Northwest A&F University (NWAFU) is located in Yangling, Shaanxi Province, the birthplace of Chinese agricultural civilization and today’s Yangling Agricultural Hi-tech Industries Demonstration Zone. NWAFU is a key national comprehensive university under the administration of the Ministry of Education and supported by the “Project 985” and “Project 211”. It is one of the universities listed in the National “World-class University and First-class Discipline” Project. In 2022, NWAFU was listed in the second round of national “Double First-class” universities, with its 2 disciplines listed in the "Double First-class" disciplines.

The University originated from National Northwest Junior College of Agriculture and Forestry founded in 1934, which was the earliest institution of higher agriculture and forestry education in northwest of China. Since its establishment, NWAFU has been closely bound up with the fate of the nation and its people, and assumed the major responsibilities of rejuvenating northwest of China, boosting agricultural prosperity and cultivating talents. In September 1999, to implement the strategy of Large-scale Development of Western China and promote the coordinated reform of the science and education system, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council made overall plans to merge 7 teaching and scientific research institutions, Northwest Agricultural University; Northwest Forestry College; Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) & Ministry of Water Resources (MWR); Northwest Institute of Water Resources Science, MWR; Shaanxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shaanxi Academy of Forestry; and Northwest Institute of Botany, CAS and formed today’s Northwest A&F University, jointly constructed by the Ministry of Education, Shaanxi Province and CAS. NWAFU has since been entrusting a mission to support and lead the development of modern agriculture in arid and semi-arid areas. In 2019, the Ministry of Education and other 6 ministerial-provincial institutions jointly issued guidelines to further support NWAFU to accelerate its construction of world-class agricultural university, endowing new development opportunities to NWAFU.

The past years since the university’s establishment have witnessed generations of its faculty and students practicing the university motto of “Sincerity, Simplicity, Bravery and Perseverance” and upholding the philosophy of “The people are the foundation of the country; the food is the foundation of the people; the education should prioritize the moral virtues and the development should start with grounded basis”. Inheriting the ambition of Hou Ji from time immemorial and practicing “Farming Teaching” in modern way, NWAFU has formed the spirit of “taking root in Yangling, giving prime concern to the country, working on farm fields, engaging in the cause of agriculture, rural areas, and farmers, braving hardships and pursuing excellence” and the scientific culture of “unity, truth-seeking, tenacity and self-confidence”. The university sticks to the development path of integration of industry-education-research, and has made significant contributions to China’s agricultural modernization, scientific research and education.

NWAFU has the Graduate School and 28 Colleges (departments). As of August 2023, there are 2,554 full-time faculty members and 36,476 full-time students enrolled. The university also has 14 postdoctoral research stations, 15 doctoral-level first-degree disciplines authorized to award doctoral degrees, 28 master's-level first-degree disciplines authorized to award master's degrees, 3 doctoral professional degree categories, 17 master's professional degree categories, and 79 undergraduate programs. 14 disciplines, including Agricultural Science, Botany & Zoology, Environmental Science & Ecology, Engineering, Chemistry, Biology & Biochemistry, Pharmacology & Toxicology, Molecular Biology & Genetics, Microbiology, Earth Sciences, Computer Science, Clinical Medicine, Social Science, and Materials Science, are ranked in the top 1% globally in the ESI. Among these, Agricultural Science, Botany & Zoology, and Environmental Science & Ecology are ranked in the top 0.1%, with Agricultural Science ranking in the top 0.01%. The university has developed into the higher education institution with the most comprehensive agricultural, forestry and water-related disciplines in China.

Since its founding in 1934, the university began to enroll undergraduate students, and postgraduate enrollment started in 1941. Adhering to the concept of “solid foundation, wide range, strong practical and innovation ability, high quality and internationalization”, NWAFU focuses on cultivating academic elites, leading talents in innovation & entrepreneurship and management talents in social development with firm ideals and beliefs, social responsibility, passion for agriculture, rural areas and farmers, innovative spirit, practical ability, international vision and serving for the development of modern agriculture. The university attaches high priority to first-class undergraduate education and actively participates in the construction of “New Agricultural Science”. 34 majors have been approved as national first-class undergraduate disciplines construction bases, and “Biological Science Top-notch Students Training Base” has been included into the “Fundamental Disciplines Top-notch Students Training Program 2.0” of the Ministry of Education. The university also has 1 national talent training base for life sciences and technology, 3 national-level experimental zones for innovative talent training models, 12 national-level characteristic majors, and 8 majors in the “Education and Training Program for Excellent Talents in Agricultural and Forestry”. 6 majors have passed the engineering education accreditation. There are 5 national-level Teaching Masters, and the university has developed 12 national-level excellent courses, 8 national-level shared online excellent courses, 4 national-level open online courses, and 36 national-level first-class undergraduate courses. In recent years, 52 textbooks have been selected as national-level textbooks. NWAFU upholds the principle of moral education and promotes the comprehensive development of students, with a dedicated School of Quality Education. NWAFU emphasizes the cultivation of students’ innovation abilities, encouraging and supporting them to participate in various high-level academic competitions and innovation & entrepreneurship projects. The university has repeatedly won top national-level awards in competitions like the “Internet+” and “Challenge Cup”, ranking among the top agricultural and forestry universities in China. Since its founding, NWAFU has trained and delivered nearly 300,000 talents to society, with graduates spreading across China and abroad. 28 alumni have become academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. The university has made significant contributions to the modernization of agriculture and the development of rural economic and social affairs in northwest of China and the whole nation.

