Hunan province

Education and research

As of 2023, Hunan hosts 137 institutions of higher education, ranking fifth together with Sichuan (137) among all Chinese provinces after Jiangsu (168), Henan (168), Guangdong (162), and Shandong (156). Hunan is also the seat of 12 adult higher education institutions. Two major cities in Hunan (Changsha and Xiangtan) were ranked in the top 200 cities in the world by scientific research output, as tracked by the Nature Index in 2024. There are three national key universities under Project 985 (Hunan University, Central South University and the National University of Defense Technology) in Hunan, the third highest after Beijing and Shanghai. Hunan Normal University in Changsha is the key construction university of the national 211 Project, and Xiangtan University in Xiangtan is a key university jointly built by Hunan Province and the Ministry of Education and a member of national Project 111. These five national key universities are included in the Double First-Class Construction of Hunan Province. As of 2024, they are ranked among the top 500 globally by the Nature Index. Among them, Hunan University and Central South University are in the top 50.