Southwest University (SWU) is a national key and comprehensive university under the direct administration of the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, one of the “211 Project” universities (top 100 universities in the 21th century gaining preferential support in the construction and development from Chinese government. With a garden-style campus, SWU is situated nearby the beautiful Jialing River, at the foot of Jinyun Mountain, a state level scenic spot, in Beibei District, Chongqing Municipality.

SWU was established through the incorporation of former Southwest China Normal University and Southwest Agriculture University, both of which could be traced back to their common origin, i.e. East Sichuan Teachers College in 1906. The former Southwest China Normal University was one of the key comprehensive universities under the direct administration of the Ministry of Education. Originally it was named Southwest Teachers College in 1950 through the merging of the former National Women's Teachers College and Sichuan Provincial College of Education, and renamed Southwest China Normal University in 1985. The former Southwest Agriculture University, originally being named Southwest Agriculture College, was established in 1950 through the merging of relevant sections and departments of the former Sichuan Provincial College of Education, the Western China University and Xianghui College, and renamed Southwest Agriculture University in 1985.

After long-term construction and development, SWU has developed its special characteristics in teachers' education and agricultural education. It excels in a number of disciplines including education, psychology and agronomy. Among them, the silkworm genome research takes the lead in the world, and fundamental psychology and pedagogy have taken a national lead. Other great achievements include natural fallowing, silkworm gene bank, southwest ethnic education and psychology research, and human time cognition and so on. Hundreds of new technologies and achievements have brought with them outstanding social and economic benefits.

The following statistical data offer different aspects of SWU profile:

Ø Campus aspect: Big campus area of 9,000 Chinese mu (about 600 hectares), with the facilities area of almost 1,500,000 square meters

Ø Disciplinary aspect: 12 disciplinary categories, covering 55 first class disciplines, 3 national key disciplines, 37 provincial or ministry key     disciplines, 21 PhD degree programs of the first class disciplines, 16 post-doctoral research stations, 46 master’s degrees programs of the first class disciplines, 107 bachelor’s degree programs

Ø Faculty aspect: Nearly 2,700 full time teachers, over 1800 professors and associate professors (including research fellows), nearly 300 PhD supervisors, over 1200 master’s degree tutors

Ø Student aspect: Over 50,000 full time undergraduate and postgraduate students, over 900 international students from over 60 countries and regions