Historical Evolution: The Agricultural College originated in November 1977 when the Provincial Government approved the establishment of the Jingzhou Branch of Huazhong Agricultural College (now Huazhong Agricultural University). At the beginning of its operation, it enrolled students majoring in agriculture, plant protection, and soil and agricultural chemistry. In August 1984, the Ministry of Education approved the establishment of Hubei Agricultural College based on the Jingzhou Branch of Huazhong Agricultural College. In September 1985, it began to enroll undergraduate students majoring in agriculture. In September 1986, it began to enroll undergraduate students majoring in plant protection. In April 1988, Hubei Agricultural College adjusted its departments and merged the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Plant Protection, and the Department of Soil and Agricultural Chemistry into the Department of Agriculture. In March 1989, the State Education Commission approved the establishment of Hubei Agricultural College. In September 2001, it began to enroll undergraduate students majoring in Agricultural Resources and Environment.
In April 2003, the Ministry of Education approved, and in May 2003, the Hubei Provincial Government decided to merge four universities, including Hubei Agricultural College, to form Yangtze University. In December 2003, the school established the “Agricultural College (Flood Disaster and Wetland Agricultural Engineering Research Center)” in the teaching units, offering four undergraduate programs: Agriculture, Plant Protection, Agricultural Resources and Environment, and Rural Regional Development.
Currently, the Agricultural College has three teaching departments: the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Plant Protection, and the Department of Agricultural Resources and Environment. It also has six management service institutions: the College Office, the Teaching Office, the Graduate Education and Discipline Construction Office, the Laboratory Management Center, the Student Affairs Office, and the Youth League Committee Office.
Discipline and Specialization: Currently, there are three first-level disciplines: Crop Science, Plant Protection, and Agricultural Resources and Environment. Crop Science is a “Double First-Class” construction discipline in Hubei Province, and Plant Protection is a provincial key discipline. The disciplines of Botany and Zoology, and Agricultural Science have entered the ESI global ranking at the 3‰ level.
There are two first-level discipline doctoral degree authorization points and a doctoral postdoctoral research station for Crop Science and Plant Protection; there are three first-level discipline master's degree authorization points; there is a master's degree authorization point for Agricultural Sciences.
There are four full-time undergraduate programs: Agronomy, Plant Protection, Agricultural Resources and Environment, and Seed Science and Engineering. Agronomy and Plant Protection are the school's traditional advantageous brand majors, and the Agronomy major is a national characteristic major and a provincial brand major. The Agronomy and Plant Protection majors are currently national first-class undergraduate professional construction points, and the Agricultural Resources and Environment major is a provincial first-class undergraduate professional construction point. The three majors of Agronomy, Plant Protection, and Agricultural Resources and Environment are all included in the "National First Batch of Outstanding Innovative Talents Education and Training Program for Agricultural and Forestry Professionals". The Agricultural Resources and Environment major has been selected for the "Jingchu Strategic Emerging (Strengthening) Industry Talent Cultivation Plan" in Hubei Province. The biological breeding direction of the Agronomy major and the biological pesticide and biological fertilizer direction of the Plant Protection major are listed in the "Hubei Province Strategic Emerging (Strengthening) Industry Talent Cultivation Plan".
Faculty team：The team currently consists of 133 staff members, among whom 110 are full-time teachers. Among the full-time teachers, 96 hold doctoral degrees, 47 are professors, 46 are associate professors, 47 are doctoral supervisors, and 96 are master's supervisors. There are also 63 scholars with overseas study experience.
There is 1 “National Excellent Teacher” and 1 “Hubei Famous Teacher”; 2 are national-level talents, 21 are “Chutian Scholars and Chutian Talents”, 4 are experts who receive special government allowances and provincial special allowances, 3 are “Outstanding Young and Middle-aged Experts of Hubei Province”, and 4 are “Second-level Candidates of the New Century High-level Talent Project of Hubei Province”.
Personnel Training: A high-quality talent cultivation system has been established, covering undergraduate, master's, doctoral, and postdoctoral levels, with a system for integrated undergraduate, master's, and doctoral education. The goal of talent cultivation is to produce "outstanding innovative agricultural science and technology talents with solid theoretical foundation, broad knowledge base, high comprehensive quality, strong practical ability, innovative spirit, and social responsibility".
There are currently 1,527 full-time students, including 889 undergraduates, 552 master's students, and 86 doctoral students.
In the past five years, students have won over 90 provincial and ministerial-level awards in various academic competitions such as “Challenge Cup”, “Internet Plus”, and national plant protection professional competitions. Among them, there are over 30 national-level awards and over 60 provincial and ministerial-level awards. For example, “Meilisheng——a high-anti-sedimentation broad-spectrum biological source fungicide for wheat scab and stripe rust control” won the first prize of the national “Challenge Cup”; “Pulse in Mold Elimination—— The Pioneer of Silk Road Anti-Mold Fermented Soybean Meal” won the silver award of the national “Challenge Cup”; "New Technology for Whitebark Seed Cultivation and Entrepreneurship Plan" won the silver award of the national “Challenge Cup”; “Research and Demonstration on the Development of Whitebark Seed Simulated Wild Direct Sowing Cultivation Technology” won the gold award of the “Internet Plus” competition in Hubei Province.
