Sanming University(三明学院)

Sanming University is a full-time public undergraduate institution established by the People’s Government of Fujian Province. It is located in Sanming City, Fujian Province—hometown of the great Neo-Confucian scholar Zhu Xi of the Song Dynasty, a core area of the former Central Soviet Area, an emerging industrial city of New China, known as the “Green Capital of China,” the birthplace of nationwide grassroots initiatives in spiritual civilization, and an important cradle and practice base of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization. The university operates under a co-construction model between the provincial and municipal governments, with the province taking the lead. It is recognized as a first-class application-oriented university under construction in Fujian Province and a high-quality local undergraduate institution. In September 2024, it was approved as a master’s degree–granting institution, with authorization to confer master’s degrees in Tourism Management, Materials and Chemical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering.

The university’s history can be traced back to December 12, 1903, when the Fujian Normal School (Quanmin Shifan Xuetang) officially opened. In 1992, Ye Fei, then Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, inscribed the phrase “Source of Fujian Normal Education” for Sanming Normal School, one of the university’s predecessors. From September 1999 to October 2000, Sanming Teachers College, Sanming Vocational University, Sanming Normal School, and Sanming Institute of Teacher Education were merged to form Sanming Higher Vocational College. In May 2004, Sanming University was officially established with approval from the Ministry of Education.

The university and its predecessor institutions have made outstanding contributions to teacher education in Fujian’s educational history. Over more than 120 years of development, the university has carried forward the spirit of Fujian normal education—“transforming society through learning and becoming a teacher by reviewing the past and learning the new”—while inheriting the practical, application-oriented educational philosophy of Zhiyong Academy. It has consistently trained and supplied a large number of educators for Fujian Province. Currently, about 80% of primary and secondary school principals, about 80% of teachers, and about 60% of senior and special-grade teachers in Sanming City are graduates of Sanming University or its predecessor institutions.

Since launching undergraduate education, Sanming University has adhered to its mission of “educating talents for the Party and the nation,” fully implementing the fundamental task of moral education. It has maintained its orientation as an application-oriented institution and developed into a comprehensive university guided by strengthening engineering disciplines, enhancing teacher education, and cultivating distinctive strengths in the humanities. The university now offers coordinated development across disciplines including engineering, management, arts, literature, science, education, economics, and law, and has established modern systems for talent cultivation, scientific research, and social service. Over the past two decades, it has trained nearly 60,000 professionals for society.

The university boasts well-developed infrastructure and favorable educational conditions. Its campus covers 1,429 mu (approximately 95 hectares), with teaching and research equipment valued at about RMB 370 million. It holds a collection of 1.9174 million printed books and 1.4422 million e-books. The university comprises 14 secondary schools and offers 53 undergraduate programs, with more than 15,000 full-time undergraduate and graduate students. Among its faculty are over 400 members with senior professional titles, more than 100 national and provincial high-level talents, and over 500 municipal-level high-level talents. It has 11 provincial-level scientific innovation and teaching teams, and has appointed more than 100 renowned experts from home and abroad as adjunct or visiting professors. The university currently has 3 provincial-level key disciplines for first-class application-oriented university development, 6 provincial key disciplines, and 4 provincial application-oriented disciplines.

Closely aligned with Fujian Province’s “555X” industrial clusters and Sanming City’s “454” modern industrial system, the university has developed discipline clusters serving intelligent manufacturing, future cities, new materials and green chemical engineering, biomedicine and health tourism, as well as cultural heritage and communication, alongside its distinctive teacher education programs. It actively updates and expands its academic offerings. The university undertakes Ministry of Education projects on new engineering and new liberal arts, and hosts national-level first-class undergraduate programs, featured majors, and excellence talent training programs. It offers 5 national first-class undergraduate courses, 14 provincial first-class program construction sites, 4 provincial featured majors, 7 industry-oriented specialty programs, and 4 provincial excellence talent programs. It also hosts 1 provincial ideological and political teaching research center, 8 experimental teaching demonstration centers, 2 virtual simulation experiment centers, 8 innovation zones for talent cultivation models, and 3 modern industrial colleges. The university has developed 63 provincial first-class courses, 14 high-quality courses, 9 resource-sharing courses, and multiple exemplary ideological and political curriculum projects. It has won 23 provincial teaching achievement awards in higher education.