Adhering to the principle of “making down-to-earth researches and achieving top-notch innovations”, aiming for the frontiers of international science and technology, and centering on national strategic demands and regional development needs, NWAFU has positively conducted basic research and applied technology research oriented towards agricultural production. It has formed distinct features and advantages in research fields such as crop genetic breeding & disease and pest control, soil and water conservation & ecological restoration, efficient agricultural water use in arid areas, breeding & cultivation of economic forest and fruit cultivars, livestock and poultry breeding & healthy husbandry, agricultural biotechnology, protected agriculture engineering, and viticulture & enology. Since its founding, NWAFU has cumulatively acquired more than 6,000 sci-tech achievements in various areas, among which over 1,800 are awarded. Outstanding sci-tech accomplishments include“Bima-1”, the most widely planted wheat variety in China, “Xiaoyan-6”, the leading replacement distant hybrid wheat variety in China, and “Qinguan”, the independently cultivated and most widely planted apple variety in China. The direct economic benefit of promoting and commercializing these achievements values over 300 billion yuan. Since the merger of seven institutions in 1999, firmly bearing in mind the national mission of serving the sustainable development in the arid areas, NWAFU has always stood on the front-line of the Large-scale Development of Western China, the Belt and Road Initiative, and the Rural Revitalization Strategy. The university has cumulatively won 44 national sci-tech awards, host and completed 99 research projects achieving first prizes at the provincial and ministerial level, and obtained 2,078 national authorized invention patents. A series of key technologies for high-quality, efficient and green production of apples on the Loess Plateau has supported and led Loess Plateau to become the worldly recognized and largest high-quality apple production base in China. The soil erosion control technology system has solved the global conundrum of ecological environment construction on the Loess Plateau, and helped push Shaanxi’s “green territory” 400 kilometers to the north and played an important role in the national project of Returning Farmland to Forest (grassland).

NWAFU has formed its fine traditions of being close to “agriculture, rural areas, and farmers” and serving society in its long-term university-running practice. Since its founding, to meet the development needs of national and regional leading industries, NWAFU has given full play to its social service function and striven for the demonstration, promotion and industrialization of sci-tech achievements. NWAFU took the lead in exploring and practicing university-based new mode of agricultural sci-tech promotion in China. Currently, the university has established sci-tech cooperation with more than 500 local governments and leading enterprises, built 30 agricultural sci-tech experiment demonstration stations and 50 demonstration bases in centers of regional leading industries, and constructed fast channel for university agricultural sci-tech achievements popularization among rural areas. The accumulated direct economic benefits of these achievements value over 100 billion yuan. Actively engaging in rural revitalization and agricultural sci-tech modernization, NWAFU has experimented with paired-up assistance work mode of “three groups and one team”, which has been selected by the Ministry of Education as the top ten typical projects in directly affiliated universities. For five years in a row, the university has been awarded “Good” in the assessment of targeted paired-up assistance work of Central Government related institutions. It’s one of the first batch of universities in China to build the New Rural Development Research Institute, the Rural Revitalization Strategy Research Institute, Shaanxi Rural Revitalization Industry Research Institute, and College of Farmers Education, which have provided important intellectual supports to serve the modernization of agriculture and rural areas in the new era.

NWAFU adhered to internationalized education cooperation and has actively strengthened concrete cooperation with world-class universities and academic institutions, thus forming a new pattern of all-round, multi-level and multi-channel international cooperation and exchanges. The university has successively established partnerships with more than 104 well-known universities or scientific research institutions in 34 countries (regions) around the world. It has jointly carried out three Chinese-foreign cooperative programs in Food Science & Engineering, Plant Protection, and Environmental Science with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Arizona. NWAFU is qualified to receive international students with Chinese Government Scholarships, with 356 international students on campus currently. The internationalization of the university has transformed from “The external cooperation drives the internal development” to “actively go abroad to teach and promote”. Through closely participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, NWAFU has gradually become a highland for China to carry out international agricultural exchanges and cooperation and serve the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt. The Silkroad Agricultural Education and Research Innovation Alliance led predominately by NWAFU has a profound influence. NWAFU also takes the lead in establishing 8 agricultural sci-tech demonstration parks and 4 overseas talent training bases in countries along the Silk Road. NWAFU and Yangling Agricultural Hi-tech Industries Demonstration Zone have jointly built the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Agricultural Technology Exchange and Training Demonstration Base. The university has led the establishment of the Institute of Modern Agricultural Development, and the International Joint Laboratory of Modern Agriculture of SCO Agricultural Bases and the joining of the Universities of SCO (focusing on modern agriculture). The university’s Confucius Classroom at Baranavichy State University officially opened in February 2021.

On the new journey ahead, NWAFU will be guided by Xi Jinping’s Thoughts on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. It will thoroughly implement the spirit of the 20th CPC National Congress, deepen the study and implementation of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thoughts and ideas on education, science and technology, talents, and “agriculture, rural areas, and farmers” work, especially his important reply to the representatives of university leaders and experts from agricultural universities across China. The university will uphold its mission of “cultivating people for the Party, training talents for the country,” and implement the fundamental task of moral education. Adhering to the principle of “making down-to-earth researches and achieving top-notch innovations”, the university will continue to implement the three strategies of strengthening university by talents, internationalization and informatization. It will actively undertake the four missions of safeguarding national food security, maintaining ecological civilization, promoting human health and serving rural revitalization, and strive to achieve Five Benchmarks of cultivating outstanding agricultural and forestry talents, leading future agricultural development in arid and semi-arid areas, implementing rural revitalization strategy, promoting the Belt and Road Initiative and deepening integration of university and local development, to accelerate the construction of a world-class agricultural university with Chinese characteristics and strive to realize the construction of a great China and rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.