Fujian Normal University: A Profile
A key institution of higher learning in Fujian with a century-old history and a glorious tradition, Fujian Normal University (FNU) has been hailed as the province’s “cradle of teachers.”
Tracing its origin back to Fujian Superior Normal School, founded in 1907 by the famous late-Qing scholar Chen Baochen, who once served as the teacher of China’s last emperor, FNU is Fujian’s oldest university and one of China’s most time-honored teachers’ colleges. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the school, which by then had been renamed Fujian Provincial Normal College, merged in 1953 with such celebrated centers of learning as Fukian Christian University and Hua Nan Women’s College to form a new and significantly expanded Fujian Normal College, which acquired its current name of Fujian Normal University in 1972.
The vicissitudes in its century-old history notwithstanding, a fine scholarly tradition has been inherited and sustained by generation after generation of its faculty and students. FNU is proud to count among its teaching staff quite a few nationally renowned scientists and men of letters, including Ye Shengtao, Guo Shaoyu, Dong Zuobin, Lin Lanying, Zheng Zuoxin, Huang Weiyuan, Tang Zhongzhang, Tang Chongti, and Yao Jiannian. A commitment to academic excellence by its teachers and students alike, unswerving even at times of trials and adversities, has given rise to a distinctive ethos embodied in FNU’s motto of “To know and to act, with devotion and with aspiration.” Inspired by its pledge always to “teach earnestly, study diligently, seek truth and promote innovation,” the University has been forging ahead and making remarkable achievements. The new epoch in China’s contemporary history, ushered in when “reform and opening up to the outside world” was adopted as the grand strategy for national development, has brought with it the public consensus that scientific-technological know-how and talents are indispensable to China’s rise and self-empowerment. Fujian in particular has embarked on an ambitious plan to turn itself into one of the most advanced provinces in China culturally, educationally and economically. Seizing this opportune moment, FNU has been striving for its own renewal by redoubling its efforts and mobilizing all the resources it could find. As a result, the University has been developing at an unprecedented speed lately.
Consistent with its preeminent status as a major university in Southeastern China, FNU’s development has been a priority for the government since the early days of New China. Over the past decade or so, it has received on its campus many a national leader, including Li Ruihuan, Li Nanqing, Jia Qinglin, Zhou Guangzhao, Qian Weichang, and Luo Haocai. Virtually all the top leaders of the province have paid regular visits to the University to show their support for its work. The frequent visits by these dignitaries are indicative of the extent to which the leadership has been attaching importance to the University.
Located in Fuzhou, the capital city of Fujian province, the headquarters of FNU is made up of two campuses, the Qishan Campus and the Cangshan Campus, with a total land area of about 230 hectares. Right now, the University consists of 28 colleges, which together offer 56 undergraduate programs, over 120 master programs (including those conferring professional degrees in pedagogy, public administration, physical culture and arts), about 50 doctoral programs and 7 post-doctoral research centers. These programs cover subject areas in literature, history, philosophy, physics, engineering, pedagogy, economics, law, business management, agriculture, etc.. A balanced and coordinated development of this wide spectrum of disciplines has given FNU a distinct identity as a multi-disciplinal comprehensive university. And by conferring a whole range of academic degrees, from bachelors to doctorates, these programs also enable FNU to set up a full-fledged educational system within its institutional framework.
In addition to regular academic programs, FNU has also been authorized by the State to provide on-the-job trainings for teachers of elementary, secondary, occupational schools as well as colleges. It has been singled out for setting up experimental pilot programs in distance education and in teaching Chinese as a foreign language. And it has been authorized to admit students from Taiwan on an experimental basis. Teaching, however, is just one aspect of the dual task which FNU has taken upon itself. To turn the University into a school oriented to both teaching and research, its faculty has been paying just as much attention to scientific investigations and scholarly pursuits. The efforts have started to pay off. The University is at present the proud host to as many as 4 national centers for scientific research and personnel training, 8 key laboratories or research centers sponsored by either the ministries concerned or the provincial government, one Ministry of Education sponsored research center for basic education, and several dozens of provincially sponsored laboratories and research institutes.
