South China Agricultural University

South China Agricultural University

The history of South China Agricultural University can be traced back to the establishment of the Guangdong Provincial Agricultural Experiment Station and its affiliated Agricultural Training Institute in 1909. In 1952, it was formed through the merger of the College of Agriculture at Sun Yat-sen University, the College of Agriculture at Lingnan University, as well as parts of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine and the Department of Plant Pathology and Entomology from the College of Agriculture at Guangxi University, and was named South China Agricultural College under the administration of the Ministry of Agriculture. The renowned agricultural scientist, educator, and one of the founding figures of modern rice science in China, Professor Ding Ying, served as the first president of the college. In 1984, it was renamed South China Agricultural University. In 1998, it became a “211 Project” university jointly built by the Guangdong Provincial Government and the Ministry of Agriculture. In 2000, it was transferred from the Ministry of Agriculture to the administration of the Guangdong Provincial Government. In 2015, it was fully included in the construction of high-level universities in Guangdong Province.

With a profound and enduring cultural heritage. Chairman Mao Zedong personally inscribed the university’s name. Over the course of more than a hundred years of educational development, the university has fostered outstanding traditions and distinctive characteristics. It has established the motto and ethos of “Cultivating virtue, pursuing knowledge, seeking truth, and innovating,” as well as the educational philosophy of “Putting education first, prioritizing moral development, upholding scholarship, and emphasizing quality.” The spirit of Ding Ying, embodied in “Diligent learning and virtuous conduct, putting knowledge into practice, building careers with self-reliance, and striving for excellence and innovation,” forms the core of SCAU’s culture, nurturing generations of faculty and students. Academician Lu Yonggen, who served as president for 13 years, was patriotic, dedicated to his school and the Party, and made outstanding contributions to science and education. Even in his later years and during prolonged hospitalization due to illness, he continued to participate in organizational activities and political study, becoming a vivid representation of the SCAU spirit. In the new era, the faculty and numerous SCAU alumni, carrying the great dream of national rejuvenation, have internalized and externalized the SCAU spirit, diligently working in their respective fields and continuously writing new chapters in inheriting and promoting the SCAU spirit.

Distinctive academic strengths. The university currently has five national key disciplines: Agricultural Entomology and Pest Control, Crop Genetics and Breeding, Agricultural Economics and Management, Pomology, and Preventive Veterinary Medicine; one national key (cultivation) discipline: Agricultural Mechanization Engineering; five key disciplines of the Ministry of Agriculture; twelve first-level key disciplines of Guangdong Province; four second-level key disciplines of Guangdong Province; two key disciplines of the State Forestry Administration; and eleven postdoctoral research stations. It has built an advantageous discipline system led by agricultural sciences and life sciences, characterized by research on tropical and subtropical regional agriculture. Both Agricultural Sciences and Plant and Animal Science have entered the top 1% of the ESI (Essential Science Indicators) world rankings.

Address: South China Agricultural University, Wushan, Tianhe District, Guangzhou City