Northwest University for Nationalities

Northwest Minzu University is located in Lanzhou, an important node city of the "Belt and Road Initiative". It is the first ethnic higher education institution established after the founding of the People's Republic of China. It is affiliated to the State Ethnic Affairs Commission. It is a joint institution established by the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, the Ministry of Education, the State Ethnic Affairs Commission and the Gansu Provincial People's Government. It is a high-level university construction unit determined by Gansu Province.

The school originated from the Nationalities College established by the Communist Party of China in Yan'an in 1941. Later, the Nationalities College was merged into Yan'an University. In 1949, Yan'an University was renamed Northwest People's Revolutionary University. In August 1950, Northwest Minzu College was officially established on the basis of the third branch of the Lanzhou Branch of Northwest People's Revolutionary University. In April 2003, it was renamed Northwest Minzu University. In 2007, the school passed the undergraduate teaching work level evaluation of the Ministry of Education with "excellent" results. The university has the Northwest New Village Campus, Yuzhong Campus, and affiliated hospitals, affiliated middle schools, affiliated primary schools, and affiliated kindergartens. The total campus area is 1,776 acres, the total building area is 770,000 square meters, the library has more than 4.06 million books and documents (including electronic books), and the total value of teaching and scientific research equipment is about 500 million yuan. After more than 70 years of development, the school has formed the Northwest Minzu University spirit represented by "yellow land" and "Yellow River", with "simple and unpretentious, willing to live in poverty, indifferent to fame and fortune, selfless dedication" and "high aspirations, unremitting efforts, perseverance, and courage to move forward", and has trained more than 190,000 specialized talents of all levels and types for the country.

The school has the right to confer bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees. There are 25 teaching and research units, covering 11 categories including economics, law, education, literature, history, science, engineering, agriculture, medicine, management, and art. There are 72 undergraduate majors, 2 first-level disciplines authorized to confer doctoral degrees, 1 second-level discipline authorized to confer doctoral degrees, 16 first-level disciplines authorized to confer master's degrees, 2 second-level disciplines authorized to confer master's degrees, 1 interdisciplinary discipline authorized to confer master's degrees, 13 master's professional degree categories, and a postdoctoral research mobile station for Chinese language and literature. Enrollment is open to 31 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government, and Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. There are more than 30,000 teachers and students.

The school has 1 "National Outstanding Contribution Group for the Development of Western China", 1 "National Huang Danian-style Teacher Team for Colleges and Universities", 2 "National Advanced Groups of Professional and Technical Talents", 1 national teaching team, 1 candidate for the "National Hundred Thousand Talents Project", 1 "National Model Worker", and 6 experts enjoying special allowances from the State Council; there are 27 provincial and ministerial key disciplines. In the construction of "Double First-Class" disciplines in Gansu Province, ethnology is a dominant discipline, and Chinese language and literature, computer science and ethnic information technology, and bioengineering are characteristic disciplines. There are 4 national characteristic majors, 27 national and provincial first-class undergraduate major construction sites, and 21 provincial first-class undergraduate courses. It is a pilot project unit for the national comprehensive professional reform and the national excellent agricultural and forestry talent training model reform.

The school currently has 2 national experimental teaching (demonstration) centers, 1 key research base of the Ministry of Education's National Education Research and Development Center, 1 Gansu Research Base of the National and Religious Theory of the Chinese United Front Theory Research Association, 1 National Ethnic Affairs Commission Chinese National Community Research Center, 4 National Ethnic Affairs Commission Humanities and Social Sciences Key Research Bases, and 11 other provincial and ministerial humanities and social sciences research bases, new think tanks and collaborative innovation centers. There are 1 national international cooperation joint laboratory, 1 key laboratory of the Ministry of Education, 4 key laboratories of the National Ethnic Affairs Commission, and 10 other provincial and ministerial laboratories, engineering centers and other scientific and technological innovation platforms. Regularly publish and distribute "Northwest Ethnic Studies" (CSSCI source journal) and "Journal of Northwest University for Nationalities", among which "Northwest Ethnic Studies" was rated as "My favorite excellent Gansu journal in 40 years of reform and opening up".

In recent years, the school has undertaken more than 4,000 scientific research projects at all levels and types, and has won the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award twice. Compiled and published the "Gesar Library", becoming an academic center for the study of "Gesar" in the new era. The publication of Dunhuang documents in English and French is hailed as another milestone in the compilation of Dunhuang documents. Minhai Bioengineering Co., Ltd. of the school was selected as the "first batch of backbone enterprises of strategic emerging industries in Gansu Province", and provided more than 70% of the production serum for the inactivated vaccine of the new coronavirus in China. The school has established inter-school cooperation and exchange relations with universities and scientific research institutions in dozens of countries such as the United States, Russia, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and expanded substantive cooperation and exchanges with universities and scientific research institutions in countries along the "Belt and Road".

In the Yushu earthquake relief, teachers and students of the Chinese Language and Literature Department were commended by the CPC Central Committee, the State Council and the Central Military Commission; in the fight against the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the school's affiliated hospital selected 32 people in white coats and armor to rush to Wuhan, demonstrating the unity and love of all ethnic groups. The school has been awarded the honorary title of "National Model Collective for National Unity and Progress" by the State Council twice, and has been rated as "National Excellent Unit for Summer Social Practice Activities of College and Technical School Volunteers in the Countryside" by the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League for many times, and won the title of "Gansu Province Advanced Collective for Poverty Alleviation".

The school adheres to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, based on the new development stage, implements the new development concept, integrates into the new development pattern, adheres to the original mission of educating people for the Party and cultivating talents for the country, and persists in serving the people, serving the Chinese Communist Party in governing the country, serving the consolidation and development of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, serving reform and opening up and socialist modernization. With the forging of a strong sense of community of the Chinese nation as the main line of work, the school fully implements the fundamental task of cultivating morality and cultivating people, and strives to build the school into a strong position for adhering to the leadership of the Party, a highland for cultivating builders and successors of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, a model place for building a common spiritual home for the Chinese nation, and a characteristic think tank that serves to coordinate and promote the "four comprehensive" strategic layout, and strives to build a high-level modern comprehensive university.

(Updated on November 15, 2021)