Chengdu University

Founded in 1978, Chengdu University (CDU) is one of the  comprehensive degree-awarding higher education institutions firstly sponsored by local cities after the Reform and Opening Up. It implements a Provincial and Municipal co-administration but city-based university system. It is a key university in Sichuan Province and Chengdu City, and the host university of the Athletes' Village of the 31st FISU Summer World University Games Chengdu 2021. CDU has undergone several mergers. The history of its schooling can be traced back to the public Sichuan Superior Selective Teacher Training College in 1906 and the public Sichuan Provincial Women's Teacher Training College in 1911. It now has a 100-year history of Grade III Level A comprehensive affiliated hospital, and the Sichuan Industrial Institute of Antibiotics which is a national antibiotic research and development base. CDU has authority to award bachelor's and master's degrees, with a postdoctoral innovation practice base. It is a university under the "Excellent Engineer Education and Training Program" of the Ministry of Education (MOE), a special university for the MOE national defense education, a project unit for the construction of first-class undergraduate majors under the MOE "Shuangwan Plan", and a construction unit under the "Priority Cultivation" category of the progressive cultivation plan for doctoral construction units in Sichuan Province.

CDU always takes national revitalization and social progress as its responsibility, and adheres to the motto of "Self-love, Self-cultivation, Self-respect and Self-improvement". It carries forward the spirit of "Seeking Truth and Being Pragmatic, and Pursuing Self-improvement", and adheres to the ethos of "Cultivating Great Virtue with Elegance, and Making Great Achievements with Perseverance", and the service orientation of "Rooted in Chengdu, Facing the World and Serving the Society". CDU insists on internal development, reform and innovation, and quality improvement, focusing on cultivating high-quality applied talents, conducting high-level scientific research, providing high quality social services, and promoting cultural heritage and innovation for the society. It has been listed on the four most prestigious world university rankings. CDU is ranked among the top 1000 universities in the world, ranking 801st-1000th in the Times Higher Education World University rankings 2024 and 49th-95th in the ranking of universities in mainland China. 

Disciplines & Majors

There are 10 disciplines of art, literature, management, education, economics, law, engineering, medicine, science and agriculture, and 75 undergraduate majors, as well as 9 first-level disciplines authorized for master's degrees and 16 authorized categories of professional master's degrees. Five disciplines of engineering, agricultural science, chemistry，material science, clinical medicine have entered the top 1% of the global Essential Science Indicators (ESI), ranking among the top 10 universities in Sichuan. Post-doctoral innovation practice bases have been established. 27 majors have entered the MOE “Shuangwan plan” for the development of first-class undergraduate majors, among which 15 are national first-class majors and 12 are provincial ones. There are 2 national specialty majors, 4 national specialty majors of excellent talent education and training programs, 7 provincial specialty majors of excellent talent education and training programs, 4 provincial application-oriented demonstration majors, and 2 provincial demonstration majors of "Curriculum Ideology and Politics Education". 4 majors, including automation, have passed the MOE professional certification. The discipline of engineering has entered the top 1% of the global ESI ranking. In 2019, pharmacy was selected as the second highest ranked discipline in China by the Alumni Association. The clinical and health discipline was ranked 601th+ in the 2022 Times Higher Education World University Rankings (subject ranking), and the engineering discipline was ranked 801st-1000th in the world. 7 disciplines were listed in the 2022 Times Higher Education Third Edition of China Discipline Ratings.

Faculty & Staff  

There are more than 1,700 full-time teachers, nearly 800 teachers with senior and associate titles, nearly 810 doctoral teachers, over 30 doctoral supervisors, and more than 700 postgraduate supervisors. Fan Daming, an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, has been appointed as the Honorary President. There are more than 20 national Jieqing, Changjiang Scholars, national candidates for the 100 million Talents Project in the New Century, and experts receving special allowances from the State Council, as well as over 90 provincial academic and technical leaders and experts with outstanding contributions. There are 3 specially-appointed academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 2 European academicians, 40 specially-appointed Changjiang Scholars and national Jieqing, nearly 30 specially-appointed high-end foreign experts, and more than 100 specially-appointed research fellows (associate research fellows).

