Jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, State Forestry Administration, and Fujian Provincial Government, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University (FAFU) is one of the three high-level provincial universities built as key ones by Fujian Provincial Government and the only higher education institution in Fujian specializing in this field. Over the years it has made significant achievements in the fields of teaching, technological innovation, social services, and international cooperation.

One of the country’s first agricultural and forestry institutions

FAFU was established on the basis of the Agriculture Department of Concord College in 1936 and the Provincial Agricultural Institute in 1940. Over 78 years since its establishment, some 160 thousand students have graduated, and over 10 CAS academicians have worked or studied here. The university is among the first group of Chinese universities to grant master’s degrees and the second group to grant doctoral degrees. In addition, FAFU has been rated “A” in terms of undergraduate teaching by the Ministry of Education. Currently the university is home to some 30 thousand students, 4500 of whom are in their graduate studies.

                             Significant disciplinary strength in the country’s provincial agricultural and forestry universities

In terms of disciplinary numbers, FAFU currently ranks second among the country’s provincial agricultural and forestry universities, boasting 2 national and 3 ministerial key disciplinaries, 11 doctoral and 23 master’s programs of first-grade disciplines, and 11 post-doctoral research stations. In the third round of nationwide disciplinary evaluation conducted by the Ministry of Education, FAFU has 1 discipline ranked among the country’s top 5, 4 among the top 10, and 8 among the top 20, taking up an average of 50 percent of all leading disciplines in Fujian province.

High-quality teaching staff

FAFU now has over 2300 faculty and staff members, among whom 10 are CAS and/or CAE academicians, 3 are AAS members. There are also 4 members of the teaching staff who are the distinguished experts of country’s “Thousand-Talent Program”, 4 are the distinguished experts of Education Ministry’s “Changjiang Scholars Program”，and over 130 people are the distinguished experts of the national ten million talent project.

Leading position in science & technological innovations

FAFU owns 75 provincial and national innovative platforms, 3 of which are national engineering research centers. The university also ranks first in Fujian in receiving national research funding and second in receiving provincial or ministerial grants. With these support, FAFU has been leading the country in researches in sugarcane, bee, fiber crops, bio pesticide, and cedar wood. Its research team successfully decoded the genome of the diamondback moth, and it is also the birthplace of international JUNCAO technology. FAFU is also the first university of Fujian province to publish high-quality research papers in key international journals. Altogether some 672 research findings have received provincial or national scientific and technological awards, 28 of which are entitled to China’s top three research awards.

High-quality social services

With its national research center for rural development, FAFU assists 73 counties in Fujian and over 370 counties of 32 provinces/cities across China in their development. For 11 consecutive years FAFU has been attending the China-Fujian Technology & Projects Fair and ranked first in terms of project matchmaking and receiving grants. Its JUNCAO technology has been promoted in over 80 countries, and 85 percent of China’s sugarcane cultivation uses varieties developed by FAFU. The university is also leading the country in terms of bast fiber crops, sweet potato and peanut breeding. 2/3 varieties of country’s bast fiber crops covering 1/2 of its planting area were bred by FAFU, and the most widely cultivated varieties of sweet potato and peanut were also bred by FAFU. One third of the active compound in the country’s BT Bio-pesticides production was realized by FAFU, and account for 50% of the country’s export market. In addition, FAFU has trained over 85 percent of the country’s bee specialists and built the largest and most comprehensive repository of edible fungi of China.

Leading university in internationalization efforts

In recent years FAFU has stepped up its efforts in becoming an internationally recognized institution of higher education. It is entitled to the Chinese Government Scholarship Program, and has established the world’s second Confucius Institute featuring agriculture in Durban, South Africa. The university has built friendships with over 50 research institutes in more than 20 countries and regions. Together with Dalhousie University and University of British Columbia, FAFU has established two undergraduate education programs in Horticulture and Resource and Environmental Science and one in Ecology, respectively; In addition, over the years the university has welcomed a large number of overseas students from 30 countries such as the US, Canada, Sudan, and Thailand, etc., and the heads of states from Papua New Guinea, Guyana, Cambodia, and South Africa have successively visited FAFU.

Leading university in college student innovation programs

FAFU so far has set up 160 national experimental or training programs to improve students’ innovative abilities, and won 443 provincial or higher awards in college student innovation competitions. FAFU leads other Fujian-based universities especially in the branch of extra-curriculum scientific activities of the National College Student Challenger Cup of Science & Technology competition. Among students in provincial universities, FAFU students have received the most funding from provincial or higher organizations for their innovative programs for two consecutive years.

One of the most picturesque universities in the country

With over 320 hectares of land, FAFU now boasts 4 beautiful campuses in northern, central, and southern Fujian province (Jinshan, Nanping, Univeristy City and Anxi). It also owns some 79 hectares of general practice teaching bases and 3060 hectares of teaching forestry farms. FAFU has been successively honored as “National Civilized Unit” and “National Greening Exemplar Unit”. With its comfortable environment and picturesque scenery, FAFU has been known as one of the “most beautiful universities in China”.

(Updated June 28th, 2014)

Translator: Huang Jian

Auditor: Lu Yunhai