Wuhan University

Wuhan University (WHU) is a public university in Wuhan, Hubei, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 985, Project 211, and Double First-Class Construction. History In 1926, National Wuchang University, National Wuchang University of Commerce, Hubei Provincial Medical University, Hubei Provincial University of Legislation, Hubei Provincial University of Liberal Arts, and the private Wuchang Zhonghua University were merged into National Wuchang Sun Yat-sen University (also known as National Second Sun Yat-sen University). The school has an undergraduate department and 6 subjects including liberal arts, science, law, economics, medicine, and preparatory courses, 17 departments, and 2 institutes. In 1928, the Nanjing National Government officially established the National Wuhan University based on the former National Wuchang Sun Yat-sen University, with four colleges: liberal arts, law, science, and engineering. In 1949, National Wuhan University was taken over by the Communist Party and renamed Wuhan University. The School of Information Management at Wuhan University signed a cooperation agreement with Royal School of Library and Information Science in Denmark in 2009. Wuhan University collaborated with Duke University in the US and the city of Kunshan to establish Duke Kunshan University in 2013. The first undergraduates were admitted in 2018 and the agreement between Wuhan and Duke is due to expire in 2028, with Duke coming under pressure from US Members of Congress to withdraw from the collaboration. In 2026, Wuhan University established a joint institute with Durham University in the UK as its first Sino-foreign joint institute within the university rather than as an independent legal entity. This offers four-year undergraduate courses leading to a double degree awarded by both universities. Campus Most stylish old buildings were designed by F. H. Kales (1899–1979). In 1939, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese army planted the first batch of cherry trees in Wuhan University (WHU), to relieve the homesickness of their troops. These trees were preserved after the war ended, despite their historical links. Later, in 1972, to mark the normalisation of China-Japan relations, another batch of cherry trees was offered to Premier Zhou Enlai, who gave 20 trees to WHU. The WHU website describes subsequent donations in 1983 by biology professor Wang Mingquan, who studied in Kyoto, and by a Japanese delegation in 1992. Academics In 2024, Wuhan University's student body consisted of 29,488 full-time undergraduates and 24,126 full-time master's degree candidates, more than 10,000 doctoral candidates, 3,007 international students and 3,940 faculty staff. Reputation and rankings From 2026 to 2027, U.S. News & World Report ranked it 85th in the world, 18th in Asia and 10th in China. In 2025, Academic Ranking of World Universities ranked it 81st in the world, 15th in Asia and 11th in Greater China (including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan). In 2025, Times Higher Education World University Rankings ranked it #122 in the world 8th in China. In 2026, QS World University Rankings ranked it 165th in the world and 9th in China. The Nature Index 2026 ranked Wuhan University the # 15 university in the Asia-Pacific region, and #18 in the world. The 2025 CWTS Leiden Ranking ranked Wuhan University #16 in the world by total publications and #31 in the world based on the number of their scientific publications belonging to the top 1% in their fields for the time period 2020–2023. As of 2017, 29 billionaires had graduated from Wuhan University, ranking 9th nationally. References External links Official website (in English) Official website (in Chinese) Official BBS Archived 2006-08-13 at the Wayback Machine (in Chinese)