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About Shenyang Normal University
Shenyang Normal University (SYNU) is affiliated with the People’s Government of Liaoning Province. Founded in 1951 as Northeast Education College, it was renamed Shenyang Normal College in 1953, becoming one of the first two undergraduate normal colleges established in Northeast China at that time. The college was renamed as Liaoning No.1 Teachers’ College in 1965 and it reverted to Shenyang Normal College in 1978. In 2000, it successfully completed the construction and relocation of its new campus, laying a solid foundation for its subsequent development. In 2002, with the decision of the People’s Government of Liaoning Province and approved by the Ministry of Education, Shenyang Teachers College merged with Liaoning Institute of Education to form the current Shenyang Normal University. The Party Committee of SYNU was awarded the title of “Advanced Primary Party Organization” by the CPC Liaoning Provincial Committee in 2011 and 2021 respectively, and SYNU was conferred the title of “National Civilized Campus” in 2025.
Shenyang Normal University covers a total area of 1.23 million square meters, with a building area of 0.95 million square meters. Currently, the university has 20,830 full-time undergraduate students, 4,287 postgraduates, and 1,100 short-term and long-term international students. It comprises 25 teaching and talent cultivation units, as well as 21 university-affiliated libraries, departments, centers, research institutes (academies) and other affiliated entities. Institutions such as Liaoning Basic Education Research and Training Center, Liaoning Academy of Governance, Liaoning Province Center for Education Technology, Paleontological Museum of Liaoning, Liaoning Preschool Teacher Training Center, and Liaoning Research Institute of Vocational Education are all situated on the university campus.
The university currently has 2,245 faculty and staff. Among its full-time teachers, 251 hold senior professional titles (at the professor level), 492 hold associate senior professional titles (at the associate professional level), and 712 hold doctoral degrees. The university is home to 21 recipients of national-level talent program awards and honorary titles, including Distinguished Professors and Young Scholars under the “Changjiang Scholar Award Program”, leading researchers in philosophy and social sciences and renowned teachers under the “National Special Support Program for High-level Talents” , National Outstanding Teachers, experts enjoying the State Council Special Allowance , and candidates of the National “Hundred, Thousand, Ten-Thousand Talent Project”. It also has 173 recipients of provincial-level talent programs and honorary titles, including Liaoning Outstanding Experts, candidates of the Provincial “Hundred, Thousand, Ten-Thousand Talent Project”, recipients of the “Xingliao Talent Program”, and provincial renowned teachers. The university boasts 1 national-level “Huang Danian-style Teacher Team” and 15 provincial-level teams, including Liaoning “Huang Danian-style Teacher Teams” and Liaoning innovative research teams in universities.
Shenyang Normal University has formed an education system featuring the coordinated development of undergraduate education, postgraduate education, and international student education. The university offers 68 undergraduate programs, including 20 national-level top undergraduate programs and more than 10 national first-class undergraduate courses. The university is home to 1 National Demonstration Center for Experimental Education, 2 National-level Off-campus Practice Education Bases for University Students, 1 National Education and Training Base for Excellent Legal Talents, 1 Collaborative Education and Innovation Base for Foreign-related Legal Talents of the Ministry of Education, 2 National Virtual Teaching and Research Offices, and 2 Reform Projects of the Excellent Teacher Training Program of the Ministry of Education, as well as 1 of the first batch of Research and Reform Practice Projects for New Liberal Arts of the Ministry of Education. Additionally, it also has 17 Provincial First-class Undergraduate Programs, 231 Provincial First-class Courses, 1 of the first batch of Postgraduate Supervisor Training Bases in Liaoning Province, 1 Provincial Selection and Cultivation Base for University Students’ Entrepreneurship Projects, 14 Provincial Off-campus Practice Education Bases for University Students, 6 Provincial Virtual Teaching and Research Offices, 13 Provincial Demonstration Centers for Experimental Education, 2 Provincial Engineering Practice Education Centers, 4 Provincial Modern Industrial Colleges, 1 Provincial Demonstration Center for Curriculum-based Ideological and Political Education Research, and 7 Provincial Demonstration Courses for Curriculum-based Ideological and Political Education. Shenyang Normal University is qualified to recommend outstanding undergraduate students for direct admission to postgraduate programs. It is also identified by the Ministry of Education as a Demonstration School for Deepening Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Reform, a National Training Base for Primary and Secondary School Teachers, a Base for Inheriting Excellent Traditional Chinese Culture (Peking Opera). It is recognized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism as a Research and Training Base for Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage. It is also a candidate for the construction of “Smart Education Demonstration School” in Liaoning Province.
