China Agricultural University

As a university directly under the Ministry of Education, China Agricultural University is the origin of modern agricultural higher education in my country. Its history began with the Agricultural University of Imperial University of Peking established in 1905. In September 1949, the Agricultural College of Peking University, the Agricultural College of Tsinghua University and the Agricultural College of North China University merged to form Beijing Agricultural University. In October 1952, the Agricultural Machinery Department of Beijing Agricultural University merged with the Central Agricultural Ministry Mechanized Agricultural College, the North China Agricultural Machinery College and the Plain Province Agricultural College to form the Beijing Agricultural Mechanization College, which was renamed Beijing Agricultural Engineering University in October 1985. In September 1995, Beijing Agricultural University and Beijing Agricultural Engineering University merged to form China Agricultural University, and Comrade Jiang Zemin personally wrote the name of the school. The current party secretary is Jiang Peimin and the president is Sun Qixin.

For a long time, the construction and development of the university has received great attention from the country. Beijing Agricultural University was listed as one of the six key universities in the country by the State Council in 1954, and one of the 10 key universities in the country in 1984. Beijing Agricultural Mechanization College was listed as one of the key universities in the country in 1960. The school entered the first batch of "211 Project" construction in 1995, was identified as a high-level research university for key construction of "985 Project" in 2004, and was selected as a first-class university construction university (Class A) in 2017. In 2022, the school and nine disciplines including biology, agricultural engineering, food science and engineering, crop science, agricultural resources and environment, plant protection, animal husbandry, veterinary medicine, and grassland science were selected as the second round of "Double First-Class" construction universities and construction disciplines. On May 4, 2003, Premier Wen Jiabao of the State Council visited China Agricultural University and delivered an important speech. On October 13, 2005, Wu Bangguo, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, visited China Agricultural University, congratulated the university on its 100th anniversary, and encouraged the university to create greater glory. On May 2, 2009, Hu Jintao, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and President of the State, visited China Agricultural University, held a cordial discussion with representatives of teachers and students, expressed his earnest expectations for young students, and asked the university to "accelerate the pace of building a world-class agricultural university". On May 2, 2010, General Secretary Hu Jintao wrote back to the teachers and students of China Agricultural University, encouraging all teachers and students to make greater contributions to the development of modern agriculture. On September 15, 2012, Comrade Xi Jinping came to the university to participate in the main event of the National Science Popularization Day in Beijing. When inspecting the school, he asked the school to "grasp both teaching and educating people and promoting both without delay" and "truly build a first-class university with Chinese characteristics and agricultural characteristics", which further pointed out the direction for the development of the school and greatly stimulated the sense of responsibility and mission of all teachers and students in the school.

After a century of ups and downs, China Agricultural University has developed into a research-oriented university with agronomy, life sciences, agricultural engineering and food science as its characteristics and advantages, forming a discipline group with distinctive characteristics and complementary advantages, such as agriculture and life sciences, resources and environmental sciences, information and computer sciences, agricultural engineering and automation sciences, economic management and social sciences. The school is one of the first 20 units in the country to independently review degree authorization. Through independent review, it has added interdisciplinary doctoral degree authorization points in "Nutrition and Health" and "Land Science and Technology", and the first first-level doctoral degree authorization point in "Marxist Theory" in agricultural and forestry universities. The school has a total of 18 colleges, 1 physical teaching unit and 1 directly affiliated department, covering 7 major disciplines including agronomy, engineering, science, economics, management, law, and literature; it has an undergraduate school, a graduate school, a continuing education school and a physical education department. In the fourth round of first-level discipline level evaluation, 6 first-level disciplines were rated A+, and the number of disciplines rated A+ ranked sixth among universities nationwide; the university currently has 11 national scientific research platforms, including 3 national key laboratories, 1 national engineering laboratory, 2 national engineering technology research centers, 1 national R&D center, 1 national international joint research center, and 3 national field science observation and research stations; 108 provincial and ministerial scientific research platforms, including 3 demonstration international science and technology cooperation bases, 1 provincial and ministerial international science and technology cooperation base, 95 provincial and ministerial key laboratories/research centers/bases, and 9 ministerial field science observation and experimental stations.

