Qujing Normal University is located in Qujing City, the birthplace of the Pearl River (i.e. the Zhujiang River and the third longest river in China), the second largest city in Yunnan, hometown of Cuan Culture, and one of the “Top Ten Livable Cities in China”. In 2007, it received a B rating in the undergraduate education accreditation by the Ministry of Education, and since 2010 it has been one of the universities enrolling high-quality students in Yunnan Province. From 2012 to 2015, it was successively named and commended as a “National Civilized Unit” by the Central Civilization Commission. In 2017, it passed the review and evaluation of undergraduate teaching work by the Ministry of Education. In 2018, it became a provincial construction unit for master's degree granting during 2018 to 2020.
Since its upgrading to a degree-granting institution in 2000, Qujing Normal University has trained more than 50,000 senior applied talents for local economic and social development under the support of Party committees and governments at different levels. It has won the beautiful reputation of taking root in the source of the long Pearl River and being the cradle for thousands of teachers and instructors. Now, it has become the leader of Qujing's education development, an important base for cultivating qualified teachers and a main window of advanced culture construction.
Qujing Normal University has a long history and profound cultural heritage. Its history can be traced back to 1907 when the “Teacher Training School” was set up, and it turned into Yunnan Provincial Third Normal School in 1912. It was renamed as Qujing Normal School in 1956, and Qujing full-time (undergraduate) programs of Kunming Teachers College started recruitment in the school in 1977. On the basis of the school, Qujing Teachers College was established in 1978, and the college name was changed to Qujing Senior Teachers College in 1993. As approved by the Ministry of Education in March 2000, Qujing Senior Teachers College, Qujing Education College (which was established in 1984) and Qujing Normal School was merged to form Qujing Normal University. Generations of teachers and students have remained true to their original aspiration and forged ahead, thus forming the University's spirit of “Cultivating talents with joys and hardships, Fostering a noble soul through persistent efforts”.
Basic conditions for school running have been continuously improved. Qujing Normal University hast three campuses: the Main Campus, Gucheng Campus and Huandong Campus. It covers a total area of 1,399 mu (about 230.31 acres), with a school building area of 383,200 square meters. The university library is stocked with over 2.5 million books and nearly 100,000 GB of e-book resources. The University's fixed assets total to RMB 885 million Yuan, including a total value of teaching and scientific research-related equipment and facilities that amount to RMB 142 million Yuan. The University has won the titles of “Safe Campus” and “Advanced Unit of Landscaping”.
Remarkable results have been achieved in the construction of teaching staff. Qujing Normal University currently has 1049 in-service faculty and staff, 186 of whom are PhDs (including PhD graduate students). There are 779 full-time teachers, including 84 teachers with senior titles and 253 teachers with deputy senior titles. This means that teachers with senior and deputy senior titles make up 43.26% of the full-time teachers, and teachers with a Master's or doctoral degree account for over 77.40%. Among the full-time teachers, 88 are employed as master's degree graduate supervisors in universities like Shanghai Normal University, Yunnan University and Yunnan Normal University; 26 teachers are titled as national or provincial outstanding experts and teachers who enjoy special expert allowance granted by the State Council or the provincial government, and are listed as provincial middle and young aged academic and technical leaders and backup talents; and 16 teachers are selected into the “two plans” of Yunnan Province. In addition, the University has 6 workshops for distinguished teachers of Yunnan Province and employs 65 part-time professors and 8 foreign experts throughout the year.
Discipline and major structure with distinctive characteristics has been well established. Qujing Normal University currently has 18 teaching and research institutions and 6 teaching auxiliary institutions, and has built a considerable number of characteristic majors, forming a multi-disciplinary development pattern. There are 8 provincial-level key disciplines including 1 plateau discipline of Yunnan Province, 3 construction disciplines for Master's degree programs, and 2 key disciplines with advantages and characteristics. Besides, the University has 59 full-time undergraduate majors (including 19 teacher-training majors), and 9 adult education majors. The bachelor’s degree programs cover 9 major disciplines, namely economics, law, pedagogy, literature, history, natural science, engineering, management, and arts. The university provides 1 national characteristic (key) major for institutions of higher learning, 5 characteristic (key) majors for universities in Yunnan Province and 12 provincial excellent courses; it has 2 provincial construction projects of “Key Specialty Groups to Support Industrial Upgrading”, 1 provincial construction project for pilot universities of innovation and entrepreneurship education reform and 1 provincial construction project for an innovation and entrepreneurship education practice base respectively, 2 provincial high-level faculty construction projects, 1 Huang Danian teaching team in Yunnan Province, 3 Yunnan provincial experimental teaching demonstration centers, 2 provincial virtual simulation experimental teaching projects, and 1 provincial collaborative education program for outstanding talents in economics. There are 175 national and provincial teaching quality projects. In 2019, the University was selected as the “National Language and Character Promotion Base” and became a construction unit of “Yunnan Provincial Key Marxist College”, and its 10 majors were selected as provincial first-class undergraduate specialty construction sites. Obviously, remarkable progress has been made in the construction of disciplines and specialties.