The university boasts a comprehensive array of disciplines, covering ten major disciplines including philosophy, economics, law, education, literature, science, engineering, management, art and interdisciplinary disciplines. It has 21 first-level discipline programs for master’s degrees and 19 professional master’s degree programs. Education, as well as Chemical Engineering and Technology, is 2 first-class disciplines of Liaoning Province. SYNU is among the first batch of national pilot universities for the comprehensive reform of Master of Education, and is home to 3 national second-level academic societies. The university has also been designated as an “Authoritative Source Institution for Replicated Materials”.
Shenyang Normal University firmly adheres to an educational philosophy on scientific and technological innovation, and continuously strengthens the core competitiveness in scientific research. The university currently hosts 80 scientific research and innovation platforms at or above the provincial and ministerial levels, such as international science and technology cooperation bases, key laboratories, professional and technological innovation centers and new-type think-tanks, as well as 40 provincial-level scientific research teams, such as high-level innovation teams, educational decision-making consultation research teams and science and technology commissioner teams. In recent years, the university has achieved continuous breakthroughs in national-level projects, successfully undertaken 271 national-level projects, including major and key projects funded by the National Social Science Foundation of China (NSSFC) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). Notably, in 2021, the number of the National Education Sciences Planning Projects approved by the Ministry of Education ranked first among universities in the Northeast and tied for third place nationwide. The university has won 93 government awards at or above the provincial level, and its faculty has published 7,459 high-level academic papers and 482 monographs. It has been granted 89 valid authorized patents. Its researchers have published 8 academic papers in prestigious international journals including Nature, Science and their sub-journals. More than 100 proposals and motions have been adopted by deputies to the National People’s Congress and the Liaoning Provincial People’s Congress, and more than 80 policy advisory reports have received important instructions and approvals from national, provincial and municipal leaders.
Upholding the philosophy of open education and win-win cooperation, Shenyang Normal University has innovated mechanisms, improved quality and efficiency in cooperation, and strengthened in-depth cooperation with world-class universities. At present, the university has established friendly cooperative relations with 184 higher educational institutions and organizations in 33 countries and regions across five continents. It currently has 1 Sino-foreign cooperative education institution, 1 Sino-foreign cooperative educational program, and offers 5 joint doctoral programs with universities in the United States, Japan, Russia, Spain and other countries and other regions. The university has set up 5 overseas Confucius Institutes and other Chinese language education institutions. It is home to 1 ministerial-level international cooperation platform for science and technology organizations, 1 ministerial-level center for country and regional studies, and 1 China-Eurasia University Alliance of Culture and Art Education, 1 Modern Agricultural Industry College and 1 Mozi Workshop of Modern Agriculture in Khujand, Tajikistan. The University has been approved to establish the Eurasian Russian-speaking Countries Cultural and Art Education Research Center of the National Ethnic Affairs Commission. As the only university in Liaoning Province designated by the Ministry of Commerce to host foreign aid training programs, SYNU has trained more than 800 local teachers, university scholars, educational officials and other professionals from 62 countries since 2012, including more than 70 officials at the bureau-director level and more than 200 officials at the division level. The training covers fields such as higher education, primary education, international Chinese language education, public administration, economics, biology, sports science, art, medicine, energy and electric power, etc. SYNU is a host institution for the Chinese Government Scholarship and the International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship. The University serves as the vice-chairman unit of the Foreign Student Education Management Branch of the China Association of Higher Education (CAHE), the vice-chairman unit of the Liaoning Education Association for International Exchange and the chairman unit of its Inbound Students Branch, the Secretariat of the Liaoning Expert Committee for Chinese-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools, a demonstration university for international education in Liaoning Province, and the vice-chairman unit of the Liaoning Confucius Institute Partnership Alliance.
Looking ahead, Shenyang Normal University will firmly follow the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, thoroughly act upon the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions and discourses on education. Under the leadership of the CPC Liaoning Provincial Committee and the People’s Government of Liaoning Province, SYNU will uphold the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education, adhere to the mission of nurturing talents for the Party and the country, and fully implement the “Eight Major Projects” for high-quality, connotative development and the “Four Measures” for Party building as adopted at the Fifth CPC Congress of the University. Guided by the mission of building a strong country in education, with a focus on serving the all-round revitalization of Liaoning Province, the university will prioritize making major breakthroughs in high-quality, connotative development. The university is committed to enhancing quality with precision and delivering targeted services, striving to strengthen its capacity for high-quality development, to boost its contribution to the revitalization of Liaoning Province, and make unremitting efforts to build a high-level normal university with prominent strengths, distinctive features, and the satisfaction of the people.
Updated: May 2025
Translated by School of Foreign Languages, SYNU