Shaanxi Normal University (SNU), founded in 1944, is one of the 6 normal universities directly affiliated to the State Educational Ministry. For 60 years, its staff has worked hard and striven for the prosperity of the university generation after generation. Up to now, SNU has been built into a comprehensive university, with complete disciplines and majors and with an integrated teaching system. SNU has fostered near 100,000 graduates of all kinds for the nation, opening its enrolment to 31 provinces and districts all over the country.
The current university Party Secretary is Prof. Jiang Xiu-le, University President is Prof. Fang Yu. ¡T
The university is located in Xi'an, well-known for its cultural history, covering an area of 3000 mu. Ministry of Education granted the university a title of "Civilized Campus" for its beautiful environment, with a famous reputation "the charm is in SNU" among the universities in the city. Yanta Campus is next to famous scenic resort of the Great Wild Goose Pagoda, a fine environment possible to nurture talents; Chang'an Campus, located in "Enterprise Garden of University Education" at Guodu County, enjoying a grand scale, advanced equipment and modern facilities.
The university contains 16 colleges and departments, 58 majors, 6 doctoral mobile programs, 2 postdoctoral centers of first rank discipline, 26 doctoral programs, and 95 master programs. It also has one national key discipline, 29 provincial key disciplines, 2 national bases of fundamental learning and personnel cultivation, 1 human science research base under Ministry of Education, and 46 other research centers.
The university has a faculty of 2,600, among whom there are 800 with higher professional qualifications, and over 50% of whom have degrees of MA and Ph.D. There has been formed "a group of doctors" in discipline of chemistry, mathematics, biology, history, geography, and Chinese literature, Food Engineering, Economics. There is one member of the Chinese Academy of Science, four national experts with outstanding contribution, one post of specially hired professor under the Project of Changjiang Scholars Award, three candidates on first and second hierarchs under "National Project of Millions of Persons", eight candidates of "Three-Five Personnel Cultivation Project of Shaanxi Province", 120 doctoral supervisors. In recent years, the university actively adjusts its policy for personnel introduction, and as a result, almost one hundred of scholars well-known at home have been invited as part-time professors, among whom there are 10 members of the Chinese Academy of Science.
The students enrolled at university amount to 40,000, among whom there are 2,360 post- graduates and 12,000 undergraduates, 20,000 students in Further Education College or Net-education College,300 foreign students and 5,000 other kinds of students.
The university puts emphasis on and continuously strengthens the scientific research work. During "Ninth Five-year Plan", the whole university undertakes 534 programs of scientific research, with 255 items awarded for their achievement, publishes 513 books or textbooks and issues 5,108 papers. According to the statistic data from Institute of China Science &Technology Information, the number of papers by the university faculty published in SCI ranks first 62 annually in recent years among universities all over the country. As far as normal universities are concerned, SNU ranks 3-6.
The university library has a collection of books of 2.12 million copies, reaching the top compared with other universities in western China. The university also publishes journals as "Shaanxi Normal University Journal", "Series of Chinese History & Geography", and "North-west China Ethnic Minority Journal". "Shaanxi Normal University Journal" enters Ministry "Outstanding Journals Project" of social science journals published by universities. The University Press edits and publishes 11 kinds of journals of basic education research, with their publication total price rank first compared with the same kind of journals. And the Press stresses both social and economic results, joining the ranks of top ten among university presses.
The university actively carries out international cooperation and exchanges, and has built a relationship with 30 universities in 20 countries and districts, fostering nearly 3,000 foreign students.
Facing the new century, SNU tries to take the opportunity of Western Development, enhances its teaching quality all over, increases its level of scientific research and social service, and strives for running SNU into a comprehensive and research-pattern university with a main feature of teachers education.