Minnan Normal University

Minnan Normal University, a doctoral degree-awarding, first-class university in Fujian Province, is located at an important node on the Maritime Silk Road, a national historical and cultural city – Zhangzhou. The university can be traced back to Songzhou academy built more than 1300 years ago. It originated from the Junior Normal College Class of Longxi Normal School in 1958, which later became the Normal School of Zhangzhou College and then Zhangzhou Junior Normal College. In 1963, under the auspices of then Premier Zhou Enlai, the State Council approved the establishment of Fujian Second Normal College, which began our undergraduate education history. Since 1977, the university has been relocated for several times and finally settled at the current site. In 1986, it was renamed as Zhangzhou Normal College. The following decades, it made strides ahead with hard work and dedication. In April 2013, the Ministry of Education approved the name change to Minnan Normal University. In 2018, it became a First-Class Discipline Construction University of Fujian Province. In 2020 it became a National First-Class Program Construction University. In 2021, it established its doctoral degree program and added a new campus.

The university adheres to the core value of "cultivating talents for the party, sharing worries for the nation, and providing guidance for the family", abides by the school motto of "Knowledge, Truth, Aspiration and Dedication", and carefully cultivates all kinds of talents for the needs of times. Today, more than 90,000 outstanding alumni are active in the fields of education, politics, economy, culture, science and technology, winning wide public acclaim.

The university boasts a strong faculty team. Implementing "training, attracting and hiring" policies simultaneously, we have gradually built a well-staffed faculty team with genial demographic structure, excellent quality and exuberant vitality. They are leading pioneering research while shining with wisdom on the podium.

The university highlights its special quality and characteristics. We are dedicated to "cultivating Taiwan-related cultural and educational talents to serve the great cause of the reunification of the motherland", and strive to create a coordinated system for the cultural, educational and economic development of Minnan ethnic groups. The university highlights the "Minnan (Southern Fujian)" and "normal education" characteristics, and cultivates application-oriented compound professional talents who serve cross-strait exchanges, Southeast Asian economic, educational and cultural cooperation and the "Belt and Road" Initiative and other special national strategic needs.

The university has built a unique and comprehensive training system for talents with Minnan Culture characteristics, covering undergraduate, master and doctoral programs, the first and only at home and abroad. We have established a number of national and provincial social science research bases and feature think tanks, such as the National Language Promotion Base, the Cross-Strait Language and Cultural Exchange Research Center of the Ministry of Education, Yuanshan College, the Minnan Culture Research Center, the Taiwanese Business Research Center, the Cross-Strait Research Institute, the Rural Revitalization Strategy Research Institute, and the Fujian Overseas Chinese Hometown Culture Research Center, etc. We have compiled a series of large-scale books of great academic influence across the Taiwan Strait, such as "Taiwan Strait Literature Review", "Taiwan Genealogy Compilation" and "General History of Taiwan". The university has become an important research and exchange base for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, the Central Committee of the Taiwan League, and All-China Taiwan Federation. At the same time, the university highlights the feature of teacher education. We continuously deepen the comprehensive educational reform based on the trinity modal of "government supervision - educational reform - family-value orientation", and fully implement the “university, government, and primary and secondary schools” three-in-one teacher education pilot project under an overall government planning. We have carried out innovative internship practice, promoted the practice and research in the sunny growth of left-behind children, and won awards such as the second prize of the National Basic Education Teaching Achievement Award. Our students have made impressive achievements in the unified recruitment examination for primary and secondary school teachers and in various competitions.

Scientific innovation is an important engine for the development of the university and an important embodiment of our comprehensive strength. The university is devoted to scientific research. Tapping into the transforming power of scientific research, relying on academic program building, we tackle key issues facing talent training, scientific frontier, cultural inheritance, sunrise industry and regional development. We have established a number of provincial key laboratories and engineering technology research centers, such as the Key Laboratory of Modern Separation and Analysis Science and Technology, and the Engineering Technology Center for Fungi Industry. We have promoted province and city co-construction of the university and university and city co-development, and strengthened cooperation with local cities, companies and other universities. We’ve boosted the integration between industry, education, and academic research and application, and enhanced regional economic development. At the same time, utilizing the academic advantages of the university and think tank platforms, we have provided insights and proposals for the Party and the government. Many achievements of our experts and scholars have received commendations from the national central leadership. The university has conducted high-level academic exchanges. We have hosted a series of large-scale academic seminars such as the First International Trans-Pacific Conference on Topology and Its Applications, the First Taiwanese Business Development Forum, the International Academic Seminar in Commemoration of Lin Yutang’s 120th Birthday, the Cross-Strait One-Family Forum, and the Fujian Education Supervision Summit Forum, winning wide acclamation from the academic community.

The university embraces an open education policy, and has actively carried out international exchanges and cooperation. We have signed cooperation agreements with dozens of universities in Britain, the United States, the Netherlands, Australia and other countries or regions. Through multi-modal exchanges such as joint training projects, long-term and short-term exchange student projects, we continue to deepen intercollegiate exchanges with universities in Taiwan. We have engaged in the "University-University-Enterprise" Fujian and Taiwan University Joint Undergraduate Talent Project, and promoted close ties and cooperation with universities in Taiwan.

The university takes a character-first approach in our education of young people immersed with local culture. We attach great importance to Party building and ideological and political education, and are committed to building a civilized, green, safe, smart and dynamic campus. Since 2008, the university has been rated as "Provincial Civilized School" for five consecutive years. Through decades of experience, the university has incorporated the pragmatic spirit of the Minnan culture cultivated among mountains and seas, its advocacy for morality and simplicity in life, its spirit of adventure and enterprise, its love and compassion for the world, and its unyielding spirit of "losing people, not the battle". Through these the university has formed a unique spirit and culture, and created a number of characteristic cultural brands such as Drama Society, Puppets Club, Southern Tune, Jinge Opera, and Drums and Parasols Show. The university has won multiple honorary titles and awards, such as the National Excellency in Social Activities of College Students Serving the Rural Areas, the National Excellent College Students Sinology Association, and the National Excellent College Youth League. Many well-known scholars at home and abroad have been invited to speak at featured forums such as the China Economic Forum, the Traditional Culture and Core Values Forum, and the Minnan Culture Forum.