Qinghai University is located in the historical city of Xining, a well-known summer resort on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The university was established in 1958, originally under the name “Qinghai Institute of Polytechnic”. In November 1960, its name was changed to Qinghai University by merging with Qinghai Medical College and Qinghai Finance and Economics College, but the name was revoked at the beginning of 1969. In 1971, the name Qinghai Polytechnical and Agricultural College was adopted, with industry and agriculture as its major disciplines. In 1988, it was renamed as Qinghai University. In 1997, Qinghai Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medical College merged. In January 2001, Qinghai University was reconstructed after merging with Qinghai Agriculture and Forestry College, Qinghai Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medical College. and in 2004, Qinghai Medical College merged in to form a new Qinghai University.
At present, Qinghai University has developed into a university of teaching and research giving priority to engineering, agriculture, medicine, management, economics, science, and law. The university covers a total area of over 200 hectares and is now open to the whole world and country.
It has a full-time enrollment of over 25,871 students, of which 5003 are postgraduates, over 20,868 college students, and secondary students. The university has a teaching and administrative staff of 5,429 (including 2,244 people in the teaching and research institution, and 3,185 from Qinghai University Affiliated Hospital), of which more than 1,400 are academic staff teaching. There are 305 professors (including 20 second-class professors) and 675 associate professors. 40 experts enjoying the State Council's special allowance.
In the past 65 years, Qinghai University has implemented the fundamental task of establishing moral education, and always shoulders the important mission of talent training, scientific research, social service, cultural heritage and innovation, international exchanges, and cooperation. Ever since 2001, six top-rated universities, namely Tsinghua University, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), East China Institute of Chemical Technology, Shanghai Jiaotong University, and Beijing University of Chemical Technology, have been providing paired assistance with Qinghai University, which helped to achieve high-quality development. In 2004, it became the "Provincial-Ministerial Co-construction" school jointly built by the Qinghai Provincial People's Government and the Ministry of Education. In 2008, it became a key construction university of the national "211 project". In 2012, it was one of 14 universities supported by “The Midwest University Comprehensive Strength Promotion Project”. In 2016, it was listed in the first batch of “100 Model Universities of Innovation and Entrepreneurship”. In 2017, it was selected as one of the "world-class disciplines" in China. "World-class disciplines" in 2017. In 2018, it became a university of “Ministry-Province Cooperation.” In 2019, the series of activities of the Mekong Youth Innovation Competition was entered into the "Large-scale Achievement Exhibition to Celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China". In 2020, it became the "National Civilized Campus". In 2021, the university added four first-level doctoral programs in water resources engineering, herbology, clinical medicine, and Chinese medicine, which ranked third in the number of approved universities in China. In 2022, it was selected as one of the 147 new rounds of "double first-class" construction colleges and universities, and the discipline of ecology was selected as one of the "world-class" construction disciplines again.
The university now has 1 world-level key discipline, 2 national-level key disciplines, and 1 provincial key discipline; 5 first-level Doctoral degree authorization units, 20 first-level Master’s degree authorization units, 1 cross-disciplinary Master’s degree authorized units, over 108 second-level Master’s degree authorized units; 15 categories of Master’s degree authorized units, altogether 96 specialties. There are 69 undergraduate majors, 2 national Huang Dainian-style teaching teams, 57 national first-level specialty, teaching teams (top teachers), experimental teaching demonstration centres, comprehensive reform projects, master teacher studios, etc. There are 7 national key laboratories and other national laboratories, 1 national field scientific observation and research station, 20 ministerial laboratories, and 51 provincial laboratories. There are the national university science and technology parks and the National Institute of new rural development. There is a large series of research facilities for the Salt Lake chemical industry and ecological agriculture and animal husbandry. Since 2016, the university has approved 3248 scientific research projects, including 11 national key research and development programs, with a total of 2.1 billion yuan in scientific research funding, and 1,001 scientific research achievements have been appraised. It has won 1 second prize for national scientific and technological progress, 1 prize for scientific and technological innovation from the He Liang He Li Foundation, 3 national prizes for striving for excellence, 119 prizes at the provincial and ministerial levels and above, and 3 prizes for major contributions to science and technology in Qinghai Province.
Qinghai University adheres to a policy of opening up and has taken an active part in international academic exchange and cooperation. The university has signed memorandums of exchange and cooperation and carried out practical cooperation with universities from over twenty countries and regions. The university was included in the “111 Program” (Program of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities) and awarded "The International Cooperation Base of Tibetan Medicine (Qinghai)". It has launched a new round of the “Three Brothers” mode of cooperation (Tsinghua University -the University of Auckland -Qinghai University) to continuously promote international exchange and cooperation.
Qinghai University actively promotes the in-depth integration of industry, education, and research, takes the initiative to serve the national strategy and regional economic and social development, and has formed distinctive disciplinary advantages in the ecological protection of the Sanjiangyuan River, plateau agriculture and animal husbandry, plateau medicine, Tibetan medicine, salt lake chemical industry, new energy and new materials, etc., and has cultivated a large number of applied talents, making positive contributions to the construction of Qinghai's economy and the development of the society.
On a new historical start, the university adheres to the school motto of " To aim as high as the majestic mountains. To reach as far as the great rivers.", endeavors to build the university into a modern university with distinctive features and a high level by establishing morality as the foundation, supporting the strategy of innovation-driven development, and serving the economic and social development.
(Note: The above data is up to December 2023)
