Education profile

Since the 1960s, improvements have been achieved in the overall educational level, which can be seen in the increase in average years of regular education received. The development of part-time schools have brought adult, distance and continuing education to farms, factories, offices, and other places. Evening, time off work / study leave classes allow people to receive education without leaving their jobs. Policies to upgrade adult education have begun to complement the campaign against illiteracy. A basic Chinese vocabulary in simplified strokes is taught to millions of illiterate people in short, intensive courses. Despite progress made, Yunnan's illiteracy rate remains one of the highest in China mainly due to insufficient education among minority peoples.

About Yunnan Normal University

Located in Kunming which is called “City of Perennial Spring” and conceived in the Teachers College of the National Southwest Associated University which was established in 1938, Yunnan Normal University is a provincial key university that has a long and fine tradition. The university has brought up prestigious alumni such as Nobel Prize winner Dr. Yang Zhenning and Dr. Li Zhengdao.

The university covers a total area of 3,330 Mu (about 543 acres). It consists of 23 schools plus two independent schools and more than 40 research institutes. It has now over 30,000 full-time students including Ph.D., postgraduates and undergraduates, with over 15,000 students in the School of Continuing Education. Its library is the provincial center of the data resources of Chinese higher education and houses more than 2,700,000 copies of books of various kinds with a new-generation digitalized service system. It offers 70 bachelor’s programs, 144 master’s and doctoral programs, of which ten are professional master’s programs like MBA and General Education. It is one of the first 24 universities in China that offer the master’s program for Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages.

Yunnan Normal University, as the English Teacher Training center in southwest China established by UNESCO, is one of the two universities in Yunnan that is eligible to enroll Hong Kong, Macao students. The university has also established inter-school exchanges with more than 100 foreign universities and research institutions, such as the United States, Germany, the UK, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. By more than 60 years hard working, Yunnan Normal University has a total enrollment of over 12,000 full-time students from more than 50 countries and regions.

School of International Chinese Studies(SICS) of Yunnan Normal University is the institution for the enrollment and administration of international students.

About Southwest Forestry University

Southwest Forestry University (SWFU) is located in Kunming City, Yunnan Province, which was initially established as the Department of Forestry of Yunnan University in 1939. Mainly based on forestry related disciplines, it has become an unique multidisciplinary forestry university in the west part of China, characterized with bio-environmental sciences holding 8 first grade and 41 second grade master degree programs, 4 professional master degree programs, 56 undergraduate majors comprising agronomy, science, engineering, laws and management disciplines with sound facilities and pleasant learning environment.

SWFU campus covers 80 hectares in area. It consists of 18 colleges, namely, Forestry College, College of Life Sciences, College of Landscape Architecture, College of Transportation and Machinery, College of Material Engineering, College of Ecotourism, College of Economics and Management, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, College of Civil Engineering, College of Arts, College of Computer Science and Information, College of Humanities, College of Sciences, College of Foreign Languages, International School, College of Continuing Education (Vocational School), College of Physical Education, College of Political and Ideological Courses Teaching.

Up to now, there are about 13,000 students in the university, including about 1,500 postgraduate and international students. With 755 full-time teaching staff members, including 400 full professors and associate professors. Among which, there are a number of locally or nationally well-known scholars for their significant contribution to education and scientific research.

SWFU has insisted on the development orientation, i.e., “Being based in Yunnan, focusing on southwest China, serving the whole nation, and radiating to southeast Asia”, persisted in the motto of “nurture trees and talents, pursue truth and excellence”, and has trained over 30,000 students with bachelor or master degrees who worked or are still working in the sectors of forestry, eco-environmental conservation and rural development.

SWFU may keep to be highly ranked among equivalent universities in biodiversity and nature reserve conservation, silviculture, forest protection, researches on rattan and bamboo, wood science and technology, forest management, and plateau wetland conservation. SWFU also strives to possess regional features in the fields of landscape architecture, environmental design, and ecotourism, to be outstanding in the studies on ants, birds and fish. This university has acquired remarkable ecological, economic and social benefits by developing ecological civilization and forestry industries and by pushing forward the regional and local development of economy and society.

SWFU has paid great attention to international cooperation and exchange. Communication and exchange ties have been set up with universities and research institutes around the world, especially in the Southeast Asia, and variety of joint education programs have been set up and conducted. Cooperative research programs have been completed or being conducted with a number of international organizations.

Starting from the new historic scratch, SWFU is trying hard to build the university as a comprehensive forestry education center with prominent local characteristics in west China and to be of great influence in the south and Southeast Asia.