWAFU to accelerate its construction of world-class agricultural university, endowing new opportunities to NWAFU.
The past eighty years since the university’s establishment have witnessed generations of its faculty and students staying committed to the philosophy of “managing state fundamentals, solving civilian livelihood, and respecting scientific research” and practicing the university motto of “Sincerity, Simplicity, Bravery and Perseverance”. Inheritingthe ambition of Hou Ji from time immemorial and practicing“Farming Teaching” in modern way, NWAFU has formed the spirit of “taking root in Yangling, giving prime concern to the country, fully engaging in the solution of the Three Rural Issues, braving hardships and pursuing excellence” and the culture of “unity, truth-seeking, tenacity and self-confidence”. The university persists in close integration of production-learning-research, and have made significant contributions to China’s agricultural modernization and scientific research.
NWAFU has 27 colleges (departments, institutes) and postgraduate schools, 14 mobile post-doctoral stations, 16 first-level disciplines for Doctorate Degree Granting, 27 first-level disciplines for Master Degree Granting, 1 Doctorate Degree Granting category, 17 Professional Master Degree Granting category, and 74 undergraduate programs. The university boasts 7 state keydisciplines and 2 national priority (cultivating) disciplines. Ten disciplines includingAgricultural Science, Plant and Animal Science, Engineering, Environmental Science and Ecology, Chemistry, Biology and Bio-Chemistry, Pharmacology & Toxicology, Molecular Biology & Genetics, Microbiology, and Geoscience ranks in the top 1% ESI disciplines worldwide. Agricultural Science, Plant and Animal Science are among the global top 1%. At present, it has developed into an agricultural university with the most complete agricultural, forestry and aquatic disciplines in China.
Since its founding in 1934,the university began to enroll undergraduate students, and post-graduate enrollment started in 1941. Adhering the idea of “solid foundation, wide range, strengtheningpractice and innovation, high quality and internationalization”, NWAFU focused on cultivating academic elites, leading talents in innovation and entrepreneurshipand social development management talents with firm ideals and beliefs, social responsibility, passion for agriculture, rural areas and farmers, innovative spirit, practical ability and international vision, serving the development of modern agriculture.
The university attaches high priority to first-class undergraduate education and actively participates in the construction of “New Agricultural Science”.25 majors have been approved as National First-class undergraduate disciplines construction bases, and“Biological top-notch personnel training base” has been selected as the Talent Training Program 2.0.
NWAFU boasts 1 national Base for Life science and technology Talents training, 3 national talent cultivating model innovation experiment zone, 12 national characteristic majors, and 8 “Outstanding Agricultural and Forestry Talents Plan” major.
Agronomy major has passed agricultural specialty (Grade III)certification. Hydrology and water resources engineering, agricultural water conservancy engineering, water conservancy and hydropower engineering, food science and engineering specialty has passed the certification of engineering education specialty.
There are 2 “10,000 Talents Plan”nationally outstanding teachers, 2 national outstanding teachers, 5 national teaching teams, 12 national top quality courses, 8 national quality resource sharing courses, 4 national open video courses, 20 national first-class undergraduate courses, and 52 kinds of national “11th Five-Year plan” and “12th Five-Year Plan” planning textbooks.
NWAFU strengthens moral education and promotes the all-round development of students. The university has a School of Quality Education, and attaches great importance to the cultivation of students’ innovation ability, encouraging and supportingthem to participate in various high-level competitions, innovation and entrepreneurship project training and practice. NWAFU has won the Gold Award of China College Students’“Internet+”Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competitionfor three times, ranking first among agriculture and forestry universities in China.
Since its founding, more than 200,000 professional talents have stepped out of campus to work home and abroad, among whom 19alumni have been elected academicians of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering, making outstanding contributions to Northwest area and the whole country in agriculture modernization and rural economic and social development.
Adhering to the principle of “making groundbreaking innovations and transforming them into productive forces”,aiming for the frontiers of science and technology in accordance with national and regional strategic demands, NWAFU has conducted basic research and applied technology research in agriculture production. It has formed distinct features and advantages in crop genetics and breeding, disease and insect pest control, soil and water conservation and ecological restoration, efficient agricultural water use in arid areas, livestock and poultry breeding and healthy breeding, agricultural biotechnology and grape and wine research.
