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.^[3]

Wuhan University

武汉大学
Motto	自强 弘毅 求是 拓新[1]
Motto in English	Self-improvement, Perseverance, Truth-seeking, Innovation[2]
Type	Public
Established	Incorporated as a university in 1926
President	Zhang Pingwen
Academic staff	7,325
Students	58,720
Location	Wuhan , Hubei , China
Campus	Urban, 3.5 km2
Website	en.whu.edu.cn
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	武汉大学
Traditional Chinese	武漢大學
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Wǔhàn Dàxué

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.^[4][5][6][7]

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.^[4][5][6][7]

In 1949, National Wuhan University was taken over by the Communist Party and renamed Wuhan University.^[4][5]

Former library situated on top of the old dorms, as depicted in the university's logo.

Academics

In 2024, Wuhan University's student body consisted of 29,488 full-time undergraduates and 24126 full-time master's degree candidates, 3007 international students and 3940 faculty staff.^[8]

The School of Information Management at Wuhan University signed a cooperation agreement with Royal School of Library and Information Science in Denmark in 2009.^[9][10]

Wuhan University has collaborated with Duke University and the city of Kunshan to establish Duke Kunshan University.^[11][12]

Rankings

University rankings

BCUR National[13]	Domestic	8
Wu Shulian National[14]	Domestic	6
CUAA National[15]	Alumni	10
QS National[16]	General	9
THE National[17]	General	8
QS Asia (Asia version)[18]	General	38
THE Asia (Asia version)[19]	General	25
ARWU World[20]	Research	89
QS World[21]	General	186
THE World[22]	General	=134
USNWR World[23]	General	90

From 2025 to 2026, U.S. News & World Report ranked it 90th in the world, 17th in Asia and 10th in China.^[24]

In 2024, Academic Ranking of World Universities ranked it 89th in the world, 15th in Asia and 11th in Greater China (including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan).^[25]

In 2025, Times Higher Education World University Rankings ranked it 134th in the world 8th in China.^[26]

In 2025, QS World University Rankings ranked it 186th in the world, 38th in Asia and 9th in China.^[27]

The Nature Index 2025 ranked Wuhan University the No.17 university in the Asia Pacific region, and 23rd in the world.^[28] The 2024 CWTS Leiden Ranking ranked Wuhan University 17th in the world by total publications and 33rd in the world based on the number of their scientific publications belonging to the top 1% in their fields for the time period 2019–2022.^[29]

As of 2017, 29 billionaires had graduated from Wuhan University, ranking 9th nationally.^[30]

College of Foreign Languages and Literatures

Campus

Main article: Early buildings of Wuhan University

Most stylish old buildings were designed by F. H. Kales (1899–1979).^[31]

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.^[32]

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.^[32][33]

• 
  Luojia Hill (Luojiashan)
• 
  Former School of Science
• 
  Administration Building, Former School of Engineering
• 
  Former Dorm for male students