Wenzhou University (WZU) is a comprehensive regional university established with the approval of the Ministry of Education of China. It was founded through the merger of Wenzhou Normal College and the Former Wenzhou University, which were founded in the year of 1956 and 1984 respectively.
Currently there are 20 colleges in WZU, with a full-time student population of 24,960. The number of faculty members, administrative and supporting staff is 1,950, among which 1,310 are full-time teachers (including 167 professors, 448 associate professors), 181 are mentors for postgraduates and doctorate students, and 201 are academic or technological leaders at the provincial or municipal level.
Advanced education and rich teaching resources
WZU was authorized to award master degrees in the year of 2003, and currently 20 disciplines are entitled to award M.A. or M.S. degrees. There are 45 undergraduate programs, among which 6 are provincial key programs, 2 trial programs of educational reform sponsored by the Ministry of Education. The undergraduate programs cover 9 major discipline areas, which are Philosophy, Economics, Law, Pedagogics, Literature, History, Science, Engineering and Management. And there are 4 provincial key disciplines: Organic Chemistry, Materials Science, Theory of Literature and Art, and the Study of Folklore. According to a report by the China University Alumni Association (CUAA) in 2007, WZU has 4 discipline categories ranked Top 100 among all the universities in China, these discipline categories are the Science of Law, Pedagogics, Literature and Science.
WZU houses 45 research institutes, 27 laboratories and experiment centers; among those 1 is a provincial key laboratory, 4 are key laboratories at the municipal level. During the Tenth Five-year Plan Period, WZU gained the lead of 19 National Natural Science Fund projects, 11 National Social Science Fund projects, 58 Provincial Science and Engineering projects, 167 Provincial Humanities and Social Science projects, 167 Municipal Science and Engineering projects, 180 Municipal Humanities and Social Science projects, and had won 7 Provincial Technological Innovation titles, 13 Provincial Social Science Achievement titles. The quantity of high quality papers was greatly increased, in the years of 2005 and 2006, over 300 papers had been cited by the SCI indexes. According to findings recently announced by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, WZU ranked top 100 in terms of papers included by SCI indexes among all the universities in China.
WZUs concept of running the university is "students-centered, quality-based, developing excellence and features while providing educational and research service for the broader community", with "Keep learning and seeking truth with robust pioneering spirits" as the motto of the university. WZU promotes a "3 self-determination" reform for its students, which is to encourage students to choose their majors/specialties, courses in a curriculum, and teachers/tutors on their own; and WZU has the Credit System, Major and Subsidiary Courses System, Double Majors and Double Degrees System carried out.
With these efforts, together with others, WZU hopes to achieve the objective of diversification in educational methods and goals, scientification in the management of teaching affairs. The graduates from WZU are well received by employers both from and outside Wenzhou because of their preparedness and suitability to their jobs and also their open and innovative minds. In recent years, the employment rates of WZU graduates is steadily kept at above 90% and it has been found through follow-up investigation that more than 92.5% of employers are satisfactory with graduates from WZU.
International Cooperation
WZU had been certified to recruit international students, and it is one of earliest Bases of Chinese Language Education. Many fields are open for WZU to cooperate with foreign institutions of higher learning. At present, WZU has entered into cooperative relationships with more than 20 educational institutions and scientific research institutes of U.S., U.K. and Japan in the form of joint educational programs, student exchanges, visiting scholar schemes, and the like.
WZU takes root in the city of Wenzhou, provides educational service to the whole Zhejiang province, and in the meantime is also targeting opportunities from both home and abroad. WZU is going all out to build itself into a comprehensive university stressing both teaching and research, which highlights the regional characteristics of Wenzhou, and in turn becomes a center of talents fostering and technological innovation for Wenzhou and its neighboring areas. WZU also strives to lead the way in the combination and integration of production, learning and research; to become the training center of teachers for basic education; and to become a dynamic lifelong learning base for the broader community.