China Agricultural University has a strong and well-structured faculty. There are 2,007 full-time teachers, including 731 professors (including researchers) and 988 associate professors (including associate researchers). There are 1,582 full-time graduate supervisors, including 1,020 doctoral supervisors and 562 master's supervisors. There are 205 part-time first supervisors for graduate students during the term of employment, including 74 doctoral supervisors and 131 master's supervisors. China Agricultural University has a complete education system for training bachelors, masters and doctors. The school has 19 postdoctoral mobile stations, 23 doctoral and 33 master's degree authorized first-level disciplines, 1 professional doctoral and 15 professional master's degree categories, 76 undergraduate majors, and 8 second bachelor's degree majors. There are 13,483 full-time undergraduates and 511 second bachelor's degree students; 12,134 full-time graduate students, including 7,026 full-time master's students and 4,279 full-time doctoral students; 829 part-time graduate students; 341 postdoctoral researchers.

China Agricultural University adheres to the talent training concept of "both moral and talented, comprehensive development, balance of general and specialized, and pursuit of excellence", and cultivates top innovative talents and industry leaders with comprehensive development of morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics and labor, with a broad foundation in humanities and natural sciences, solid professional knowledge and practical skills, rich in innovative spirit and ability, and deep feelings for "agriculture, rural areas and farmers". With the support of the Ministry of Education and the China Higher Education Society, the school took the lead in establishing the National New Agricultural Science Construction Center and the Higher Agriculture and Forestry Education Branch of the Higher Education Society, leading and promoting the reform and innovation of higher agriculture and forestry education. The school vigorously promotes professional certification, takes the lead in formulating the certification standards for agricultural and forestry majors in ordinary colleges and universities, and becomes the setter of agricultural science certification standards. The agronomy major was the first to pass the national agricultural science major (third level) certification; the two majors of plant protection and horticulture were the first to pass the Sino-Russian joint certification; six majors of agricultural water conservancy engineering, water conservancy and hydropower engineering, vehicle engineering, electrical engineering and automation, computer science and engineering, and food science and engineering passed the engineering education professional certification. The school has 3 national high-level talent special support program ("high-level talent support program") teaching masters, 2 national teaching masters and 46 Beijing teaching masters, 5 national excellent teaching teams, 1 national college Huang Danian-style teacher team, 10 Beijing excellent teaching teams and 3 Beijing colleges and universities excellent undergraduate education teams. Actively promote the construction of first-class undergraduate majors, 23 majors have been selected as national first-class undergraduate major construction sites, 11 majors have been selected as provincial first-class undergraduate major construction sites, and 2 majors have been selected as Beijing's key first-class majors. In addition, it has 14 characteristic major construction sites of higher education institutions of the Ministry of Education and 10 characteristic major construction sites at the Beijing municipal level. 10 majors have been selected as the reform pilot project of the "Excellent Agricultural and Forestry Talent Education and Training Program", making it the school with the largest number of approved majors. To serve the country's major strategic needs, biological sciences and biological breeding sciences have been approved to carry out pilot reforms in basic discipline enrollment (referred to as the "Strengthening Basics Program"). The school's biological sciences top student training base was selected as the first batch of national basic disciplines top student training program 2.0 bases, and it has two national basic science research and teaching talent training bases in biology and chemistry, one national life science and technology talent training base, and two national talent training model innovation experimental zones. The school has continuously deepened the reform of teaching content and teaching methods, and has established 23 national quality courses, 15 quality resource sharing courses, 2 quality video open courses, 23 national first-class undergraduate courses, 4 national ideological and political demonstration courses, 8 Beijing colleges and universities ideological and political demonstration courses, 25 Beijing quality courses and 15 Beijing colleges and universities quality undergraduate courses. 122 textbooks were selected as national "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" planning textbooks, and 17 textbooks were selected as national "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" planning textbooks; won 3 first prizes and 1 second prize for national excellent textbooks, 1 advanced individual and 1 advanced collective for national textbook construction, and 15 high-quality undergraduate textbooks for Beijing colleges and universities. Strengthen the construction of laboratories and internship bases, and have 3 national experimental teaching demonstration centers, 3 national virtual simulation experimental teaching centers, 3 national agricultural science and education cooperation talent training bases and 6 Beijing experimental teaching demonstration centers. By strengthening the cultivation of practical innovation ability, an innovative talent training system has been established, laying a good foundation for carrying out high-level research-based teaching, and college students' scientific and technological innovation activities are active. In the past five years, with the support of various innovative projects, undergraduates have published 338 high-level papers at home and abroad as the first author, participated in the application for 127 patents and 102 software copyrights, and won 3,965 awards for subject competitions at the provincial and ministerial levels or above. More than 30 student entrepreneurial teams have won the title of Beijing's Outstanding College Student Entrepreneurship Team. The school was named "National University with Typical Experience in Innovation and Entrepreneurship in 2018" by the Ministry of Education. We will thoroughly implement the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping on graduate education, promote the school's "12358 Action Plan for the Reform and Development of Graduate Education in the New Era", serve the national strategic needs and economic and social development, and continuously improve the quality of graduate training. In 2021, the scale of graduate enrollment hit a record high, with 3,419 master's students and 1,070 doctoral students admitted. We will optimize the construction of the curriculum system. As of December 2021, a total of 435 special courses have been built, including hybrid courses, all-English courses, case courses, curriculum ideological and political courses, and cutting-edge cross-disciplinary courses. All professional degree graduate students are enrolled and trained under the special system. In 2021, the school has set up 11 major categories and 58 special projects, and the three-stage training model of "practice-theory-practice" is actively promoted. Strengthen the construction of practice bases, build 2 national bases, 330 school-institute bases, focus on the construction of 10 excellent school-level bases, and 5 key construction projects of graduate public teaching open experimental platforms. Promote the dual tutor system for professional degrees, and hire 1,141 part-time second tutors. Strengthen case teaching, and 20 cases have been selected into the Chinese Professional Degree Case Library. The reform of the graduate training model of integrating science and education and combining industry and education has achieved remarkable results. Our school's graduate education achievements have won 2 first prizes of the "Beijing Education and Teaching Achievement Award", 1 special prize, 1 first prize, and 1 second prize of the "Graduate Education Achievement Award of the Chinese Society of Degrees and Graduate Education", and 13 "National Agricultural Professional Degree Graduate Practical Teaching Achievement Awards". Graduate students have won excellent results in various competitions: 2 national special prizes, 8 first prizes, 15 second prizes, and 7 third prizes; 5 provincial and ministerial special prizes, 32 first prizes, 44 second prizes, and 16 third prizes. Further improve the quality assurance system of graduate dissertations and promote the continuous improvement of the quality of dissertations. A total of 23 doctoral dissertations of the school were selected as "National Excellent Doctoral Dissertations", ranking among the top universities in the country. Set up "Degree +" projects and graduate student independent innovation research fund projects, organize the China Graduate Student Innovation Practice Series Competition Rural Revitalization Science and Technology Strengthening Agriculture + Innovation Competition, and build a platform for improving students' comprehensive quality. The school has trained more than 130,000 qualified graduates, and the quality and level of education have been widely recognized by all sectors of society. In 2021, the school will have 2,811 undergraduate graduates, 1,945 master graduates, and 810 doctoral graduates.