From 2019 to the present, students have won 1,727 national-level awards and 2,327 provincial-level awards in various academic competitions, ranking 54th in the “Top 100 Newly Established Undergraduate Institutions Student Competition Rankings (2019–2023).” The university has achieved remarkable results in innovation and entrepreneurship education, winning 1 gold, 2 silver, and 21 bronze medals at the national level, and 27 gold, 28 silver, and 42 bronze medals at the provincial level in the China International College Students’ Innovation Competition. It has been recognized as one of the first demonstration universities in Fujian for deepening innovation and entrepreneurship education reform, a provincial model institution for innovation and entrepreneurship education, a national-level makerspace, and a national model university for innovation and entrepreneurship. It is also among the first batch of institutions selected to build national innovation and entrepreneurship colleges. The graduate employment rate has remained above 95% for many years.

The university emphasizes independent innovation and organized scientific research. Since the 13th Five-Year Plan period, it has won 50 provincial and industry science and technology awards, 9 provincial social science awards, and 1 provincial patent award. It has undertaken 576 national and provincial research projects, including 48 national-level projects (21 funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, 1 key project of the National Social Science Fund, and 26 general projects of the same fund), and 1,334 horizontal projects. It has published 920 high-quality academic papers, obtained 1,364 patents and software copyrights, including 346 invention patents. The university operates 41 provincial-level or higher research platforms, including a national “Design+” makerspace, 3 provincial collaborative innovation centers, 3 engineering technology research centers, 6 engineering research centers, 7 key laboratories, 1 science and technology demonstration base, 1 social science base, and 5 humanities and social science research bases. It has jointly established 22 research platforms with enterprises such as Sansteel Group and the Sanming branch of the China Academy of Machinery Science and Technology, and maintains comprehensive cooperation with all counties and districts in Sanming. The university has been recognized for seven consecutive years as a provincial legal entity science and technology commissioner, with 120 provincial-level teams and 534 individual commissioners, many of whom have received honors.

With support from the Ministry of Education and the Fujian Provincial Department of Education, Xiamen University and Shanghai University provide targeted assistance in discipline development and research innovation. The university has jointly trained more than 450 postgraduate students with domestic and international institutions, including Xiamen University, Shanghai University, Northeast Petroleum University, Fuzhou University, Fujian Normal University, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fujian University of Technology, and Krasnodar State Institute of Culture (Russia). It has joined provincial alliances for basic and applied disciplines and actively participates in the “New Era Shanghai–Sanming Cooperation” mechanism, collaborating with leading Shanghai universities such as East China Normal University, Shanghai Normal University, and Shanghai Institute of Technology.

Committed to openness, the university continues to expand high-quality international and cross-regional cooperation. It has established partnerships with 43 overseas universities and research institutions, launched 2 international general education programs, and offers 5 fully English-taught undergraduate programs for international students. It has enrolled over 200 international students from more than 40 countries. It has also collaborated with 22 institutions in Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, establishing 10 joint talent cultivation programs and 1 cooperative education program, training nearly 4,000 application-oriented professionals and employing over 100 Taiwanese teachers.

The university is a key institution under the “Education Power Advancement Project” during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, one of the first pilot universities for industry-education integration innovation bases designated by the Ministry of Education, and a pilot institution for AI-assisted teacher development. It is also recognized as a model university for Party-building work in Fujian Province, a pilot university for comprehensive “Three-All Education” reform, and a national model for “one-stop” student community services. It has received numerous honors, including National Advanced Unit for Spiritual Civilization, National Model for Ethnic Unity and Progress, National Advanced Unit for Afforestation, National Model for Greening, National Healthy School Demonstration Unit, National May Fourth Red Flag Youth League Committee, Fujian Provincial Civilized Campus, Advanced Unit for Graduate Employment and Entrepreneurship in Fujian, Scholarly Campus of China, National Reading Demonstration Base, and National Language Promotion Base.

Under the guidance of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council’s policies supporting the revitalization of old revolutionary base areas in the new era, Sanming University will continue to implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, remain rooted in the Sanming revolutionary base area and Fujian Province, seize new opportunities, pursue high-quality development, and take more solid steps toward becoming a first-class application-oriented university.

(Data as of February 28, 2026)