Beijing Normal University


Beijing Normal University, colloquially known as Beishida, is a public research university located in Beijing, China, with a strong emphasis on basic disciplines of the humanities and sciences. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in China, and was recognized by the Chinese Ministry of Education as a Class A Double First Class University.
The name "normal school" refers to an institution that aimed to train schoolteachers in the early 20th century. This terminology is preserved in the names of such institutions in China even after these schools gained university status and expanded to offer courses beyond education-related fields. This term reflects BNU's heritage as a former unit of the Faculty of Education at the Imperial University of Peking.

History

The University grew out of the Faculty of Education at the Imperial University of Peking which was established as China's first modern university, on the initiative of the emperor of the Qing Dynasty after the Hundred Days' Reform in 1898. In 1908 the Faculty of Education was named the "Imperial Capital School of Supreme Teacher Training" and was separated from the Imperial University of Peking, which subsequently became Peking University.
After the Republic of China was established, the Imperial Capital School of Supreme Teacher Training was renamed Peking Normal College in 1912. The college established its first graduate programs in 1920 and began to recruit female students in 1921. In 1923 it was renamed again to Peking Normal University, thus becoming the first normal university in modern Chinese history. The Peking Women's College of Education merged into Peking Normal University in 1931.
, 1926
When the Communist Party established the People's Republic of China in 1949, the capital of Peking was reromanized via pinyin in spelling as Beijing and the university was consequently renamed Beijing Normal University. During a national initiative of university rearrangement in 1952, Fu Jen Catholic University merged with Beijing Normal University. In 1954, BNU moved from its Hepingmen campus to a newly established campus at Beitaipingzhuang and has remained there since.
Historically, students at Beijing Normal University have played major roles in patriotic, democratic and other social movements, including the May Fourth Movement in 1919, the Cultural Revolution, and the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. The New York Times has described it as "one of the most progressive institutions" in China.

Present

Beijing Normal University was selected to be a Project 211 institution in 1996. In 2002, BNU signed an agreement with the Ministry of Education and Beijing municipal government to become the 10th university participating in Project 985, through which it receives special support from the Chinese government aimed at elevating its reputation to the level of a "world-class" university.
During its centennial celebration in 2002, an asteroid discovered in 1996 was named after the university as 8050 Beishida.
After a special visit by Premier Wen Jiabao to the university on May 4, 2006, the Chinese government implemented a tuition-waiver policy for teacher training programs in six normal universities that are supervised by the Ministry of Education, including Beijing Normal University.
The university also has a strong emphasis on increasing educational equity. Its 2009 demographic data shows that 40% of its enrolled students were from western China, almost one third were from rural areas, and a quarter were from low-income families. Ethnic minorities comprised more than 10% of students.

Academics

As of the year 2020, the university has 74 undergraduate degree programs, 185 master programs, and 142 doctoral programs. 16 of them are honored as "national key disciplines", including 5 general disciplines and 11 specialized disciplines, and are recognized as among the top ranked programs in China:
EducationPsychology
ChineseMathematics
GeographyCell Biology
Marxist PhilosophyPhysical Chemistry
Ancient Chinese HistorySystem Sciences
Theory of HistoryTheoretical Physics
Folklore/AnthropologyEnvironmental Science
EcologyEducational Economics and Management

Beijing Normal University possesses 74 research laboratories, including 4 National Key Labs, 7 Key Labs of the Ministry of Education, and 5 Key Labs of the Beijing Municipality. Key research centers and facilities include 7 key research facilities in humanities and social sciences of the Ministry of Education, 2 research centers of Engineering and Technology of the Beijing Municipality, 3 research centers jointly established with the Beijing Municipality, and more than 40 other research centers. Additionally, the university has an institute dedicated to Proteomics, the only one established in a university by the Ministry of Education. The university has also established a Science Park comprising 6 hectares.
National Key Laboratories at Beijing Normal University

Beijing Normal University's annual research budget in the sciences exceeds RMB 100 million. In 2010, 150 projects were funded by the National Natural Science Foundation, with a record high amount of RMB 62 million.
Funding for research in the humanities and social sciences has increased rapidly in the last five years to RMB 150 million, the third largest budget nationally. Since 2002, the annual increase in budget has been over RMB 30 million, equating to RMB 40,000 per capita. This increase in funding reflects BNU's institutional commitment to basic theory and research in the humanities and social sciences.
Beijing Normal University was also among the first Chinese institutions to recruit international students. It is particularly popular for its Mandarin Chinese study programs. Among its most prestigious programs is Princeton in Beijing, a collaboration with Princeton University in the United States.
Regarding international co-operation, the Beijing Normal University is part of a university consortium which offers an Erasmus+ joint master's degree, a Master in Research and Innovation in Higher Education.

Collaboration with SUSS

The University collaborates with the Singapore University of Social Sciences on SUSS's Master of Arts in Chinese Language and Literature.

Schools and Departments

Beijing Normal University also has many other areas of study not mentioned above.

Campus

The original campus was near Hepingmen and Liulichang in the center of Beijing during the Republic of China period, and after Fu Jen University merged into BNU, the Fu Jen's campus near Shichahai and Prince Kung's Mansion became the Northern Campus of BNU.
Beijing Normal University's current campus was built in 1954. It is located in northwest downtown Beijing in Haidian district, between the second and third ring roads, and is the closest of all Haidian universities to Tiananmen Square, site of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests during which several BNU students were involved as student leaders.
BNU's campus hosted the U.S. Olympic Team during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
In 2002, a sister campus was established collaboratively by the Zhuhai municipal government and Beijing Normal University in the coastal city of Zhuhai, Guangdong.

Notable alumni