Since the establishment of the school, it has cultivated and provided a large number of “qualified to go to the grassroots, useful upon arrival, capable of doing well, willing to stay, and able to advance” agricultural technology talents and management talents. They have worked hard at the grassroots level and achieved remarkable accomplishments, giving rise to a group of political elites such as Dai Guizhou, Qian Yuankun, Li Shuibin, and Yang Xiaohui; they have dedicated themselves to scientific research and academic pursuits, giving rise to a group of academic elites such as Li Chengdao, Xu Hanhong, Zhang Mingwei, Tian Feng, Hu Shikai, and Qian Wei; they have successfully started businesses in the business world, giving rise to a group of business elites such as Zeng Henghong, Chen Wenhua, Hu Chengzheng, and Wu Hongqing. They have devoted themselves to China's modernization construction with a striving attitude and contributed to writing the magnificent chapter of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Education and Teaching: To cultivate outstanding and innovative talents, the Agricultural College has implemented a “two bases, two guides, three-stage” full-course practical teaching model throughout the academic program. This includes two types of practical teaching bases (on-campus and off-campus), two mentors (on-campus and off-campus), and three practical teaching stages (course practice, professional comprehensive practice, and graduation practice). Emphasis is placed on the cultivation of students’ innovation and entrepreneurship capabilities, and the “three early entries” initiative is promoted. Undergraduate students are encouraged to enter research groups, laboratories, and experimental fields earlier, and efforts are made to enhance students’ research interests and practical abilities. 48 off-campus practical teaching cooperation education bases have been established with research institutions such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and some provincial agricultural research institutes, as well as large-scale high-tech agricultural enterprises. The integrated education model of science and education, and industry and education integration is vigorously implemented to enhance students' innovation and entrepreneurship capabilities.
Scientific Research Over the past five years, the Agricultural College has successively hosted 36 projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and 42 key research and development projects or sub-projects of the national level. The average annual research funds received have been over 30 million yuan. The college have won 26 provincial and ministerial-level awards, including 8 first prizes, 11 second prizes and 7 third prizes, and have led or participated in the breeding of 36 new varieties of rice, wheat, soybeans, rapeseed, etc., formulated 15 local or industry standards, obtained 53 authorized patents with independent intellectual property rights, published 43 books and textbooks, and published over 600 SCI papers.
The Agricultural College have 10 provincial and ministerial-level research platforms, including the Key Laboratory of Green and High-Efficiency Crop Production in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River (co-built by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the provincial government), the Engineering Research Center of Wetland Ecology and Agricultural Utilization of the Ministry of Education, the Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory of Waterlogging Disaster and Wetland Agriculture, the Hubei Provincial Collaborative Innovation Center for the Industrialization of Major Crops, and the Hubei Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center for Early Warning and Control of Agricultural and Forestry Pests and Diseases.
The College currently have a laboratory area of 30,000 square meters, with a total value of experimental instruments and equipment of over 120 million yuan. The college have an insect specimen museum with a collection of 650,000 specimens. Our on-campus research and experimental base covers an area of 2,400 mu, including intelligent greenhouses, net rooms, potting fields, meteorological stations, field experimental plots and large-scale demonstration fields.
Social Services The College of Agriculture is the main supporting unit for the co-construction of Shishou National Pioneer County of Agricultural Science and Technology Modernisation, and undertakes 12 projects of unveiling the list of marshals. Relying on six national science and technology small hospitals to cultivate agricultural talents and help rural revitalisation. Undertake provincial and municipal agricultural technicians knowledge updating and high-quality farmer training. It has established 12 workstations for scientific and technological specialists, 12 demonstration sites for the project of scientific and technological support action plan for university service for rural revitalisation, selected 18 scientific and technological specialists to localities, and 4 full-time faculty members have been posted to relevant departments and units in Jingzhou City. It actively participated in the third national soil census and undertook the task of soil census in the whole province.
Exchange and Cooperation The college pays attention to academic exchanges and cooperation with foreign universities and scientific research institutes, and connects the students' cultivation pathway with the international standards. The college has signed agreements on mutual recognition of credits for international students with foreign universities, and has established close cooperation with universities and scientific research institutes in many countries, such as the United States, Germany, Japan, Canada, Australia and South Korea, etc. The college continues to send outstanding undergraduates and postgraduates to study abroad; it regularly invites famous scholars at home and abroad to visit and lecture and hold high-level academic exchange activities. The Agricultural College regularly invite famous scholars from home and abroad to visit us for lectures and organise high-level academic exchange activities to enhance the academic innovation ability and comprehensive competitiveness of the college.
Strive for a new journey, build a new era. The College of Agriculture will adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping's thought of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, comprehensively implement the Party's education policy in the new era, implement the fundamental task of establishing a moral character, carry out the lofty mission of strengthening and developing agriculture, adhere to the motto of ‘Virtue and Diligence, Abundance and Food for the World’, and take the construction of the new agriculture as the guidance, focus on the construction of first-class disciplines and colleges to better fulfil the mission of talent cultivation, scientific research, social development, and the development of the new agricultural science. Focusing on the construction of first-class disciplines and colleges, the university will better perform the important functions of talent cultivation, scientific research and social service, serve and support the national food security strategy, push forward the comprehensive revitalisation of the countryside and the modernisation of agriculture and rural areas, and strive to write a chapter of the Chinese-style modernisation of Hubei.