China Agricultural University focuses on human nutrition and health, and is guided by the major needs of national agricultural science and technology and the international academic frontier, to carry out high-level scientific research, social services, and cultural inheritance and innovation. Research in the fields of biological breeding, healthy breeding, veterinary public health safety, agricultural green development, agricultural engineering, food manufacturing, China's agricultural and rural development, and global food security is at the leading level at home and abroad. The research results of "Research and Development of Comprehensive Management of Low-Yield Areas in the Huanghuaihai Plain" presided over by Academician Shi Yuanchun won the National Science and Technology Progress Special Award. 28 high-level research papers have been published in the internationally renowned magazines "SCIENCE", "CELL", "NATURE" and "NATURE GENETICS", laying the foundation for the school's leading position in basic research. Since the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan", he has presided over 48 national key R&D plan projects; 10 major projects of the National Social Science Fund, and 1 major research project of the Ministry of Education's philosophy and social science research. There are 6 chief scientists of the National Modern Agricultural Industry Technology System, 31 national science and technology awards, including 14 main reports, and 196 provincial and ministerial science and technology awards. In the ESI subject evaluation indicators, the total citations of the school's 14 subject papers, including agricultural science, plant and animal science, environment/ecology, biology and biochemistry, chemistry, microbiology, engineering, molecular biology and genetics, general social sciences, pharmacology and toxicology, immunology, earth science, clinical medicine, and computer science, have entered the top 1% in the world. Among them, the total citations of agricultural science and plant and animal science remain in the top 1/1000 in the world, and the total citations of agricultural science remain in the top 1/1000 in the world. Social service work revolves around major national strategies and regional economic and social development, and explores new mechanisms and models for science and technology to serve local areas with the working ideas of top-level design, overall layout, and leadership. The university has signed cooperation agreements with more than ten provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities and more than 100 cities, and has built 27 comprehensive experimental stations, 3 industrial research institutes and 131 professor workstations in 27 provinces across the country, supporting the development of local economy, improving the level of agricultural science and technology, and accelerating the process of agricultural industrialization; the university actively cooperates with local governments and enterprises in government, industry, academia, research and application, and promotes the transfer and transformation of scientific and technological achievements through the transfer of scientific and technological achievements, technology implementation licenses, and valuation of shares, providing impetus for corporate scientific and technological innovation. The university's patent achievements and practical technologies cover most provinces and cities across the country, and a number of major scientific and technological innovation achievements have become the leading technologies in related industries. The university has carried out theoretical policies, quality improvement, capacity building, agricultural science and technology training and services for new farmers, agricultural management talents, grassroots agricultural cadres, grassroots technicians, professional farmers, entrepreneurs, cross-border investors, etc., reaching 55,000 people/year, which has effectively promoted the school's science and technology promotion and achievement transfer and transformation work.

