Hebei Agricultural University (HEBAU), founded in 1902, is one of the oldest higher agricultural education implementers in China, sponsored by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the State Administration of Forestry and Grassland, and Hebei Provincial Government respectively. It is among the first batch of National Demonstration Universities on Educational Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the National Innovation and Entrepreneurship Demonstration Bases, a participant and executor of the national "Outstanding Engineers Training Plan" and "Excellent Talents of Agriculture and Forestry Training Plan" sponsored by the Ministry of Education, and among "the Double First-Class" construction of universities in Hebei Province.
Its 5 campuses are located in the cities of Baoding, Qinhuangdao, Cangzhou and Dingzhou, covering an area of more than 1.84 million square meters in total and the building area amounts to over 1.24 million square meters. In addition, the campuses' libraries possess a collection of over 2.58 million volumes of books. The university's instruments and equipment are valued at around RMB 737 million yuan, and the fixed asset RMB 2.53 billion yuan. There is an over 240-hectare affiliated farm, and an over 2,600-hectare affiliated forest farm.
For over 120 years of development, HEBAU has formed a multidisciplinary and coordinated education pattern led by Agronomy, Life Science and coordinated with other disciplines, including Engineering, Management, Science, Economy, Literature, Law, Arts, with their own features. There are 31 colleges (including 2 direct-leading departments, 2 teaching departments), 1 national key discipline, 3 ministerial key disciplines, 1 priority development discipline in the "14th Five-Year Plan" Education Development Plan of the Ministry of Education, 4 provincial first-class construction disciplines, 4 provincial disciplines with strong characteristics in Hebei, and 16 key disciplines at provincial level. 4 disciplines (Agricultural Science, Botany and Zoology, Chemistry, Environmental Science and Ecology) are among the world' s 1% according to Essential Science Indicators (ESI) rankings.
HEBAU has built the comprehensive system to develop talents with a full set of degrees, including bachelor, master and doctor. It has 8 post-doctoral research stations, 11 first-class doctoral degrees, 1 professional doctoral degree, 2 interdisciplinary doctoral degrees, 24 first-class master degrees, 13 professional master degrees, 2 interdisciplinary master degrees, and 96 undergraduate programs of bachelor degrees. Among them, there are 24 national first-class and 25 provincial first-class undergraduate programs. The total enrollment is 34,000 undergraduates, 5,366 full-time master's and doctoral candidates.
The teaching faculty are totaling 3,171 among which 2,131 are professional teachers, 459 professors and equivalent positions, 1,006 associate professors and equivalent positions, 248 doctoral supervisors and 995 master supervisors. There are over 200 members of the distinguished experts in titles of "Ten Million Talent Project", "Ten Thousand-Talent Program", "Special Government Subsidies of the State Council" or "Provincial Management Experts", etc. 1 is distinguished professor of "Changjiang (Yangtze River) Scholar Program", 2 are Members of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences, 1 is Foreign Member of Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, 9 are honored as "Outstanding Teachers" or "Model Teachers" at national level.
Staying committed to its fundamental mission of moral education and talent cultivation, HEBAU focuses on cultivating composite application-oriented senior professionals with innovative and entrepreneurial spirit and strong practical ability. HEBAU implements the "311" undergraduate talent training model and credit system across the board, and takes the lead in formulating and implementing a mind mapping for undergraduate professional practice ability training on a national scale. HEBAU has won 109 awards for its teaching achievements at provincial level or above, including 9 National Teaching Achievements Prizes. It has built first batch of 6 National Talents Training Bases for Agricultural, Scientific and Educational Cooperation. There are 24 national-level "Undergraduate Teaching Projects", including "National Characteristic Majors" and "National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Centers", and 111 provincial-level projects. Significant achievements have been achieved in innovation and entrepreneurship education. HEBAU initiated and established "Innovation Space Alliance of Colleges and Universities in Hebei". It was approved as "Hebei Entrepreneurship University" and jointly established the "Hebei Rural Innovation and Entrepreneurship Alliance" with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Hebei. Its students have won excellent results in innovation and entrepreneurship competitions such as "Challenge Cup" and "Internet +" etc., one of whom won the first gold medal of "Youth Red Dream Journey" track in Hebei in the 7th "Internet +".
