By merging its predecessor, Foshan University (built on its 1950s origins), Foshan University is a designated full-time comprehensive university under the ratification of the State Education Ministry in 1995. Located in Foshan City, Foshan University is convenient to most major cities in Pearl River Delta Area such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Macau. Currently, the University has four campuses including home campus, Northern campus, Hebin Road campus, and Tongji West campus, covering a land area of 2,248 acres, with a total construction area of 320,200 square meters.
Currently, 43 bachelor’s degree programmes and 12 three-year programmes are offered to all on-campus students with a total number of 10,566 (8,550 in full-time undergraduate programs, 2,016 in three-year programs, and 8,437 in part-time further education programs). 1,545 staff work for the University, of which 828 are teaching faculties (449 higher academic status holders, 69 out of 449 are Professors, 87 PhD holders, over 80 doctoral candidates, 349 Master’s Degree holders, and more than 70 teachers having overseas experience).
The University Library holds about 127,800,000 volumes of books with 3,186 kinds of journals in Chinese and foreign languages. More than 19,500 Chinese academic periodicals can be accessed through Mirror WEBs on the campus network. 19,051 kinds of foreign academic periodicals are available in the Library’s online database. "Journal of Foshan University" (Social Science Edition & Natural Science Edition) is one of the publications of the University. The fixed assets of integrated teaching & research equipments value RMB 132,780,000.00 (US$16,400,000). The University owns such modern teaching and research facilities as Information & Teaching Technology Centre, Experiment Centre, Farm, Experimental Orchard, Animal Clinic, Hatchery, Affiliated Stomatologic Hospital, and many well-equipped laboratories. A duck research and development branch of the National Livestock Technology Research Centre is also located at Foshan University.
The University is established jointly and directed by Guangdong and Foshan Governments with the main management focused on the municipal level. As a local University, the University sets undergraduate teaching programmes as its main mission, concentrates on the establishment of disciplines and specialties, with scientific research as the motivation. The University aims to bring forth creative education approach to cultivate professional talents with leadership cognition, career-pioneering spirit, and practical ability. Throughout the years, with the goal to serve the development of local economy, the University has cultivated over 40,000 intellectuals of various specialties for the society. The University has been conducting researches closely related to the local socio-economic development, taking the initiative to undertake provincial, municipal, and district projects. Meanwhile, it has taken on a lot of key scientific and technological brainstorming projects on the national, provincial, municipal, or local level. Since the University’s merger in 1995, the University has carried out one task of the national “Project 973”, one national key scientific and technological brainstorming project, 23 National Nature Fund projects, 4 National Social Science Fund projects, 2 National Spark Plan projects, 215 provincial projects, and 221 social cooperative projects. Among them, a complete system of Xianhu Duck has passed the national species evaluation and obtained the first water bird species certificate in the country.
International exchange and co-operation link the University to the world. At present, focusing on multi-level undergraduate taught programs, the University has set jointly-built master’s degree programs with domestic and overseas higher education institutions. Up till now, the University has established cooperative academic relationship with Middlesex University, Staffordshire University, and Hertfordshire University in the U.K.; Bridgeport University, Christopher Newport University, Maricopa Community College, and Northwestern Polytechnic University in U.S.A.; South Westfalen University of Applied Sciences in Germany; Waikato University in New Zealand; Curtin University in Australia; Mondlane University in Mozambique, and so on. By now, more than 300 graduates have been sent abroad for further education; over 50 faculties have been sent overseas as visiting scholars or advance degree pursuers, which has greatly accelerated and promoted the socio-economic development of Foshan City.
Under the direction of Foshan Government, Foshan University is undergoing a large new campus development plan based on the Northern campus. With full energy, open-minded and creative reforming spirit, Foshan University has been making greater efforts to set a foothold in local community, cater to the basic units, and establish a local comprehensive university with high quality and distinctive features.