South China Normal University

Founded in 1933, South China Normal University (SCNU) is a prestigious university in Guangdong Province and a member of “Project 211.” It is a comprehensive university, consisting of diverse branches of learning, such as philosophy, economics, law, education, literature, history, science, engineering, and management. The University has 30 schools and colleges, and offers 73 undergraduate programs, 175 graduate programs, and 90 doctoral programs. SCNU is strong in Teacher-training, Pedagogy, and Psychology etc. In recent years，SCNU has been striving to promote the innovation and development in all disciplines in efforts to build itself into a high quality teaching research university and serve the local society. In 2013, there were 25,175 undergraduates, 6999 postgraduates and 714 doctoral candidates. There were also on campus approximately 1000 long-term international students from about 50 countries every year. Among them, there are over 300 Degree-Seeking students. There are 3 multi-functional libraries on three campuses with more than 3.1 million books.

After many years of efforts, SCNU has built up a team of highly qualified professors and teachers with international perspective, nurtured and attracted a number of outstanding experts and scholars from home and abroad. SCNU has 1928 full-time faculty, of whom 471 are professors and researchers, and 542 are associate professors and associate researchers, 9 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Science and Sweden Royal Academy of Science. At present, SCNU has 16 State Key Laboratory and engineering research centers, 12 State research bases for natural science and social science, 3 provincial exemplary bases for combination of industry , learning and research for universities and 1 research and development center for industrial technology in Guangzhou city.

The university attaches great importance to international exchange and cooperation, promoting Chinese culture and learning the advanced technology and management from other countries. The university has established links with dozens of universities and educational organizations in other countries. Substantive cooperation has resulted in introducing of intellectual resources, scientific research, joint programs, publication of books. In addition, this has led to cultivation of personnel, holding international conferences, exchange of staff and students, sharing information in teaching and research, teaching Chinese as a foreign language. SCNU is one of the first universities that was approved by China’s Ministry of Education to teach Chinese as a foreign language and has begun to enrolled international students since 1987. The university has also been authorized to enroll government scholarship students. In recent years, SCNU has established 3 Confucius Institutes in Reunion University in France, with Coquitlam in Canada, and in University of Latvia in Latvia.

The campuses of SCNU are located in or near Guangzhou, adjacent to Hong Kong and Macao. This region is one of the most economically and commercially vibrant regions in China, with excellent public transport system, pleasant weather and two large trade fairs (Canton Fair) in this city every year, which attracts many foreigners.