Since its founding, NWAFU has acquired more than 6,000 accumulated scientific achievements in various areas, among which over 1,800 are awarded. Outstanding research accomplishments include“Bima-1”, the most widely planted wheat variety in China, and “Xiaoyan-6”, the leading replacementdistant hybrid wheatvariety. The university researchers also developed the apple variety “Qinguan”, the most commonly planted apple variety in China. The direct economic benefit of promoting and commercializing these achievements values over 300 billion RMB. Since the merger of seven institutes in 1999, firmly bearing in mind the national mission of serving for sustainable development in the arid areas, NWAFU has stood on the front-line of the Western Development, the Belt and Road Initiative, and the Rural Revitalization Strategy. The university has won 44 State Science and Technology Awards, led 91 research projects which achieved first prizes at the provincial and ministerial level, and obtained 1,667 national authorized invention patents.
A series of key technologies for high-quality, efficient, and green production of apples on the Loess Plateau has supported and led Loess Plateau to become world recognized andlargest high-quality apple production base in China. The soil erosion control technology system has solved the global conundrum of ecological environment construction on the Loess Plateau, and helped push Shaanxi’s green territory 400 kilometers to the north and played an important role in the national project of returning farmland to forest (grassland).
NWAFU has formed its fine tradition of being close to“agriculture, rural areas, and farmers” and serving society in its long-term university-running practice. Since its founding, to meet the development need of national and regional leading industries, NWAFU has given full play to its social service function and striven for the demonstration, promotion, and industrialization of scientific and technological achievements.
NWAFU took the lead in exploring and practicing university-based new mode of agricultural science and technology promotion in China. Currently, the university has established scientific and technological cooperation with more than 500 local governments and leading enterprises,built28 agricultural science and technology experiment demonstration stations and 46 demonstration bases in the center of regional leading industries, and constructed fast channel for university agricultural science and technology achievements popularizationamong rural areas. Theaccumulateddirect economic benefits of these achievements value over 80 billion yuan.
Actively engaging in poverty alleviation,focusing on two main tasks of “industrial support for poverty alleviation” and “education advancement for poverty alleviation”, NWAFU experimented with paired-up assistance poverty alleviation work mode“three groups and one team”(secretary groups, graduate student groups, expert groups, and outstanding talent pioneer service team), which has been selected by the Ministry of Education as one of the “ten typical projects of targeted poverty alleviation in directly affiliated universities”. It has built the first batch of New Rural Development Research Institutes in China, established Rural Revitalization Strategy Research Institute, Shaanxi Rural Revitalization Industry Research Institute, and College of Farmers Education, providing important intellectual support for the agricultural and rural modernization in the new era.
Adhering to running school openly, NWAFUhas actively expanded international cooperation and exchanges in science, technology and education by strengthening substantive cooperation with world-class universitiesand academic institutions, thus forming a new pattern of all-round, multi-level and multi-channel international cooperation and exchanges. It has successively established intercollegiatepartnerships with more than 152 well-known universities or scientific research institutions in 35 countries around the world, and an annualaverage of 1000 overseas scholars come to the university for academic exchanges. It has jointly carried out two Chinese-Foreign cooperative programs in food science and engineering and environmental science with Lincoln University in Nebraska and the University of Arizona. The university is qualified to receive Chinese government scholarships for international students, with 318 international students currently.
Internationaization has transformed NWAFU from “outside promotes inside” to “going outside to act”. Through actively participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, it has gradually become a highland for China to carry out international agricultural exchanges and cooperation and serve the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt. The Silk-road Agricultural Education and ResearchInnovation Alliance led predominately by NWAFU has a profound influence.NWAFU takes the lead in establishing 8 agricultural science and technology demonstration parks and 3 overseas talent training bases in countries along the silk road.
NWAFU and Yangling Demonstration Zone jointly built the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) agricultural technology exchange and training demonstration base. It lead the establishment of the SCO Institute of Modern Agricultural Development and the SCO International Joint Laboratory, and became a member of the Agricultural Colleges and Universities Alliance of SCO Member States(leading modern agriculture).It was approved to build Confucius Classroom at Baranovichi State University in Belarus.
In the new era, NWAFUwill fully implement the Party’s education policy, take the spirit of the “letter of reply” from General Secretary Xi Jinping to the secretaries and presidents of national agriculture-related universities and expert representatives as aguide, and fulfill the fundamental task of “strengthening moral education and cultivate people”.Adhering to the principle of “making groundbreaking innovations and transforming them into productive forces”, the university will continue to implement the three strategies of strengthening university by talents, internationalization and informatization. It will actively undertake the four missions of safeguarding national food security, maintaining ecological civilization, promoting human health and serving rural revitalization, and strive to achieve five benchmarks of cultivating outstanding agricultural and forestry talents, leading future agricultural development in arid and semi-arid regions, boosting rural revitalization, promoting one construction and deepening university and local integration, to fulfill its historical responsibility of strengthening agriculture and promoting agricultural development, accelerate the construction of world-class agricultural university with Chinese characteristics and strive to realize the dream of great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
