The predecessor of Nanning University was Yongjiang University, founded by the Revolutionary Committee of the Kuomintang, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Committee in 1985. In 2009, the Nanning Municipal Government commissioned Nanning Weining Group to participate in running the school in the form of a shareholding system as a co-organizer, and the two sides made it clear in the statute that they would not obtain financial returns from running the school. In 2011, a new campus built by the cooperation was put into operation. In 2012, the school was upgraded to an undergraduate university and renamed Nanning University (UNN). The university has 10 academic faculties and operates 38 undergraduate programs, covering five major disciplines such as Engineering, Management, Arts, Economics, and Education, with 22,555 full-time students.

School Philosophy

The university adheres to the socialist direction of education, upholds the non-profit principle, and maintains a local and applied positioning. It actively explores the path of applied technical universities and implements the educational concept of "Application, Openness, New Experience." With a focus on quality, characteristics, and innovation development, the school centers on talent cultivation, with professional and curriculum construction as the core, and emphasizes the integration of industry and education to nurture students. The goal is to forge an applied characteristic, anchor the local development, strengthen the integration of industry and education, and strive to cultivate high-quality applied talents for regional economic and social development in the new era.

Currently, the university has become one of the first pilot institutions for applied technical universities in the country, a newly approved institution for granting master's degrees in Guangxi, a pilot school for the transformation and development of undergraduate education, one of the first demonstration universities for deepening innovation and entrepreneurship education reform in the autonomous region, the vice chairman and secretary-general unit of the Guangxi Alliance of Applied Undergraduate Universities, the first batch of autonomous region-level construction units for innovation and entrepreneurship colleges, and the first batch of high-quality universities for implementing autonomous region-level undergraduate innovation and entrepreneurship programs.

School Facilities

UNN boasts a beautiful campus environment, with the national AAA-level scenic spot Bugu Lake located within the campus. The campus covers an area of 752,100 square meters, with a building area of 665,900 square meters for school buildings and 364,700 square meters for teaching and administrative facilities. The total value of teaching and research instruments and equipment amounts to 22108 million yuan. The university has 395 experimental training rooms, including the Intelligent Manufacturing Research and Innovation Center, Train Driving Control Laboratory, BIM Laboratory, Art Master Workshop, and Business Simulation Training Center. There is also one key laboratory in Guangxi and one autonomous region-level demonstration experimental training center, 4 teaching and research platforms at provincial and ministerial levels, and 11 teaching and research platforms at municipal and departmental levels. In addition, there are high-end collaborative education platforms such as the Ministry of Education-ZTE ICT Industry-Education Integration Innovation Base, the former China Quality Inspection Administration China Quality Research and Education (Nanning) Base, and the Guangxi Big Data Talent Training Base. We have one autonomous region-level off-campus practical teaching base and 227 off-campus internship bases. The library covers an area of 25,800 square meters and houses 1.5204 million physical books, 2.5537 million electronic books, and 35 databases.

Teaching Staff

UNN consistently regards talent as the primary resource for development and adheres to the "talent-driven development strategy to promote high-quality sustainable growth," continuously expanding faculty size and optimizing team structure. Currently, there are over 1,000 full-time and part-time faculty members, with the proportion of senior professional title holders and those with master's degrees or higher meeting the requirements for undergraduate education and teaching. The faculty includes nationally recognized outstanding teachers, autonomous region-level model educators, master artists, technical experts from enterprises, as well as other renowned scholars and industry leaders.

Talent Cultivation

UNN focuses on the cultivation of applied talents, deepens applied theoretical research, promotes the transformation of educational concepts towards applied education, and has published ten collections of research papers on teaching reform and two monographs.

We have deepened professional construction with 1 key (cultivation) discipline in Guangxi, 4 first-class professional construction sites in Guangxi, 9 key (characteristic) construction majors in the autonomous region, 2 national first-class courses, 12 first-class courses in the autonomous region, and 4 projects are selected for Guangxi's excellence program.

We also have deepened curriculum reform to promote teaching towards an applied education model, reconstructing the curriculum system, restructuring course contents, and rebuilding the implementation ecology of courses. The school has developed 161 applied demonstration courses and 77 core professional courses, with 2 national first-class undergraduate courses approved, 12 autonomous region-level first-class undergraduate courses, three autonomous region-level ideology and political education demonstration courses, and one autonomous region-level virtual teaching and research room.

The university has also deepened the integration of industry and education and school-enterprise cooperation to promote a talent cultivation model oriented toward applied education. It has explored and formed six collaborative education models with deep integration of industry and education. The "Food Quality and Safety" program has been approved as an autonomous region-level demonstrative industrial college. Furthermore, the university has deepened innovation and entrepreneurship education reform to transform the talent cultivation objectives towards high-quality applied talents in the new era, cultivating students' spirit and the ability for innovation and entrepreneurship. The school's Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education College has been selected as an autonomous region-level innovation and entrepreneurship college. We have won five first prizes for teaching achievements at the autonomous region level.

