Sichuan University

History

Sichuan University is one of the members of Project 985 (Top Type) and it is one of only two universities in Western China region (alongside Xi'an Jiao tong University) ranking among the top-15 comprehensive research universities nationwide. It is consistently ranked # 1 in Southwest China, which comprises Chongqing Municipality, Sichuan Province, Guizhou Province, Yunnan Province, and Tibet Autonomous Region with a combination of more than 180 million population.

Internationally, Sichuan University is regarded as one of the most reputable Chinese universities by the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings where, it ranked # 61 globally as of 2022.

As of 2025, Sichuan University was ranked #87 by Academic Ranking of World Universities and #182 globally by U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking.

The 2025 CWTS Leiden Ranking ranked SCU 4th in the world by total publications and #9 in the world based on the number of their scientific publications belonging to the top 1% in their fields for the time period 2020–2023. Regarding scientific research output, the Nature Index 2025 ranked Sichuan University the No. 10 university in the China & the Asia-Pacific region, and 11th in the world among the global universities.

Facilities

The university has four libraries containing ca. 5.5 million volumes in total. The libraries also serve as the Collection Center for English Publications under the National Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Ministry of Education Information Center for Liberal Arts Literature and CALIS Southwest Sub-center. The National University Scientific and Technological Projects and Achievements Consulting Center, and Center for Medical Literature Retrieval in Southwest China are served by the SCU library as well.

The university museum is the only one of its kind in China with a comprehensive collection of over 40,000 cultural relics, and over 600,000 animal and plant specimens, ranking first in its holdings among the others in China.

The university stadium is fully equipped and served as the main field for the Sixth National Collegiate Sports Meet. Other facilities available include a campus web center, an analytic and testing center, university archives, the university press, a national foreign language examination center and intensive language training center, four attached hospitals, and one attached health school. The university publishes 37 academic periodicals for domestic and overseas audience.

Campuses

Sichuan University's three campuses are located in Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan Province. The older Wangjiang (望江) campus is in central Chengdu, adjacent to the Jinjiang River and its tributary the Jiang'an River. The nearby Huaxi (华西) campus is the site of the medical school. The Jiang'an (江安) campus was built in 2003 in Shuangliu County about 12.5 km away from the older campuses; it covers an area of about 4.7 km2 and has total floorage of more than 2.7 million m2. New attending students (most of them) will spend their first and second year in Jiang'an Campus (the newest campus) and then moving to Wangjiang campus for the rest of their college years.

Colleges and schools

The university has over 30 colleges or schools in various disciplines, including:

• Wu Yuzhang Honors College, the elite undergraduate college of Sichuan University. Each year, only about 1.5% freshmen from various L&S and Engineering majors of Sichuan University will be able to join Wu Yuzhang Honors College.
• College of Physical Science and Technology
• : The College of Physical Science and Technology is located in Wangjiang Campus. The Department of Physics was established in 1928. There are two key national disciplines: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Nuclear Technology. Other study areas include Optics and Condensate Matter Theory. Condensate Matter physics carries out its research in the microscopic electron transportation lab.
• College of Arts
• College of Foreign Languages and Cultures
• College of Mathematics
• College of Computer Science
• College of Software Engineering
• College of Electrical Engineering
• College of Electronics and Information Engineering
• School of Chemical Engineering
• School of Pharmacy
• College of Water Resource & Hydropower
• West China College of Stomatology, which was the earliest hospital of stomatology and had a significant role in the development of modern stomatology in China. A dental clinic called Renji Dental Clinic was founded in 1907, and was expanded to the first dental hospital in China in 1912. In 1917 the medical faculty of West China Union University (WCUU) established a department of dentistry, which in 1921 became the school of dentistry of WCUU. It was renamed as Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan Medical College in 1953. It was renamed as the School of Stomatology, West China University of Medical Sciences in 1985 and as the West China College of Stomatology, Sichuan University in 2000. Peter Hessler wrote that the students of that school were "The ultimate campus élite, the Brahmins of Sichuan University" and that students in other departments "resented" them.
• Institute of Semiotics and Media Studies (ISMS), founded in 2006 by Professor Henry (Yiheng) Zhao. The ISMS has research focused on the semiotics of video games, brand, fashion, tourism, gift, celebrities and other topics of popular culture. Interdisciplinary studies integrating semiotics with Marxism, psychoanalysis, gender studies phenomenology, existentialism, hermeneutics, and post-modernism have been an ISMS focus.
• West China Medical Center of Sichuan University.
• Sichuan University-the Hong Kong Polytechnic University Institute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction
• Sichuan University - Pittsburgh University Institute, a new academic entity jointly established by Sichuan University and the University of Pittsburgh.

Notable people

Zhang Lan, social activist, educationist, and former vice-chairman of the Chinese Central Government, and Wu Yuzhang, revolutionary and educationist, were once the president of the university. Other notable people who studied at SCU include Marshal Zhu De, one of the founding fathers of the People's Republic of China and the People's Liberation Army; Guo Moruo, a literary expert and previous president of Chinese Academy of Sciences; Jinde Cao, dean of the School of Mathematics at Southeast University; and Ba Jin, a well-known Chinese author.

Other notable people include:

• Dai Bingguo
• Feng Youlan
• Ke Zhao
• Luo Niansheng
• Pu Baoming
• Song Yonghua
• Tong Dizhou
• Yang Keng
• Yang Shangkun
• Zhu Guangqian
• Tang Danhong
• Yan Yude

References

References

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2. "Facts & Figures".
3. https://rsc.scu.edu.cn/szdw/gk.htm
4. "教育部 财政部 国家发展改革委关于公布世界一流大学和一流学科建设高校及建设学科名单的通知 - 中华人民共和国教育部政府门户网站".
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9. "ShanghaiRanking's Best Chinese Universities Ranking".
10. (2022-10-06). "World Reputation Rankings".
11. "ShanghaiRanking's Academic Ranking of World Universities".
12. (17 June 2025). "Best Global Universities Rankings: Sichuan University 2025".
13. Studies (CWTS), Centre for Science and Technology. "CWTS Leiden Ranking Traditional Edition".
14. "2025 Research Leaders: Leading academic institutions {{!}} Nature Index".
15. "Brief Introduction to the Library".
16. "CALIS website".
17. "Introduction Of Sichuan University Museum".
18. (December 5, 2008). "四川大学博物馆".
19. "四川大学档案馆".
20. "List of disciplines".
21. "Sichuan University at hxkq.org".
22. Hessler, Peter. (2022-05-09). "A Teacher in China Learns the Limits of Free Expression".
23. "数学学院".
24. "Yang Keng".