Capital Normal University

Capital Normal University ( CNU )

Capital Normal University in Beijing is a comprehensive university specializing in teacher training. Founded in 1954, it was previously known as Beijing Teacher’s College. It was renamed in 1993, with the name ‘Capital Normal University’ reflecting the school’s roots as a teacher training center. In recent years, the school has expanded its course offerings, although it is still regarded primarily as a school for training future teachers and for learning the Chinese language.

Capital Normal University has 17 colleges and 45 departments spanning the humanities and sciences. Of particular note are the College of Education Science, Department of Educational Technology, and College of Information Engineering. In all, there are 41 majors offered to undergraduates, in addition 60 masters and 26 doctoral programs. Courses are taught by 1,100 faculty members, including 144 full professors, 456 associate professors, and 5 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering Sciences.

More than 25,000 students attend CNU, including 10,000 undergraduates, 1,300 graduate students, 14,000 adult students, and approximately 1,200 foreign students. International students have been welcome to enroll at the Capital Normal University since 1965, and are accepted in all of the undergraduate majors.

Capital Normal University has three distinct campuses, all in northwest Beijing on the Third Ring Road. The southern campus is considered to be the headquarters or main campus of the school, as it houses most of the university’s academic departments and other facilities. The first northern campus houses the College of International Culture, while the College of Information Engineering is located on the second northern campus. Altogether, there are 61 research labs serving a variety of disciplines, in addition to a well-stocked academic library with a significant collection of foreign texts and more than 2,300 computers for student use.

Reflecting its core focus on teacher training and Chinese language proficiency, CNU is a testing base for the Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK). It is also a national research center for HSK testing, and a a training base for students from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and overseas who wish to study for China’s college entrance examinations.

Over the past five decades, Capital Normal University has trained more than 70,000 qualified teachers, constituting a substantial percentage of the college-educated teachers serving throughout China. In recognition of excellence, CNU university is part of Project 211, a Chinese government initiative to strengthen the country’s top 100 universities for the 21st century.

Summary
Capital Normal University in Beijing is a comprehensive university specializing in teacher training. CNU has 17 colleges and 45 departments spanning the humanities and sciences. In all, there are 41 majors offered to undergraduates, in addition 60 masters and 26 doctoral programs. More than 25,000 students attend CNU, including 10,000 undergraduates, 1,300 graduate students, 14,000 adult students, and approximately 1,200 foreign students. Capital Normal University has three distinct campuses, all in northwest Beijing on the Third Ring Road. In recognition of excellence, CNU university is part of Project 211, a Chinese government initiative to strengthen the country’s top 100 universities for the 21st century.