In recent years, China Agricultural University has significantly accelerated the pace of opening up education to the outside world. The university has established friendly cooperative relations with 242 universities, research institutes and international organizations in 52 countries and regions in Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe and America. In accelerating the construction of world-class universities, the university has established the "World Top Agricultural University Alliance (A5)" with Cornell University in the United States, Wageningen University in the Netherlands, University of California, Davis and University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, and has established nearly 20 education and scientific research cooperation projects under the alliance mechanism. Among them, the two undergraduate Sino-foreign cooperative education programs in Food Science and Engineering and Food Quality and Safety jointly organized with Cornell University are the first batch of undergraduate degree programs of Ivy League institutions introduced in my country; the Sino-Dutch Dairy Center jointly built with Wageningen University is a platform for comprehensive service of international cooperation in the national dairy industry.

Facing the international frontier, the school has built high-end think tanks and interdisciplinary cooperation platforms, and established the School of International Development and Global Agriculture and the Institute of Global Food Economics and Policy. It has launched the International Corn Technology Innovation and Achievement Transformation Center, a national agricultural scientific research innovation and industrial talent training base. In serving the country's "Belt and Road" initiative, 40 domestic and 35 foreign agricultural and forestry colleges and universities have jointly established the "Belt and Road" Agricultural Education, Science and Technology Innovation Alliance, and 11 "Belt and Road" agricultural cooperation centers have been built based on the alliance. The school has maintained long-term cooperative relations with important organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Food Program, the United Nations Development Program, the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, and has jointly carried out policy dialogues, think tank research, and international development projects. The school has long been conducting Sino-foreign cooperative education projects with the University of Colorado Denver and Oklahoma State University, and has carried out a variety of national government-sponsored and inter-school exchange programs such as undergraduate, master and doctoral joint training, academic competitions, summer camps, etc. with a number of friendly institutions, including the University of Edinburgh, the University of Hohenheim, the French National Institute of Agriculture, Food and Environment, the University of Alberta, the Tokyo University of Agriculture, and the University of Sukuin, Tanzania.

