School of Agriculture, Guangxi University was founded in Wuzhou in 1932. The first dean was Professor Pan Zhuqi, former vice president of Guangxi University and a renowned educator. The school was relocated to Shatang, Liuzhou in 1937, to Rongjiang, Guizhou in 1944, back to Zhegujiang in Liuzhou in 1945, and then moved to Yanshan Mountain, Guilin in the summer of 1946. In 1952, it became an independent institute known as Guangxi Agricultural College. In 1958, it was moved to its current location in Nanning and was renamed Guangxi Agricultural University in 1992. Later in 1997, it merged with the Department of Agronomy, Plant Protection and Horticulture from the former Guangxi Agricultural University to form School of Agriculture at Guangxi University.
The school currently has 150 faculty members, including 114 full-time teachers. Among the full-time teachers, there are 39 professors, 33 associate professors, 32 doctoral supervisors and 114 master’s supervisors. 111 of them hold doctoral degrees, accounting for 97.37% of the full-time teachers. There are 4 personnel selected for the national talent plan and 9 high-level talents in Guangxi.
The school has a comprehensive range of disciplines, including four departments: the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Plant Protection, the Department of Horticulture, the Department of Agricultural Resources and Environmental Science, as well as a plant science experimental teaching center. It has a complete talent training system of undergraduate, master, doctor and post-doctoral level. Now it has 2 post-doctoral research stations in Crop Science and Plant Protection, 2 first-level discipline doctoral degree authorization points in Crop Science and Plant Protection, and 4 first-level discipline master’s degree programs in Crop Science, Plant Protection, Horticulture, Agricultural Resources and Environment. There is also 1 master’s degree program in agriculture of 3 fields, which includes Agronomy and Seed Industry, Resource Utilization and Plant Protection, and Rural Development, as well as 4 undergraduate majors: Agronomy, Plant Protection, Horticulture, Agricultural Resources and Environment. Crop Science is a world-class discipline in Guangxi, and Agronomy, Plant Protection, Horticulture, Agricultural Resources and Environment are all national first-class undergraduate programs. There are 2583 students enrolled, including 1351 full-time undergraduates, 1205 postgraduates and 27 international students. The students have won many achievements in various innovation and entrepreneurship competitions as well as academic contests at the national and provincial levels. The past three years has witnessed undergraduates win awards at the provincial and ministerial levels or above on 258 occasions. 3 silver awards and 3 bronze awards have been obtained in the "Internet+" College Students Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition at the international level, 2 bronze awards in the Competition of “Challenge Cup” Entrepreneurship Plan Competition at the national level, 11 gold awards and 3 silver awards in the Competition of “Challenge Cup” Entrepreneurship Plan Competition at the provincial level, 1 third prize in the Competition of “Challenge Cup” Academic Science and Technology Works at the national level as well as 1 first prize in the Competition of “Challenge Cup” Academic Science and Technology Works at the provincial level. The social practice program of the doctoral corps, which began in 2005, has become a brand for the “Sanxiaxiang” social practice activity, a program that brings culture, science, technology and hygienic health to rural areas for college students during summer vacation. Besides, it has been commended by the the Communist Youth League and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region many times.
At present, the school covers an area of 18,957 square meters for teaching and research, with about 133,333.3 square meters of on-campus bases for teaching, scientific research, practice and experiment, as well as 11.2 square kilometers of Fusui New Town base for Subtropical Agricultural Science. There were 6277 sets of instruments with a total value of 142 million yuan, and 213 sets of instruments worth more than 100,000 yuan. The school has 4 national teaching and research platforms: the National Key Laboratory for the protection and utilization of subtropical agricultural biological resources, the International Science and Technology Cooperation Base for the protection and utilization of subtropical agricultural biological resources, the Collaborative Innovation Center for sucrose industry at the provincial and ministerial, and the Plant Science Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center. There are 9 teaching and research platforms at the provincial and ministerial level such as Guangxi Key Biology Laboratory for Sugarcane and major science and technology innovation base, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Agricultural Environment and Agricultural Product Safety, 2 Guangxi key laboratories in Guangxi University, 1 virtual simulation experiment teaching center of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and 1 collaborative education platform of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the school undertook 1,138 scientific research projects with a total fund of about 428 million yuan, ranking first in Guangxi University. Teachers have won 45 provincial and ministerial science and technology awards, including 1 second prize in Harvest Award for Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fishery, granted by the Ministry of Agriculture, 1 first prize in Scientific and Technological Progress of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 3 first prize and 19 second prizes in Guangxi Science and Technology Progress, 4 second prize in Guangxi Technological Invention Award, 1 second prize in Guangxi Natural Science Award, and 1 second prize in Guangxi Humanities and Social Sciences Outstanding Achievements. 52 new crop varieties have been validated and registered. 9 sugarcane varieties, 1 citrus variety and 1 potato variety are initially nationally registered, and 4 rice varieties and 10 sterile lines have also been approved by Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. There are 190 authorized patents, 58 published works and textbooks, and 2292 papers, including 478 papers indexed by SCI. Some of the results have been published in journals such as PNAS, Nature Communications, The Plant Cell, and Molecular Plant.
The school will adhere to the guidance of Xi’s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a new era, spirits of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and of replying to those Party Secretaries and Presidents of agriculture-related universities from General Secretary Xi. Based on that, we will strengthen moral education, uphold the school motto of "diligence and sincerity", adhere to the philosophy of "honing skills diligently and cultivating talents by practices", and promote comprehensive reform in a well-coordinated way. Following the plan of "the Centennial Goal, the Three-step Implementation, the Five First-classes and the Six Strategies" of Guangxi University, the school cultivates talents in five directions in the new era and promotes the construction of "double first-class", contributing to poverty alleviation and rural revitalization. We are always striving to build a national first-class comprehensive research school with a rational layout of disciplines.
