As one of the key national universities directly under the Ministry of Education in China, Beijing Forestry University (BFU) provides the advanced education in the studies of forestry and ecological environment. It was one of the first universities to be admitted into the "211 Project" and the 21st-century Educational Vitalization Action Program.
Located in Haidian District which is home to many key universities in China, Beijing Forestry University (BFU) is a top institution of higher education in forestry and ecological environment under the direct leadership of the Ministry of Education.
Thanks to the unremitting efforts of generations of people, Beijing Forestry University which is founded in 1952 has developed itself form a forestry college into a multi-disciplinary national key university with forestry, biology and forestry engineering as its leading disciplines, together with an extensive coverage of courses in sciences, engineering, management, economics, liberal arts, law, and philosophy.
Besides undergraduate, graduate and doctoral education, its personnel training system also includes further education and international student education. So far there are 50 undergraduate subjects offered by 12 schools, 73 graduate disciplines and 35 doctoral disciplines. The BFU has 495 full and associate professors, of whom 127 are supervisors of Ph.D. programs and five are academicians of Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE). Its advantage specialties such as landscape architecture, biological science, forestry silviculture, soil and water conservation are in the leading position in China. By 2006, it has had an enrollment of 12,900 undergraduate students and 2,700 postgraduate students.
While making an effort to enrich its discipline category and optimize the discipline structure, the university not only possesses the traditional disciplines which are recognized for their high quality both at home and abroad, but also has established a large number of new disciplines to meet the development of the society.
BFU also provides a favorable atmosphere for teaching and learning, combining the acquisition of professional knowledge with the improvement of the all-round abilities, with the emphasis on forging the rigorous style in academic pursuit and creativity. The systems of optional courses, subsidiary courses, course exemption and bachelor-to-master continuation education have been established so that the students are able to develop themselves according to their own interests and wishes. The university also offers colorful extracurricular activities to enrich the life on the campus, which are organized by numerous student societies and associations in science and technology, art, sports, environmental protection, and politics, etc. Some of them have become quite influential in the society.
Equipped with good facilities serving for instruction and research, the BFU can provide a desirable environment for students. In recent years, nearly 200 achievements of scientific research received rewards from the national, provincial and ministerial authorities, and more than 20 achievements of teaching were rewarded by the national and municipal governments. BFU is engaged in the international academic exchanges and cooperation with more than 150 universities and research institutions of over 20 countries and districts in the world, providing opportunities for the contacts between China and the outside world in the researches of forestry and ecological environment.
It admits international enrollments from language students to post doctors covering all of its specialties. By 2006 there have been about 1,200 international students studying in this university from such countries as Korea, Japan, the United States, Britain, Thailand, Indonesia, Austria, Italy, Finland, France, Turkey, Vietnam, Mongolia, etc.