Beijing Forestry University

BFU is a national key university directly under the administration of the Ministry of Education, jointly established by the Ministry of Education, National Forestry and Grassland Administration and the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality. It is the first batch of key universities of “Project 211”, the pilot university in the national program of “The Innovation Platform for Prioritized Academic Disciplines”, and the national “Double First-Class” university.

Distinctive Educational Features

Drawing on its solid foundation in biology and ecology, BFU is a national key university that not only emphasizes a balanced and coordinated development of programs across various disciplines such as agriculture, science, engineering, management, economics, law, philosophy, education, and arts but also takes pride in its unique and distinguished areas of expertise such as Forestry, Landscape Architecture, Forestry Engineering, Soil and Water Conservation and Desertification Control, Grassland Science, and Agricultural and Forestry Economic Management.

Over the 70-odd years since the establishment of BFU in 1952, more than 200,000 domestic and foreign graduates have become high-level forestry and ecology professionals that have contributed significantly to world’ s ecological progresses, thriving forestry sector and noteworthy social-economic growth, standing out in particular among which are 16 academicians of Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) and Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), and a wide array of senior technicians, specialists and managerial talents.

Competitive Academic Disciplines

BFU is a higher education institute authorized by the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council (SC-ADC) and the MOE for independent accreditation of professorship, for setting independently up new 2nd-category doctorate and programs as well as new inter-disciplinary programs under its accredited 1st-category disciplines.

The university boasts 1 national training base for science talents, 1 national university student culture education base for all-around development, 1 national talent training model innovation experimental area, and it currently offers 1 1st-category national key discipline (which includes 7 2nd-category key national disciplines), 2 2nd-category national key disciplines, 1 national prioritized discipline(2nd-category), 11 NFGA key disciplines (1st-category), 6 NFGA prioritized disciplines, 2 Beijing municipal Advanced-Sophisticated-cutting-edge disciplines, 3 Beijing municipal key 1st-category disciplines (including prioritized ones), 4 Beijing municipal key 2nd-category disciplines, and 1 Beijing municipal key interdisciplinary program.

Complete Talent-nurturing System

BFU is currently composed of 17 schools that jointly offer 65 undergraduate programs, 69 master programs, 32 doctorate programs authorized to confer master's degree, doctorate programs authorized to confer doctor's degrees, 4 interdisciplinary programs authorized to confer master's degree, 18 profession-oriented programs authorized to confer master's degree. Among the 27,608 students enrolled in BFU at the present, 13,779 are working on their respective undergraduate programs, 8,354 on master and doctorate programs, and the rest 5,475 on various continuous education programs.

In addition to the tutorial system and minor-specialty initiative employed to facilitate the students’ educational needs, the university has also launched a wide range of pilot programs to foster high-end innovative talents who have solid interdisciplinary backgrounds—such as the National Science Base Initiative, the National Agro-forestry Talents Nurturing Initiative, the Liangxi Experimental Program, and the Sino-foreign Joint degree programs, to name just a few. Currently, BFU boasts 27 national 1st-tier key programs, 18 ministry/provincial 1st-tier key programs, and 2 other 1st-tier key programs funded by Beijing municipal government.

BFU students have frequently won top awards and distinguished themselves out in a wide range of internationally-acclaimed prestigious contests like the IFLA Landscape Architecture Design Contest for International Students(IFLA-UNESCO), the Red Dot Award Design Competition, the MCM/ICM Contest, the ACM Programming Contests for International Students, and the ICAN IoT Innovation Contest for University Students and many others.

Competitive Faculty

BFU has a strong faculty with 1,470 full-time teachers, including 1,046 professors and associate professors, and 1,015 graduate advisors, of which 432 are Ph.D supervisors. BFU boasts 8 academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering (6 of whom are jointly appointed), 1 chief scientist of a major National Social Science Fund project, 1 distinguished expert, and 54 national-level talent program recipients. Additionally, the university has 31 Beijing Teaching Masters, 7 Beijing Young Teaching Masters, and 4 National Forestry and Grassland Teaching Masters.

Fruitful Research Output

With strong capabilities in researching and technological platform building, BFU is at present the proud owner of 92 key national, and ministry/provincial laboratories, engineering centers and field posts/stations: 6 state-level science and technology innovation platforms, including 2 national key laboratories, 2 national engineering technology research centers, 1 national field scientific observation and research station, and 1 international science and technology cooperation base. 86 provincial and ministerial level science and technology innovation platforms, including 21 provincial and ministerial level key laboratories, 18 provincial and ministerial level engineering centers, 47 national terrestrial ecosystem positioning observation and research stations and long-term scientific research bases. Over the decades since its establishment, the University has in accumulation been awarded 60 State-level and more than 350 ministry/provincial-level prizes in science and technology.