Quality of talent cultivation is improved continually. Enrolling students from 26 provinces (municipalities and regions) throughout China, Qujing Normal University presently has more than 15,000 full-time students on campus. Among its large number of well-known alumni, some representatives were General Xu Wenlie, who contributed a great deal to the national revolution and construction cause; Gui Taosheng, lyricist of the song titled “On the Taihang Mountain”; Wang Jiaben, a renowned military general during the Anti-Japanese War; Miss Hu Yan, who has won the title of “A National Red-Banner Pacesetter” and was chosen as a representative of the 18th CPC National Congress; Mr. Guo Kuacun, who has won the titles of “Man of the Hour for Education in Yunnan” and “Top Hundred Well-known Principals in Yunnan”; Mr. Liang Chunling, who has won the titles of “National Outstanding College Students Aiding Education” and “Man of the Hour for Education in Yunnan”; and Miss Xu Rui, who was awarded as a “National Model Teacher”. The number of students who have won national and provincial awards in varieties of academic competitions and scientific innovation competitions has increased year by year. Up to now, the students of the University have won 744 national, ministerial and provincial awards, and obtained 56 innovation and entrepreneurship funding projects at national, ministerial and provincial levels. About 30% of its graduates who are admitted to master's degree programs go to Tsinghua University, Peking University and other 'Double First-Class' universities for further study. The employment rate of the University has been maintained above 90%. The University has successively won the first prize of the provincial employment target responsibility assessment 11 times, and has been rated as a typical university with employment experience for college graduates in Yunnan Province and a typical university with innovation and entrepreneurship experience in the province. The “Three Sends to the Countryside” programs organized by the University to bring cultural, scientific and medical services to the rural areas have won recognition for consecutive years by Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee and Youth League Central Committee. The University has been awarded the title of “Demonstration School of Socialist Core Values Education in Yunnan Province” and one of “The Second Batch of Comprehensive Reform Pilot Universities of 'Three All-round Education' in Yunnan Province”. In 2020, it ranks 387th in Shanghai Ranking’s Best Chinese Universities Ranking, 81st in western universities and 10th in universities in the province. In addition, it was rated as “excellent” in the comprehensive education assessment of Yunnan Province in 2019.
Research and innovation capacity has been enhanced increasingly. Qujing Normal University has established 1 research base of the State Sports General Administration, 1 language promotion base of the State Language Commission, 1 provincial philosophy and social science research base, 3 provincial key university laboratories, 2 provincial philosophy and social science innovation teams, 4 provincial university science and technology innovation teams, 5 provincial teaching teams, and 2 provincial-level experimental demonstration zones for talent cultivation mode innovation. It has undertaken 67 national research projects; published over 400 monographs, compilation works, collections of fine arts and textbooks, as well as more than 10,000 research papers; won 98 ministerial and provincial awards for outstanding achievements of varieties, 117 education and teaching awards at national, ministerial and provincial levels, 171 outstanding achievements awards of social sciences in Qujing Municipality, and 24 Qujing government awards for literary and artistic creation. In a word, a considerable number of high-level research results have been produced.
The ability to serve economic and social development has been continuously improved. In the past five years, Qujing Normal University has completed more than 10 projects such as “Research on the Cultivation of Leading Industries in Qujing” and “Research on Industrial Transformation and Upgrading in Qujing”, and has undertaken several special projects like the “Blue Book of Qujing Economic Development”, providing important decision-making reference for the government and relevant departments. The large-scale opera “The Sound of Billows” created on the basis of its alumnus Gui Taosheng to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War and the opera “Footsteps of the Young” rehearsed to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Red Army’s Long March were successfully performed and well received, creating typical experience for art teaching reform and collaborative innovation. The University has successfully held the “Southwest Silk Road” and “Maritime Silk Road” tour exhibitions sponsored by the National Art Fund project “Silk Road Colorful—Watercolor Art Exhibition of Southwest Minorities”, showing the achievements of watercolor art in Southwest China and of the University's art education and talent training. It actively promotes the inheritance and innovation of Cuan culture, and conducts digital research and development of Cuan Longyan Tablet and Cuanbaozi Tablet, the “Treasure of South Steles”. In November 2017, “Qujing Normal University Er Cuan Peisheng Font Bank” was officially launched; in June 2020, “Da Cuan Jianguo Font Bank of Qujing Normal University” was launched and the “Cuan Style Calligraphy Font Bank” was first released.
International education is gradually deepening. Qujing Normal University has established “Qujing Branch of Yunnan Preparatory College for Studying Abroad”, become one of the third batch of Chinese education bases of Yunnan Provincial People's Government. It cooperates with overseas universities like Chiang Mai University in Thailand, Mansfield University in Pennsylvania in the United States, Watford Institute of technology in Ireland, New Zealand College of Business and Lincoln University to carry out various forms of joint talent training projects such as “2 + 2”, “3 + 1”, “3 + 1 + 1” modes. In recent years, the University has established formal exchanges and cooperation relations with many foreign universities and educational organizations in many countries and regions, including those in the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Ireland etc; hired foreign teachers from the UK, the USA, Canada and Thailand to teach in the university over a long period of time; recruited 1000 long-term and short-term overseas students; and established an International Chinese Language Education Center in Thailand. Thus, the internationalization of school-running has been strengthened year by year.
During the period of the “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan”, Qujing Normal University has fully implemented the Party's education policy and always adhered to the fundamentals of establishing morality and cultivating talents to promote the transformation and quality improvement. It has focused on the construction of quality and connotation, highlighted the characteristics of teacher training and deepened the comprehensive reform. It has also persisted in the culture casting soul, promoted the school management according to law, and made an all-out effort to strictly enforce the Party discipline to continuously enhance its comprehensive strength and core competitiveness. Remarkable achievements have been made in talent cultivation, scientific research, social services and cultural inheritance and innovation, which has laid a solid foundation for the further development of the University.
Looking forward to the “14th Five-Year Plan”, Qujing Normal University will further clarify its school running orientation of “teacher training, teaching type, local characteristics and application-orientation”, and unceasingly strengthen its teacher education characteristics. It will actively integrate into the national and Yunnan Provincial economic and social development strategies, build first-class undergraduate programs and improve the level of discipline construction so as to realize the goal of connotation and characteristic development and to develop into a local high-level application-oriented university with distinctive characteristics.
(Data statistics as of July 2020)