Talent Development

In total, there are more than 27,000 full-time students (including more than 2,200 graduate students) at CDU. CDU has established 3 national first-class courses, 26 provincial first-class courses, 16 provincial demonstration courses of "Curriculum Ideology and Politics Education", 7 provincial demonstration courses of innovation and entrepreneurship education, 9 provincial demonstration courses of application and 38 provincial high quality courses. It has been approved as one of the "Stanford Experimental Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Courses" in China. There are 8 engineering practice education centers and off-campus practice education bases for college students at the provincial level, 2 provincial modern industrial colleges, 7 provincial experimental teaching demonstration centers, and 3 provincial virtual simulation experimental teaching centers. It has launched 223 MOE projects of University-Industry Cooperation and Collaborative Education Projects, and 2 MOE projects of New Liberal Arts Research & Reform Practice. In 2021, 42 provincial teaching reform projects were approved. There are 41 awards above the provincial level in the teaching achievement awards in the last three sessions, including 9 first-class awards. In the past five years, students have won 1,206 national awards and 2,575 provincial awards in various academic competitions, including 103 provincial awards in the China "Internet+" Students Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition and 118 provincial awards in the "Challenge Cup". 222 national and 594 provincial innovation and entrepreneurship training programs for college students were approved. Over the past five years, the average employment rate of graduates exceeded 95%. CDU has established Zhang Lan Honors College, a base for cultivating top innovative talents, set up the "New Engineering + New Agriculture Honors Class", "New Liberal Arts Honors Class" and "New Medical Honors Class", and implemented the "Four Systems and Four Transformations" model of cultivating top innovative talents, with a 45% advancement rate of the last three graduating classes.

Scientific Research

There are more than 1,500 scientific researchers, focusing on the planning of the national economic and social development, especially the major regional development strategies, and on regional industrial clusters, key pillar industries and emerging industries. 82 research platforms of various levels have been built, including the International Science and Technology Cooperation Base of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the MOE Research Center for Area and Regional Studies, the Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, the Engineering Technology Research Center of Sichuan Province, the Engineering Laboratory of Sichuan Province, and the 2011 Collaborative Innovation Center of Sichuan Province. In the past five years, CDU has undertaken 129 national science and technology projects, including 21 major special projects and key R&D projects, 108 projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), 34 projects of the National Social Science Fund of China (NSSFC), and 7 projects of the China National Arts Fund (CNAF). Research funding for three consecutive years from 2019 to 2021 exceeded 240 million yuan, and the average funding for teachers exceeded 150,000 yuan. In the past five years, we have received 70 scientific research awards at provincial and ministerial levels and above, including 8 first-class awards, 18 second-class awards, 43 third-class awards, and 1 individual award. The "Mechanism of ultra-long life Fatigue Crack emergence and Life Prediction" won the second prize of the National Natural Science Award in 2018. The "Key Technology and Industrialization of Acarbose Raw Material and Preparation Production" won the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award in 2014. The reasearch on "Three Rites" nouns was selected as the 2015 National Library of Philosophy and Social Sciences Achievements. 520 CSSCI papers and more than 2,600 ESI papers in various disciplines were published, including 1,123 ESI papers in 2021. Many articles were published in top international academic journals such as Nature Microbiology, The New England Journal of Medicine, and The Lancet. The total ESI citations exceeded 26,000. 86 articles were selected as highly cited papers, with 19 as hot papers. In 2022, a total of 25 Sichuan Provincial Science and Technology Awards were declared, including 19 with CDU as the first affiliation, a record high. In the past three years, more than 4,600 high-level SCI papers were published, with 139 highly cited papers, ranking 5th in the provincial universities and 23 hot papers, ranking 3rd. In the lastest ranking of Nature Index 2022, CDU is ranked 598th in the world, 147th in mainland universities, and 6th in the Province.

