Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University

Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University (HBAU, website: http://www.byau.edu.cn/), one of the public universities in Heilongjiang province, was founded in 1958, with former Vice President of P. R. China, then Minister of Agriculture, General Wang Zhen serving as its first president. After 60 years of construction and development, HBAU has now become an agriculture oriented university with coordinated multidisciplinary development featuring large-scale modern agriculture.

HBAU was founded in the midst of historical circumstances when tens of thousands of demobilized soldiers were deployed to explore the Great Northern Wilderness. The original site of the university is located in the rural area of Peide Town, Mishan City, where the university has inherited and carried forward the pioneer spirit, overcome tremendous hardship, and struggled to develop a road of self-improvement, for the first 45 years. In 2003, HBAU was relocated to Daqing City and has since entered a new era of rapid development with great strides. Over the years, the university has gradually formed its own school motto: working hard, dedication, pursing the truth, and shouldering burdens while carrying on. It has received wide acclaim from the community for its excellent school ethos and contribution to the society.

HBAU is currently located in Daqing High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, covering a total area of 1.2 million square meters, with a total building area of 380,000 square meters. The total assets of the university have reached 1.19 billion yuan, including teaching and research equipment that are worth 260 million yuan, and the library houses over 2 million books and journals. The school currently employs 1,377 faculty and staff members including 851 full-time teachers, among them 168 are professors, and 271 associate professors. 315 of the faculty members have earned doctoral degrees, accounting for 37.0%; and 120 teachers have studied overseas for at least one year, accounting for 14.1%. HBAU is currently home to a number of prominent researchers and scholars: including 1 “ten thousand talent plan” awardee, 1 youth scholar of “Yangtze River Scholar Award Program”, 1 “Longjiang Scholar” distinguished professor, and 2 youth “Longjiang Scholar” professors, etc.

HBAU is composed of 11 colleges and offers bachelor, master and doctoral degrees, involving 7 disciplines including agriculture, engineering, management, science, law, literature and economics. The university offers 47 undergraduate programs including 3 national-level specialty programs and 9 provincial key specialties. HBAU recruits students from 23 provinces and regions across the country. Currently there are more than 14,600 full-time undergraduate students and 1,600 graduate students enrolled in various programs. Since its establishment, the school has trained 130,000 graduates and more than 500,000 technical personnel.

HBAU focuses on promoting teaching reform, and as a result, the quality of personnel training has been continuously improving. Since “the 12th Five-Year Plan, the university has been granted a series of prominent projects: including1 comprehensive reform pilot project for a national specialty program, 2 national-level education reform programs for agricultural and forestry personnel training (covering 7 majors), 1 national new engineering research and practice project, as well as 3 comprehensive reform projects for provincial specialty programs, 5 provincial-level education reform projects for agricultural personnel training, 2 provincial-level research and practice projects for new engineering, and 1 provincial-level demonstration project for virtual simulation experiment. The university has also been approved to build 2 national level? experimental teaching demonstration centers and 1 off-campus practical education base, 5 provincial experimental teaching demonstration centers, 1 provincial-level virtual simulation experimental teaching demonstration center and 3 off-campus practical education bases. It has also set up 2 provincial-level online video courses, 2 provincial-level online courses, and compiled 15 textbooks administrated by the Ministry of Agriculture under “the 12thFive-Year Plan”. HBAU’s graduates enjoy high employment rate compared with those from other universities in the province. In 2015, HBAU was named “Top 50 universities” in China for best employment rate.

HBAU places its research focus on applied research and technology development. It is home to a number of high-level scientific research facilities including the National Coarse Cereal Engineering Research Centre, New Rural Development Research Institute, Engineering Technology Research Centre for Agri-food By-product Utilization, and Agricultural Product Processing Quality Inspection and Testing Centre, as well as other 7 provincial key laboratories and engineering technology research and development centres. HBAU has 3 post-doctoral mobile research stations and 1 post-doctoral work station, and it worked with local municipalities to establish “Mudanjiang Food & Biotechnology Innovation Institute” and “Daqing Agricultural Facilities Research Institute”. During “the12thFive-Year Plan” period, the school has undertaken more than 300 research projects kinds at national, provincial, and ministerial levels, and the research funding has reached 240 million yuan. Up to date, the school has obtained a total of more than 1,400 scientific research achievements, 142 of which have won provincial or ministerial awards. A number of major scientific research achievements such as “three-ridge cultivation techniques for soybeans” and “crop seed coating agent” have been successfully transformed into actual production and created tremendous economic and social benefits. Over the years, the school has won 3 “Governor’s Special Award” and 2provincial “Rejuvenating Economy Award”.

HBAU is actively seeking the opportunity to cooperate with foreign institutions. So far the university has established cooperation with nearly 30 universities and research institutes in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia, France, Poland, South Korea, Japan, and India. Currently, the school implements joint cooperative education programs with Vladivostok National Economic Service University in Russia, and student exchange programs with Gangneung-Wonju National University in South Korea and Yamagata University in Japan, as well as master study program with Poznan University of Life Sciences in Poland. HBAU also works with University of Alberta in Canada to implement “China-Canada Food Research and Development Center” project, and University of Agriculture Sciences in India the “China-India Cereal Engineering Research Centre” project.

During “the 13th Five-Year Plan” period, HBAU will adhere to the core philosophy of “Educating People, Quality First, Advocating Academic Development, and Characteristic Development”, taking on the challenge of serving for the full revitalization of Heilongjiang province and China’s agricultural modernization, striving to become a high-level teaching and research institution with unique characteristics.