Hunan University (HNU) is situated in Changsha, a renowned historical and cultural city. It is adjacent to the rippling Xiangjiang River on its front and picturesque Yuelu Mountain at its back. It is reputed as an "Ancient Millenarian Academy and Famous Centennial University".

Originated from Yuelu Academy, founded in 976 AD., HNU has consistently maintained the continuity of cultural education for thousands of years, illustrated an embodiment of  higher education in China and a rare miracle in the history of global higher education. Originally founded in 1897 as the Shiwu School, one of the earliest modern schools in China, HNU was subsequently renamed Qiu Shi Academy and later the Hunan Capital Grand School. In 1903, it merged with Yuelu Academy and was reorganized into the Hunan Institute of Higher Learning. It was officially renamed Hunan University in 1926; and was designated as one of the 16 state universities in 1937. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Li Da, one of the major founders and early leaders of the Communist Party of China, was appointed as the first president of HNU. Late Chairman Mao Zedong inscribed the name of the university. In 2000, HNU and the Hunan Institute of Finance and Economics merged to form the HNU of today. Since the launch of reform and opening up in 1978, HNU has been designated as a state key university and listed under the "Project 211" "Project 985" and "Project Double First-Class". Chinese President Xi Jinping inspected HNU on September 17th, 2020. He spoke highly of personnel cultivation and cultural inheritance of the university, and put forward that Yuelu Academy is the origin of the ideological line "Seeking Truth from Facts" of the Party.

Carrying forward the celebrated traditions of quality education and personnel cultivation, HNU has been continuing the essence of the motto "seeking truth from facts, and daring to be pioneers" and the spirit of "to be profound, intelligent, diligent, and dedicated in the pursuit of knowledge". A number of celebrities who had made tremendous and historical contributions in Chinese history were fostered, including Wang Fuzhi, Tao Shu, Wei Yuan, He Changling, Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, Guo Songtao, Tan Sitong, Huang Xing, Cai E, Yang Changji, Mao Zedong, He Shuheng, Cai Hesen, Deng Zhongxia, and Li Da. Forty-three faculty and alumni members have been elected as members of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. This achievement embodies the saying "the Kingdom of the Chu, the home of talents".

HNU has 31 colleges and schools. The professional disciplines cover twelve subject categories: philosophy, economics, law, education, literature, history, science, engineering, management, medicine, arts, and interdiscipline. A system of academic disciplines with a solid foundation of sciences, strong engineering strength, featured humanistic and social science, emerging life and medical science, and active emerging interdisciplinary study has taken shape. HNU offers 87 undergraduate programs, 38 first-level disciplines authorized to confer master's degrees, and 34 first-level disciplines to confer doctorates. The engineering discipline has successfully entered the ESI global top 0.01%.

HNU has set its goal for talent cultivation, aiming to foster pragmatic future leaders in the new era. The full-time students total more than 39,000, of which over 22,000 are undergraduates, and 16,000 are postgraduates. HNU has two 2.0 bases of the Ministry of Education for top-notch student cultivation programs in basic disciplines and four national experiment and teaching demonstration centers. The Marxism School of HNU was selected as a national essential school on Marxism. Over the past five years, HNU has won 16 National Teaching Achievement Awards, and four national awards for teaching materials construction. It has been approved as a pilot involved in the national plan for strengthening basic academic disciplines, selected as a university to establish the National Graduate College for Elite Engineers, and included in the "National Excellence Program". Fifty-four undergraduate majors were shortlisted for the first-batch national first-class majors, and 70 undergraduate courses were selected as the national first-class undergraduate courses. HNU students have won 10 national gold awards in the "China International College Students' Innovation Competition", "Challenge Cup" and other entrepreneurship and innovation competitions. HNU has established cooperation relationships with over 130 overseas universities, such as the University of California, Berkeley, National University of Singapore, and Imperial College London, and enrolled international students from nearly 70 countries and regions. 

HNU has a staff of more than 4,300, of whom over 2,400 are full-time teachers. The HNU faculty has received 334 national high-level talent awards, including six full-time memberships in the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering; 34 National Science Foundation Awards for Distinguished Young Scholars; and 55 National Science Foundation Awards for Excellent Young Scholars. Five teachers have received National Outstanding Teacher Award. In addition, HNU has seven innovative research groups supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), 14 national teaching groups one innovative team recognized by the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, and one inaugural philosophy and social sciences innovation team approved by the Ministry of Education. 

Strong research lays a solid foundation for fruitful achievements of results. HNU has seven state key laboratories; two national engineering technology research centers; one state engineering research center; two state energy R&D and innovation platforms; one integrated platform for major sci-tech breakthroughs approved by the Ministry of Education; three national-level international cooperation centers; one national defense key discipline laboratory; thirteen key laboratories and engineering research centers of the Ministry of Education; six discipline innovation and talent introduction bases in higher educational institutions under the Ministry of Education; and, one key laboratory of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Since 2019, HNU has 15 research projects winning the national science and technology awards, and 23 projects being granted with the humanities and social sciences awards of the Ministry of Education. HNU has been integrating production, education, and research, and made solid efforts in promoting commercialization of research findings. It has a national-level science and technology park, and was approved by the Ministry of Education as one of the first batch of university bases for commercialization of research findings and transfer of technologies, and a national demonstration university of intellectual property. The National Supercomputing Center in Changsha, the third supercomputing center in China, is operated and managed by HNU. The new generation of supercomputer Tianhe in the center reaches a computing performance at world-class and domestically-leading level. 

HNU features elegant landscapes and a rich cultural atmosphere. It is composed of the South Campus and the Caiyuan Campus, covering 2.41 million square meters. It is reputed as the "most poetic and picturesque university in China".  

Evolved from an ancient academy to a modern university, HNU has firmly pursued excellence and been in the front rank in China's higher education. At this new historical starting point, under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, HNU will firmly take root in China, remain devoted to building itself into a world-class university with Chinese characteristics and profound historical and cultural inheritance, and cultivating a new generation of young people capable of shouldering the mission of national rejuvenation.

(Update: January, 2025)