International Exchange

CDU has signed memorandums of cooperation with 186 universities in 41 countries and regions, including 45 world-renowned universities, 14 world-renowned young universities, and 53 universities in Chengdu's international sister cities. It has enrolled more than 4,600 international students with 78 countries of origin and has been rewarded as one of the “Sichuan Demonstration Bases for Studying in China”, training 1,667 international students in 2023. 215foreign experts were employed in 2023. Thai expert Chaphiporn Kiatkachatharn has been awarded the “Chinese Government Friendship Award”, and Egyptial expert Abd El-Fatah Abomohra, was selected in the list of Top 2% of global top scientists in 2022. CDU implements the project of connecting one college to one world class university (discipline). It offers 4 sino-foreign joint programs, and cooperates with the University of Stirling in the UK to establish the CDU Stirling College, with the scale of joint programs accounting for 15% in the Province. CDU also cooperates with Payap University and Naresuan University in Thailand to carry out overseas education projects. CDU has conducted 40 multi-level overseas joint training programs for undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students and 42 overseas inter-university exchange programs. It has established two overseas alumni chapters in Thailand and New Zealand. CDU has launched many global exchange programs, focusing on the cultivation of global competence. It offers international liberal studies courses and has established a Global Language Testing Center, including a Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK) test center, an IELTS test center, a TOPIK test center and a Cambridge Linguaskill test center. The IELTS test center won the 2022 “National IELTS Outstanding Test Center Award”. The Sichuan Provincial Research Institute of Thai Studies was selected as one of the MOE research centers for Area and Regional Studies, and was the co-sponsor of the Regional Country Studies Branch of the China Association of Higher Education .

Local Services

CDU is fully integrated into the development of the twin-city Economic Circle of Chengdu and Chongqing, closely devotails with Chengdu's "5+5+1" modern industrial system and functional area construction needs, and strives to build an ecosystem of “government-university-enterprise interaction, and industry-university-research combination”. It helps transfer and transform scientific and technological achievements locally. CDU has established the strategic cooperation that focuses on the links of government, industry, academia, and research and application with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu Information Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Co., Ltd., H3C Group, Greenland Group, Continental Hope Group, Sichuan Energy Investment, Sichuan Railway Investment Group Co., Ltd., Chengdu Super Computing Center of Tianfu New District, and several district, county and municipal departments in Chengdu. CDU has established the Chengdu Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, H3C IT Academy, Research Center of Civilization and Belt and Road Initiative, Chengdu Research Institute of Ecological Civilization, Chengdu Research Center of Government Affairs Management and Cultural Construction , Chengdu Journalism Institute, Research Institute of Tianfu Culture, Chengdu Documentation Center, Chengdu Football Academy, Chengdu Research Institute, Chengdu Research Institute of Tourism, Chengdu Research Institute of Exhibition Economy Development, Chengdu Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Industry Technology, and the first Research Center for Early Childhood Sports Development in China. In the past five years, CDU has targeted to help the Shiqu County of Ganzi Prefecture, the Jiuzhaigou County of Aba Prefecture, and both the Shijia Village of Xinshi Street and Minqiang Village of Shizhong Town in Jianyang City. It was awarded the 2018 Advanced Targeted Poverty Alleviation Unit and the 2021 Advanced Collective in Poverty Alleviation in Sichuan.

Location & Facilities

CDU is located in the national central city of Chengdu, with obvious advantages in location conditions. It is one of the important integrated universities in the national new era of revitalizing higher education in central and western China, with Chongqing and Chengdu as the strategic pivot points. It gives full play to the gathering overflow effect of university clusters and seeks to build a bridgehead for opening up higher education in the southwest China. CDU is run by a single campus, which covers an area of more than 2,300 mu (153.3 hectares), with a building area of 992,100 square meters, including 504,300 square meters of teaching, research, and administrative buildings. The total value of teaching and research equipment is 515 million yuan. The library building covers an area of 55,000 square meters, with a total collection of 2,408,200 paper books and 1,408,700 electronic periodicals. The teaching and research, and learning and living facilities are complete, convenient and modern. There are one-stop student affairs hall, faculty affairs hall, alumni house, one of the largest single university libraries in southwest China, and one art branch library There are also Chengdu ASEAN Art Center, a museum, an art gallery, a concert hall, and a student mental health center, as well as a high standard gymnasium, a volleyball hall, a constant-temperature swimming pool, three athletic fields, ten outdoor and indoor basketball courts. CDU is home to an international academic exchange center that can host large academic conferences, a research building of the Research Center for Frontier Technologies in Biology and Medicine which is under construction, an Affiliated CDU Hospital (a Grade III Level A hospital), an Affiliated CDU Elementary School, and an Affiliated CDU Kindergarten.

Looking ahead, all CDU staff will work together, by adhering to moral education, to accelerate the development of Chengdu’s innovative university, open university, and window university. This is to show the image of Chengdu’s governance with the effectiveness of CDU’s governance for the establishment of a distinctive, first-class, and internationally renowned city university in China.