China Agricultural University attaches great importance to the cultivation of students' comprehensive qualities, actively carries out second-class education activities, and has a rich and colorful campus cultural life. Give full play to the bridge and link role of the Student Union and the Graduate Student Union, focus on rights and interests services, lead the construction of academic style, and guide students to participate in the democratic management of the school in a standardized and orderly manner. The school currently has 79 student clubs, including ideological and political, volunteer public welfare, academic and scientific, cultural and sports, innovation and entrepreneurship, and other types. The national flag class won the first prize in the Beijing University National Flag Guard Review Competition; the International Exchange Association won the second prize in the Harvard University Model United Nations Conference; the Sunflower Charity Club and the Green Pulse Environmental Protection Association were rated as the "Role Model 100" national best college student clubs; the Fengyun Society Humanities Expedition Team and the Sunflower Charity Club were rated as "National Outstanding College Student Team". The school continues to focus on major national strategies such as poverty alleviation and rural revitalization to carry out a series of social practice activities. Every year, more than 3,000 young students are organized to go deep into the grassroots, receive education, grow talents, and make contributions in practice. In the process of serving the "three rural issues", they write papers on the land of the motherland and apply scientific and technological achievements to the great cause of realizing agricultural modernization. They have successively won more than 200 honorary titles such as the National College and Technical School Student Volunteer Summer "Three Going to the Countryside" Social Practice Outstanding Unit. The university's scientific and technological innovation and entrepreneurship activities are booming. The university has achieved excellent results in many competitions, such as the "Challenge Cup" National College Students' Extracurricular Academic Science and Technology Works Competition, the "Chuang Qingchun" China College Students Entrepreneurship Competition, the China "Internet +" College Students' Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, the National College Students' Agricultural Building Environment and Energy Engineering Related Professional Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, the International Genetic Engineering Machine Competition, the National Agricultural Science Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, the National Electronic Design Competition, the National Mechanical Innovation Design Competition, and the National College Students' Mathematical Modeling and Computer Application Competition. The university's innovation and entrepreneurship capabilities and enthusiasm are constantly improving. The university actively promotes volunteer service work, integrates it into freshman admission education, and cultivates students' sense of responsibility and dedication. The university actively organizes students to participate in volunteer services for large-scale events such as the Beijing Olympics, the Winter Olympics, the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, the Beijing World Horticultural Exposition, the 70th anniversary of the National Day, and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Party. The university has won awards from higher authorities, such as the Beijing Municipal Advanced Collective for Serving and Guaranteeing the 70th Anniversary of the National Day and the 11th China Youth Volunteer Outstanding Organization Award. The school currently has more than 100 volunteer service projects for students to choose from, covering poverty alleviation, helping the poor, helping the elderly, saving orphans, helping the disabled, and helping students. The "Youthful Joyful Warm Home" project and the "Serving the Three Rural Areas and Cultivating Talents • Volunteer Life First Lesson" project won silver medals in the third and fourth China Youth Volunteer Service Project Competitions respectively. The school's sports are guided by the idea of ​​"teaching students in accordance with their aptitude, classified guidance, standard management, and four-year consistency". Based on "teaching, practicing, and competing frequently", we will deepen the teaching reform, continuously optimize the three-level curriculum system of "physical fitness class + special basic class + sports club class", and innovatively establish a five-in-one physical education class assessment and evaluation system of "theory + special practice + physical comprehensive test + classroom ideological and political education + extracurricular sports activities". The "physical comprehensive test one-vote veto" system is fully implemented, and effective guarantees are achieved in terms of goals, mechanisms, and paths to help students "enjoy fun, strengthen physical fitness, improve personality, and temper their will" in physical exercise. The physical health level of students has been significantly improved. In-class and out-of-class sports activities have blossomed in an all-round way, with remarkable results. As the first rugby team in mainland China, the school's rugby team has represented the country in international competitions many times and won glory for the motherland. In 2010, the Chinese women's rugby team, mainly composed of students from our school, won the silver medal in the Guangzhou Asian Games; in 2017, the school's men's rugby team won the National Seven-a-side College Rugby Championship for five consecutive years; from 2018 to 2021, it won the Class A championship of the Capital Higher Education Spring Touch Rugby Competition for four consecutive years. In 2017, the school's football team won the runner-up in the "Xtep" China College Student Campus Football League Super Group National Finals. In recent years, the track and field team has also won individual championships and runner-ups in the National College Students Games and Beijing University Games many times. The school's art education has flourished, and has formed its own characteristics in art education and art troupe management. At present, the school has seven well-established college art troupes, including choirs, wind orchestras, dance troupes, drama troupes, folk music troupes, string orchestras and musical troupes. The art troupes have achieved excellent results in the college art festivals in recent years, winning a total of 7 awards in 2017. The school folk music troupe was commissioned by the state to represent Chinese college students in the Greek International Music Festival. In the 2018 Beijing College Student Music Festival, the choir and folk music troupe won two gold medals, and the string orchestra and wind orchestra won three silver medals. The school choir and wind orchestra have passed the evaluation and acceptance of the Beijing College Student Art Troupe for many consecutive sessions. In 2019, the original drama "Song of Farming" stood out in the national "Golden Hedgehog College Student Drama Festival" and won the only highest award of this drama festival-the "Golden Hedgehog" Award.

The country is rich and the people are prosperous, and the strong agriculture is the foundation. Solving the difficulties of people's livelihood and cultivating talents in the world is the school's unchanging pursuit for a hundred years. Generations of agricultural university students have been attached to their hometowns and concerned about the people. They have spared no effort to realize the Chinese people's dream of food, clothing and prosperity for thousands of years. They have maintained the closest flesh-and-blood ties with the motherland and the people, forming the school's unique spiritual tradition of diligence, prudence, patriotism and concern for the people, and the school-running tradition of rigorousness, pragmatism, and virtue and erudition. Today, China Agricultural University, guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, takes it as its mission to cultivate talents in "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" and improve the level of agricultural science and technology. It maintains its advantageous agricultural disciplines, develops a variety of emerging disciplines, is closely connected with the ever-changing world, and develops in sync with the ever-changing science and technology, striding towards the goal of building a world-class university with Chinese characteristics and agricultural characteristics.