In July 2024, according to Xihua Normal University, the Giant Panda College will officially enroll students, and it is expected that 50 undergraduate students will enter the Wildlife and Nature Reserve Management major at the Giant Panda College for further studies.
The Giant Panda Academy is a secondary college jointly established by the Forestry and Grassland Bureau of Sichuan Province, China (Sichuan Provincial Administration of Giant Panda National Park) and Xihua Normal University, based on the School of Life Sciences at Xihua Normal University.
1. Development history of Giant Panda Academy:
- On January 15, 2019, the Giant Panda Academy was officially established.
- On September 25, 2023, the Giant Panda College, jointly established by Xihua Normal University and Sichuan Forestry and Grassland Bureau (Sichuan Provincial Administration of Giant Panda National Park), was unveiled at Xihua Normal University.
- In August 2024, the first batch of students will be recruited, with 50 students from four provinces (autonomous regions) including Sichuan, Shandong, Xinjiang, and Yunnan, with most of the spots concentrated in Sichuan. This major is a first-class undergraduate program in the country, but it will be included in the second batch of enrollment and will begin in August.
2. What are you learning?
Our major has been recruiting students since 2010, "said Liao Wenbo, Dean of the School of Life Sciences at Xihua Normal University and head of the national first-class professional construction site for wildlife and nature reserve management. The" Wildlife "major recruited by the Giant Panda College is aimed at talent cultivation around the construction and development of a natural reserve system with national parks as the main body and biodiversity conservation and development with giant pandas as the flagship.
The curriculum of this major includes not only basic and core courses based on national standards, but also some special courses about giant pandas. In addition, students will also have the opportunity to intern and learn about giant pandas at institutions such as the Giant Panda National Park, nature reserves, breeding bases, and zoos.
3. How is the academy?
The research on wild giant pandas at Xihua Normal University has been carried out for a full 50 years, with the earliest and longest duration among universities in China. One scientific research achievement after another has attracted worldwide attention, and has produced zoologists, giant panda research experts, and academic leaders in animal science in Sichuan Province, such as Hu Jinchu, and "Panda Academician" Wei Fuwen. Xihua Normal University also enjoys the reputation of "Panda University" as a result.
In September 2023, the Giant Panda Academy was officially established, jointly built by the Sichuan Forestry and Grassland Bureau (Sichuan Provincial Administration of Giant Panda National Park) and Xihua Normal University. It is a newly established secondary college on the basis of the School of Life Sciences, serving the Giant Panda National Park and providing scientific research support and talent support for biodiversity conservation with giant pandas as the flagship.
4. How about teacher resources?
The faculty of the Giant Panda Academy comes from the entire School of Life Sciences, covering professional courses such as zoology, botany, ecology, animal nutrition, and animal diseases. Liao Wenbo introduced that the School of Life Sciences currently has 133 faculty members, including 104 teachers with doctoral degrees, accounting for 91% of the professional faculty team and is an absolute "teacher team". In the field of animals alone, research interests cover multiple groups of wild animals, including beetles, butterflies, fish, amphibians, birds, golden monkeys, and more.
In addition to relying on the excellent teachers of the College of Life Sciences, the College also employed 22 experts from professional institutions such as the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center, the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, the Chinese Academy of Sciences Chengdu Institute of Biology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Zoology as members of the expert committee to jointly contribute to the development of the College.
5. How to apply for this major?
For those who love pandas and are committed to researching pandas and making scientific contributions to their survival and development, it is very exciting and happy to be able to conduct specialized panda research and related work in university. So, how can we apply for the Wildlife and Nature Reserve Management major at the Panda Academy? Firstly, you need to participate in China's national college entrance examination and achieve excellent results. Then, based on your scores, you can apply for the major and be admitted. Finally, you can study panda conservation at the undergraduate level!