Virtue-based Education

UNN upholds the Party's overall leadership, deeply studies and implements Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, adheres to the socialist orientation of education, and fully implements the general requirements and organizational guidelines for Party building in the new era. Guided by high-quality Party development, it leads ideological and political work, operating as a model Party branch for Guangxi higher education institutions and a construction unit for the "Double Leader" teacher Party branch secretary studio in Guangxi colleges. The university remains committed to its fundamental mission of cultivating talent for the Party and the nation, focusing on the core task of fostering virtue through education. It continuously advances the comprehensive educational reform integrating "five dimensions of education" and strives to establish a new paradigm of "three-dimensional education" ideological work. Four academic colleges have been approved as the third batch of demonstration colleges for comprehensive "three-dimensional education" reform among all Guangxi higher education institutions.

The university continuously improves its ideological and political work system, creating mobile ideological and political classrooms, deeply implementing curriculum-based ideological education reforms, establishing a "one-stop" student affairs service center, and cultivating two major moral education brands: "heritage of heroic spirit" and "Bugu voluntary service." These initiatives effectively cultivate students' reverence for heroic spirit and commitment to public welfare. Since the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the university has established 7 provincial-level demonstration courses for curriculum-based ideological education, with ideological and political course teachers winning over 60 provincial-level teaching competition awards. All students participate in voluntary services, with these educational achievements being reported by Guangxi Daily, Nanning Daily, Nanning Broadcasting Television, and the Xuexi Qiangguo Guangxi Platform.

Applied Research

The university places significant emphasis on applied research, operating 38 research platforms including 1 autonomous region-level key laboratory, 5 provincial-level platforms, and 9 municipal-level platforms. Between 2022-2023, it secured 196 vertical research projects (34 provincial/ministerial-level, 159 municipal/bureau-level, and 3 county/bureau-level), along with 358 horizontally commissioned research projects. Research funding reached ¥30.5502 million and ¥39.0911 million respectively during these years. The faculty published 274 high-level academic papers, obtained 37 invention patents, 47 utility model patents, and 26 design patents, participated in compiling 3 industry standards, had 8 information reports adopted by municipal/bureau-level or higher authorities, and achieved 188 patent technology transfers. In the 2022 Research Competitiveness Ranking of China's Private Undergraduate Institutions, Nanning University ranked 29th nationwide and was recognized as "a private undergraduate institution currently occupying the optimal research niche."

International Communication

UNN prioritizes exchanges and collaborations with ASEAN countries and neighboring regions. It operates the Guangxi Key Laboratory of International Join for China-ASEAN Comprehensive Transportation, a provincial-ministerial key laboratory led by the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region government, co-established by Nanning University, renowned universities, and leading enterprises. Collaborative platforms such as the China-ASEAN Quality Research and Education Center and the Nanning (ASEAN) Rail Transit International Technology Cooperation Demonstration Base have been established. The university also founded College of ASEAN Studies to expand cooperation and exchanges with ASEAN nations. Seven universities initially joined the Neighbor Partners Alliance Among UNN-ASEAN Universities, while ten universities participated in establishing the "Bugu" Alliance of Application-oriented Universities. The Open Cooperation and Development Forum for Application-oriented Universities was successfully hosted, gathering over 150 participants including 27 foreign universities, 15 domestic universities, and 18 enterprises. Forty-three cooperation projects were signed, and institutions such as the UNN Modern Industry College Digital Technology, UNN-PBS MBA Center, and Nanning University-Gaoke Education ASEAN International Education Center were inaugurated. Graduate programs have been launched with Thailand's Bansomdejchaopraya Rajabhat University, Malaysia's Universiti Sains Malaysia, and Infrastructure University Kuala Lumpur.

Cultivation Quality

The university's initial employment rates for successive cohorts of undergraduate graduates have consistently exceeded the average levels of Guangxi higher education institutions during the same periods. It has been awarded the title of "Advanced Collective for Graduate Employment and Entrepreneurship Work" among Guangxi ordinary universities for 13 consecutive years. Since the 14th Five-Year Plan period, students have accumulated 401 national-level awards and 2,427 provincial and ministerial-level awards in academic competitions. Notably, in the China International College Students' Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, the university has secured 4 national silver medals, 14 bronze medals, 51 autonomous region-level gold medals, 89 silver medals, and 222 bronze medals, ranking among the top performers in Guangxi. Additionally, the university ranked 47th nationwide among similar newly-established undergraduate institutions in the 2019–2023 National Academic Competition Rankings for Undergraduate Colleges.

Since establishing undergraduate education, the university's reform and development have garnered attention and encouragement from higher authorities, peers, and society. Leaders including Wan E'xiang, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress; then-Vice Ministers of Education Lin Huiqing and Li Xiaohong; and renowned Chinese educationist Pan Maoyuan have conducted research visits to the campus, giving full recognition to the university's practices and achievements in applied talent cultivation. The university has been invited to share its experience in applied technical university development on nearly 90 occasions through national and regional platforms, while over 200 domestic universities have conducted study tours for exchange on applied undergraduate education. Mainstream media outlets such as Xinhua News Agency, China Education Daily, Guangxi Daily, and Guangxi Broadcasting Television have repeatedly featured the university's educational philosophy and distinctive practices. In 2016, the university was awarded the "Guangxi May 1 Labor Award," recognized as the "Second Autonomous Region Civilized Campus" in 2021, and honored as one of "Guangxi's First Batch of Green Schools" in 2022. In the 2024 ShanghaiRanking's Chinese University Rankings, Nanning University ranked 24th among private universities nationwide, remaining the only Guangxi private institution within the top 50.

(Data updated as of November 15, 2024)