Orientation towards the demands of key State Strategies and the needs of overall social-economic growth

In line with the demands of key State Strategies such as the Coordinated Development Program for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, the Eco-Conservation and Quality-centered Development Program for the Yellow River Catchment, the Beijing Municipality Secondary Administrative Center Development Program, the Xiong’an New Area Development Program and etc., BFU takes initiative in setting up the Research Institute for Eco-conservation and Quality-centered Development of the Yellow River Catchment (RIEQDYRC), the first among its domestic counterparts to do so. The university has been an active player, a worthy think-tank and a trusted partner for the key eco-restoration and conservation programs that China launched consecutively over the past few decades, including the Sanbei (the 3-North) Shelterbelt Forests Development Program, the NFPP program, the Farmland-to-Forests/Grasslands Conversion Program, the Pan-Beijing-Tianjin Sandstorm-Mitigation/Control Program and etc. In addition, landscape improvement programs conceived and designed by the BFU landscape architecture team can be found in practically every part across the country, standing out in particular among which are the Huagangguanyu Project that has been hailed as the forerunner of contemporary garden-making in China, the Westward Expansion Project of the West Lake in Hangzhou city, and the Pearl River Delta Green Trail Network Project that have turned out to be the trend-setters for modern landscape architecture designing. Following the successful conclusion of the 2019 Beijing Horticultural Expo in which BFU had played a leading role in providing technical supports and professional expertise, the university has done even better in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, for which its landscape architecture team was responsible for the overall planning of landscape in and around the venues as well as of corresponding eco-conservation projects. BFU has been an active participant in the 2nd scientific and research expedition to the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, an initiator and disseminator for the concept of “managing mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes and grasslands as an integrated ecological system” in terms of both theories and technologies.

Unswerving adherence to international cooperation and participatory approaches in university running

BFU has launched extensive cooperation in scientific research and education with over 190 universities/institutes in 40-odd countries/regions all over the world. To better cater to the needs for efficient and fruitful cross-border academic exchanges and cooperation, BFU took leadership in setting up the Asia-Pacific Forestry Education Coordinating Mechanism (APFECM) and East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP), in which a dozen leading forestry professionals and academics around the globe are actively involved. The MOC-sponsored capacity-building Workshop for forestry officials from developing countries has been going on successfully for 18 consecutive years in BFU, providing fruitful programs to approximately 600 person-times. Thanks to the signing of the Agreement between BFU and the Asian-Pacific Organization for Forest Restoration and Sustainable Management on entering strategic partnership, and to the establishment of the Sino-France Joint Laboratory For Invasive Forest Pests in Eurasia jointly initiated by BFU and the Agronomy Academy of France, a vast number of scholars and specialists from overseas have come over to the university to take part in the high-end international symposiums, workshops and forums that are held annually on the campus.

Meanwhile, teachers and researchers of the university have been dispatched overseas for various exchange programs and for the implementation of over 40 international R&D cooperative projects. Besides the degree programs in wood science & engineering, biological technology offered in cooperation with the University of British Columbia in Canada, several other training programs joint run by American, French universities are also underway in BFU. The Global Challenge University Alliance, the Silk-road Agricultural Education and Research Innovation Alliance, the Belt and Road/South-South Cooperation on Agricultural Education, Science and Technology Innovation League (BRSSCAL) and the China-CEEC Higher Education Institutions Consortium that BFU consecutively joined put in place a vintage platform for the university to rise up to the call of the country’s foreign policy, to speed up its going-global paces and to engage in all-around international cooperation.

As one of the "National pilot universities for International Students Working Platforms", BFU has independently set up an international college for international students, which started its independent operations on December 6, 2020, and the first African alumni association of forestry universities with international students as the majority was established as well. An accredited university for granting Chinese Government Scholarship, MOC Scholarship for Foreign Students under Degree Programs, Beijing Municipal Government Scholarship, Beijing B&RI Special Students Grants, and Asia-Pacific Forestry Organization Scholarship, BFU now offers higher educational programs to more than 300 students from 65 countries.

The university covers 13,176 mu in its total area, 696 mu for the principal campus and the other 12,480 mu for its experimental forest plant. With a floor space that amounts up to 23,400 m2, the BFU library has in its collection 1.98 million physical books and 9.73 million digital books.

Updated 31 December 2023