Xinjiang Agricultural University

Located at the foot of Yamalik Mountain in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and on the site of the ancient city of Gongning, Xinjiang Agricultural University is a key university in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region with agricultural science as its advantage and characteristics. The current party secretary is Professor Xie Shuqing, and the president is Professor Jiang Pingan.

The school was formerly the Bayi Agricultural College. It was established in 1952 by General Wang Zhen on the basis of the Second Infantry School of the Chinese People's Liberation Army with the approval of Chairman Mao and the Central Military Commission. The school is affiliated to the Xinjiang Military Region and is the first undergraduate college established in Xinjiang after the founding of New China. The first dean was Tu Zhi (academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences), appointed by Comrades Wang Zhen, Wang Enmao and others; the first vice president Yang Jie (then deputy chief of staff of the Xinjiang Military Region) and the second vice president Meng Meisheng were appointed by Comrades Peng Dehuai and Xi Zhongxun. In 1958, it was transferred to the People's Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and renamed Xinjiang Bayi Agricultural College. In 1995, it was approved by the State Education Commission and renamed Xinjiang Agricultural University. In 2006, it was rated "excellent" in the undergraduate teaching level evaluation of the Ministry of Education. In 2012, it was selected as a university in the basic capacity building project of colleges and universities in central and western China. In 2014, it was jointly built by the People's Government of the Autonomous Region and the former State Forestry Administration. The school currently has four campuses, including Lao Mancheng, Yaxin, Lugang, and Tianger, 7 school-affiliated internship bases such as Xiejiagou Grassland Experiment Station and Hutubi Forage Experiment Demonstration Station, and 329 off-campus teaching internship bases. Among them, the Lao Mancheng campus (school headquarters) covers an area of ​​about 1,500 acres, the Yaxin campus covers an area of ​​about 500 acres, the Lugang campus covers an area of ​​about 4,000 acres, and the Tianger campus (internship forest farm) covers an area of ​​about 150,000 acres.

The school is a national civilized campus, a national high-quality school for talent training in rural revitalization, a national demonstration unit of conservation-oriented institutions, the first batch of autonomous region green universities, and the first batch of autonomous region party building demonstration universities. One grassroots organization won the title of "National Advanced Grassroots Party Organization", and three grassroots organizations won the title of "Advanced Grassroots Party Organization" in the autonomous region and the education system. It was awarded two national "Model Party Building Work Branches", three autonomous region "Benchmark Colleges for Party Building Work", eight "Model Party Building Work Branches" and six "Double Leaders" Teacher Party Branch Secretary Studios.

Over the past 70 years since its establishment, the school has always adhered to the socialist direction of running schools, followed the school policy of "theory and practice, teaching and production", adhered to the school purpose of "establishing universities and cultivating talents for stabilizing and developing Xinjiang", and abided by the school motto of "Mingde, Dedicating Aspirations, Encouraging Learning and Competing for Business". Adhering to the spirit of "self-reliance, hard work, truth-seeking and pragmatism, pioneering and enterprising", the school has formed a full-stage talent training system integrating kindergarten, primary school, middle school, undergraduate, master and doctoral degrees, and has embarked on a characteristic school-running road that closely combines production, learning, research and application, and has made positive contributions to promoting the modernization of my country's agriculture and the development of agricultural higher education.

The school currently has 24 colleges and 1 teaching department. There are 7 postdoctoral mobile stations, 8 first-level doctoral degree authorization points (water conservancy engineering, agricultural engineering, crop science, horticulture, animal husbandry, veterinary medicine, grassland science, and agricultural and forestry economic management), 19 first-level master's degree authorization points, 14 master's professional degree authorization points, and 63 undergraduate majors, distributed in 7 disciplines such as agriculture, science, engineering, economics, management, literature, and law. The school actively participates in the "Double 10,000 Plan" of the Ministry of Education. There are currently 14 national first-class undergraduate major construction points, 13 autonomous region first-class undergraduate major construction points, 3 national first-class courses, and 28 autonomous region first-class courses. Focusing on modern agriculture and animal husbandry, characteristic forestry and fruit industry, there are 1 national key discipline (grassland science), 1 national key (cultivation) discipline (water conservancy and hydropower engineering), 2 key disciplines of the State Forestry Administration (forest cultivation, forestry), 2 autonomous region peak disciplines (grass science, water conservancy engineering), and 5 autonomous region plateau disciplines (horticulture, animal husbandry, crop science, forestry, agricultural and forestry economic management). It has 16 provincial and ministerial research centers and key laboratories, including the Ministry of Education Cotton Engineering Research Center, Xinjiang Modern Dairy Engineering Technology Research Center, Xinjiang Grassland Resources and Ecology Laboratory, and Xinjiang Fruit Processing and Preservation Engineering Technology Research Center.

