Shaanxi Normal University International Student Scholarship

About the university

Shaanxi Normal University (SNNU), also known as Shaanxi Normal University, is located in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. It is a national key university directly under the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. The university is part of the national "211 Project", "Double First-Class" initiative, and "985 Project Advantage Discipline Innovation Platform". It is among the first batch of institutions authorized to confer doctoral and master's degrees, the first batch of pilot universities for the "National Excellent Teacher Training Program", a demonstration university for deepening innovation and entrepreneurship education reform under the Ministry of Education, one of the first pilot universities for national education system reform, and a member of the New Silk Road University Alliance. Shaanxi Normal University traces its origins to the Shaanxi Provincial Normal School established in 1944. It was renamed Xi'an Normal College in 1954, and in 1960 merged with Shaanxi Normal College to form Shaanxi Normal University. In 1978, it became a normal university directly under the Ministry of Education. In 2005, it was selected for the national "211 Project"; in 2007, it was included in the "985 Project Advantage Discipline Innovation Platform"; in 2014, it was selected for the national "2011 Plan"; in 2017, it became one of the first batch of universities under the national "Double First-Class" initiative; and in 2018, it was selected for the national "111 Plan". As of March 2025, Shaanxi Normal University has two campuses: Chang'an and Yanta. It comprises 27 colleges (departments) and 1 basic experimental teaching center, offering 69 undergraduate programs. The university has 25 first-level doctoral degree authorization points, 35 first-level master's degree authorization points, 2 professional doctoral degree authorization points, 25 professional master's degree authorization points, and 20 postdoctoral research stations. It has 3,442 faculty and staff members, over 19,000 full-time undergraduate students, over 12,200 graduate students, and over 600 international students. The history of Shaanxi Normal University can be traced back to the Shaanxi Provincial Normal School founded in 1944 and the Department of Education of the College of Liberal Arts of National Northwestern University established in 1945. The Shaanxi Provincial Normal School was founded in 1944, located at the former site of a women's middle school at No. 37 Chonglian Road in the northern city of Xi'an. Professor Hao Yaodong, a visiting professor from the Northwest Normal College Research Institute, was appointed as the principal (he resigned in August 1948 and was succeeded by Associate Professor Liu Guo'an from the Northwest Agricultural College). Enrollment began in August of the same year, with five departments: Chinese Language, English, History and Geography, Mathematics, and Physics and Chemistry, offering a three-year program. In the autumn of 1946, specialized courses were added, divided into liberal arts (Chinese Language, History and Geography) and sciences (Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry), which were one-year accelerated programs. In the same year, the Southern Shaanxi Branch was established in Hanzhong, offering two majors: Chinese Language and Literature and Mathematics, with a one-and-a-half-year program (changed to a two-year program the following year). After the liberation of Xi'an in May 1949, under the leadership of the Xi'an Municipal People's Government and the Xi'an Military Control Commission, the Education Department of the Cultural and Education Committee of the Xi'an Military Control Commission took over seven higher education institutions, including the Shaanxi Provincial Normal School. Comrades Xin Anting and Liu Zeru were appointed as military representatives to assist in the liquidation and handover. On June 25, 1949, the Shaanxi Provincial Normal School formally established a provisional school affairs committee. In August, according to Order No. 20 of the Xi'an Military Control Commission on the merger of universities and colleges, the Shaanxi Provincial Normal School was merged with the Education Department of Northwestern University to form the Normal College of Northwestern University. On September 2, 1949, nine teachers from the Shaanxi Provincial Normal School (including professors Hou Youke, Gao Yuanbai, Gao Xianbin, Jia Zefu, etc.) and 235 students were formally integrated into the Education Department of Northwestern University (students from the English Department of the former normal school were assigned to the Foreign Languages Department of Northwestern University), forming the Normal College of Northwestern University, which had five departments: Educational Administration, Chinese Language, History and Geography, Mathematics, and Physics and Chemistry, offering a four-year program. On March 19, 1950, the Ministry of Education of the Northwest Military and Political Committee issued Order No. 100, merging the Southern Shaanxi Branch of the Shaanxi Provincial Normal School, established before liberation, into the Normal College of Northwestern University. In mid-August 1952, the Ministry of Education of the Northwest Military and Political Committee, in line with the national adjustment of higher education institutions, decided to establish the Normal College of Northwestern University as an independent institution and selected a site near Wujiafen in the southern suburbs of Xi'an for construction. At the end of the same year, the Ministry of Education of the Northwest Military and Political Committee issued a wooden square seal for the "Normal College of Northwestern University," which came into use on December 30, allowing direct external business contacts. From then on, the Normal College of Northwestern University was nominally still affiliated with Northwestern University but had effectively become independent. Meanwhile, with the independent establishment and development of the college, campus construction and relocation proceeded accordingly. In early August 1954, the relocation was completed, and the Normal College of Northwestern University was fully independent from Northwestern University.