Eyeing on national grand demands, HEBAU always stands in the forefront of universities in Hebei in terms of quantity of scientific, technological innovation projects, amount of funds as well as quantity and ranking of awards. Boasting "State Key Laboratory of North China Crop Improvement and Regulation" and "National Agricultural Engineering Technology Research Center in Northern Mountainous Areas", HEBAU owns 69 national and provincial key laboratories (Engineering Centers, Bases, Experimental Stations, Collaborative Innovation Centers, Industrial Technology Research Institutes, etc.) and 23 national-level experts and 79 provincial-level experts in Modern Agricultural Industry Technology System. Since the 13th Five-Year Plan, it has undertaken 1,983 significant national, provincial and ministerial science and technology projects, with provided RMB 1,371 million yuan in scientific research funds, approved of 133 new varieties, and published 2,105 patents and 4,477 papers in three major indexes. It has won 265 science and technology awards at the provincial level or above, including 3 national second prizes.
HEBAU has always taken serving major national strategies and regional economic development as its own responsibility. "Xiong'an New Area Development Research Institute" was established to coordinate the development of the Xiong'an New Area. "Rural Vitalization Research Institute" was established to fully serve the rural vitalization and agricultural and rural modernization of Hebei. In cooperation with Baoding Municipal Government, "Taihang Mountain Agricultural Innovation Stations" were put in place in "465" mode, selected as the showcase of national industrial poverty alleviation and "Global Poverty Reduction Case Collection Activity" and has been promoted throughout the province. HEBAU has established extensive college-locality and college-enterprise collaborations with Xingtai City, Chengde City, China Customs Science and Technology Research Center, Hebei Provincial Rural Revitalization Bureau, China Gezhouba Group, Junlebao Group, Tongfu Group, etc. 405 bases are set up for teaching, scientific research and production in 6 main ecotype areas in Hebei, 9 Regional Comprehensive Experimental Stations, 41 Modern Agricultural Educational Scientific Innovation Demonstration Bases. More than 1,000 new achievements, new varieties and new technologies were promoted with social and economic benefits of more than RMB 100 million yuan, which effectively boosts the local economic and social development.
HEBAU has established extensive academic exchanges and inter-university cooperation with 52 colleges, universities and research institutions from 21 countries and regions, including the United States, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Japan and Korea and it has launched joint programs with 26 of them, such as the University of British Columbia in Canada, the University of New South Wales in Australia, the University of California Riverside in the United States, Shinshu University in Japan. It has established international educational exchange and cooperation relations with 8 universities in "Belt and Road Initiative" countries, like University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest, Romania and the African Academy of Sciences. Two government-sponsored joint training programs are undertaken, which are "Special Project for Cultivating Innovative Talents in New Agricultural Sciences" and "Special Project for Cultivating Applied International Talents in Rural Revitalization" sponsored by the China Scholarship Council（CSC). "National '111 Plan' Talent Introduction Base", "Provincial Foreign Academician Workstation", "Provincial Demonstration Base for Talents Introduction" and 4 "Provincial Bases for International Science and Technology Cooperation" have been established.
For over 120 years, following the motto of "Advocating morality, Being pragmatic and Seeking truth" and the philosophy of "In agricultural education, truth could not be obtained without practice; the subtleness of matters could not be approached without experiments; and neither practice nor experiments should be neglected in favor of the other", HEBAU has forged a tradition of running the university with a combination of teaching, research and production. This tradition later became known nationwidely as "Taihang Mt. Road" and has formed the "Taihang Mt. Spirit" advocating "Hard working, full dedication, truth-seeking, being pragmatic, love the motherland and service for the people".