The school currently has 1,646 faculty members and 1,046 full-time teachers, including 152 professors, 333 associate professors, and 382 with doctoral degrees. The school has 3 people selected for the National Talent Special Program, 49 government special allowance experts, 2 teachers of the "National Hundred Thousand Talents Project", 3 New Century Talents of the Ministry of Education, 2 post scientists of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, 5 Tianshan Leading Talents, and 40 Tianshan Talents. There are 2 national advanced workers, 1 national outstanding teacher, 2 teaching masters of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, 14 teaching masters of the autonomous region, and 2 "Autonomous Region Outstanding Educators". The school currently has 36,281 students, including 340 doctoral students, 3,861 master students, 30,318 undergraduates, and 1,762 adult education students. Since its establishment, the school has formed a consensus on education of "solid foundation, broad scope, emphasis on practice, and innovation", promoted the formation of a talent training system for the comprehensive development of morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor, and has trained nearly 200,000 talents of various types for the society.

The school closely focuses on serving the major needs of Xinjiang's economic and social development, relying on its own agricultural advantages to accelerate the transformation of scientific and technological achievements and release the innovation-driven efficiency. The "funnel-type full-sand sand removal technology" successfully solved the world's difficult sand removal problem of water conservancy projects; "New types of dairy horses and meat horses breeding and industrialization demonstration" became the first new breed of dairy horses and meat horses with independent intellectual property rights in my country; the "Xinjiang fine-wool sheep" cultivated became the source of income increase and wealth for herdsmen in the north and south of Tianshan Mountains; "Hongyou No. 2 watermelon new variety" has become the main melon variety in Xinjiang, and is well-known throughout the country; "Research, development and demonstration of large-scale high-yield comprehensive supporting technologies for cotton" has created 7 national firsts in yield, total yield, area, high-grade high-quality cotton, pest control, fertilizer utilization rate, and water saving.

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the school undertook 2018 vertical scientific research projects, nearly 10 national science and technology support projects such as horse industry, and nearly 500 million yuan in funds. In the past three years, the research funds have exceeded 100 million yuan. A total of 46 scientific and technological achievements awards at the provincial and ministerial levels or above have been won (including 7 first prizes for provincial and ministerial scientific and technological achievements). 36 scientific and technological achievements have been registered, 20 new varieties have been approved, 300 patents (80 invention patents), 260 software copyrights have been authorized, and 36 local standards have been recognized. New varieties such as "Xuexiang" pear, new soybean No. 27, new agricultural cotton No. 1 and No. 4 have been bred, and the results have been transformed.

In the process of running the school, the school focuses on the core point of comprehensively improving the ability to cultivate new agricultural talents, with talent cultivation, professional layout, and serving the "three rural issues" as the focus of work, actively promoting the reform and innovation of new agricultural education, and exploring a new agricultural development path of "highlighting characteristics and taking root in practice". The "Xinjiang Rural Revitalization Research Institute" was established, and 6 scientific and technological courtyards of the China Agricultural Technology Association were approved. It actively carried out agricultural science and technology research and technology promotion services, cultivated and expanded Xinjiang's characteristic and advantageous industries, and co-built modern wine industry colleges, horse industry colleges, and cotton industry colleges with local governments and leading enterprises in the industry. With cooperative units, we have built a multi-in-one internship and training platform integrating practical teaching, scientific and technological research and development, production internships, and training services, focusing on solving the structural contradiction between talent training supply and industrial demand. The school transforms the advantages of talents, technology, and disciplines into specific actions to serve poverty alleviation and rural revitalization, explores the "1+4+N" science and technology service model, promotes the rapid transformation of practical agricultural technology and scientific and technological achievements in the front line of agricultural production, and continuously helps the high-quality development of agriculture and rural areas and the increase of farmers' income. The school has won the "Organizational Innovation Award" for poverty alleviation in the autonomous region twice, and 2 teachers have won the "Innovation Award" and "Endeavor Award" for poverty alleviation.

The school has always insisted on expanding educational openness, actively expanding international science and technology education cooperation and exchanges, and accelerating the process of internationalization. We will continue to optimize the structure of international students, strengthen the enrollment of students with academic qualifications in advantageous disciplines such as agriculture, standardize the education management of international students, continuously improve the quality of training, and "spread China's voice and tell China's story well" through teaching and rich cultural activities, promote exchanges and learning between Chinese and foreign students, and cultivate international talents who know and are friendly to China. We have established cooperative relations with more than 70 universities and research institutions in more than 20 countries and regions, including the United States, Canada, Russia, and Pakistan. We have steadily promoted the international promotion of Chinese, and the Confucius Institute built in Pakistan has become one of the 100 model Confucius Institutes in the world. We have solidly promoted the "Belt and Road" education action, and the school's "Central Asia Research Center" has been approved as a country and regional research center by the Ministry of Education. We have established international cooperation platforms such as the "Xinjiang-Central Asia Modern Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation and Exchange Center" and the "China-Uzbekistan Scientific Research Center". We have jointly initiated the establishment of the "Silk Road Countries Agricultural College Alliance" with brother universities such as China Agricultural University, which has effectively promoted the common development of higher education in agricultural colleges in countries along the Silk Road Economic Belt.

Entering the new era, Xinjiang Agricultural University will fully implement the Party's education policy, take Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as its guide, firmly grasp the overall goal of Xinjiang work, actively practice the Populus euphratica spirit, take moral education as its foundation, and take strengthening agriculture as its mission, accelerate the construction of a high-level modern university with distinctive characteristics in the Silk Road Economic Belt, and strive to make new and greater contributions to building a new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics in Xinjiang that is united, harmonious, prosperous, civilized, progressive, and has a good ecological environment.

(Data update time: March 2022)