Shandong Agricultural University (SDAU) was first founded in Jinan in 1906，and in 1958 ，it moved to Taian located at the foot of world-famous Mt. Tai. With its picturesque scenery and evergr-een plants, the campus boasts of its elegant environment. SDAU was evaluated as an excellent university in National Evaluation of Undergraduate Teaching in China. At present, SDAU is a multi-disciplinary university which covers agriculture, science, enginee-ring, management, economics, humanities, law, medicine and education.

Currently, SDAU has a fulltime enrollment of 30,000 studen-ts, of which more than 2000 are postgraduates and Ph.D. students. It has 19 colleges and 65 specialties for undergradu-ates. SDAU presently has 2 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 4 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, more than 290 professors and 820 associate professors. SDAU has 9 specially engaged “Taishan Scholar” professors, 7 experts selected as members of “National Hundred, Thousand, and Ten Thousand Talent Project” of China, 4 teachers with the title of Young and Middle-aged State-ranking Experts with Outstanding Contribution issued by the State Ministry of Personnel, and 1 innovative team supported by the “Supporting Plan for Cheung Kong Scholars and Innovative Teams” of the Ministry of Education.

In SDAU, there are 7 mobile postdoctoral stations, 6 doctorate-conferring programs in the first-level discipline, 42 doctorate-conferring programs in the second-level discipline, 59 master degree-conferring programs, 2 national key disciplines, 2 ministerial key disciplines, 16 provincial key disciplines, 1 national key laboratory, 1 ministerial key laboratory, 10 provincial key laboratories, 1 base for humanities and social sciences research appraised by Shandong Province, 1 national engineering science branch center, 1 Center of Cereal Quality Control and Test of Ministry of Agriculture ,and 4 provincial engineering and technological research centers.

SDAU covers an area of 5145 mu with 1,120,000 square meters of building area; the total value of instruments and facilities for teaching and scientific research amounts to 260 million yuan (RMB); the library has a collection of books of 1.98 million volumes. It owns 2 gymnasiums, 1 natatorium and 3 plastic cement track fields. While strengthening its facility constructions, the university has built a neat and refined educational environment with a strong academic and cultural atmosphere. By this, a distinguishing campus culture with a realization of the harmony between humane culture and academic atmosphere has been formed in a comprehensive and modern university. It has Shandong Agricultural University Journal, Shandong Animal Science and Veterinary, and SDAU Electronic & Audiovisual Press.

SDAU attaches great importance to teaching research and teaching reform. In recent years, 50 national and provincial achievement awards in teaching research have been achieved, out of which is 1 special national award and 2 first-class. Ever since the founding of SDAU, it has cultivated and supplied society with more than 120,000 various and qualified graduates, including 2 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and 4 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Academician Li Zhen-sheng won the National Top Science and Technology Award.

Since 1996, SDAU has obtained all kinds of scientific research items at all levels more than 1400, including 430 scientific research items of Ministry-rank and province-rank. In recent years, 335 national and provincial achievement awards in scientific and technological research have been obtained, out of which there is one National Technological Invention Prize and another 20 national awards. Moreover, SDAU greatly enhanced the development and application of scientific achievements, gaining 61 national patents and 9 new plant species, 158 awards for extension and dissemination, and obtained social and economic profits of more than 46 billion yuan (RMB).

SDAU places great emphasis on students, supplies the platform to students for creating and practicing and sets up an excellent environment for cultivating compound talents. Sticking to an “opening up” policy in management and stressing the international exchange and cooperation with universities in other countries, SDAU has established academic exchanges with universities in as many as 30 countries and areas such as the United States of America, Germany, the United Kingdom, Korea, etc., and it also tied a collaborative relationship with 21 overseas universities and scientific institutions. Every year there are more than 300 foreign officials and professors coming here to visit, give lectures or make academic exchanges. The College of International Exchanges is a joint-training unit, which has been ratified by Shandong province. It has recruited students for 5 years. Now, it has a fulltime enrollment of 1,350 students, of which 260 students enrolled in 2004, have gone to study to Germany in 2007.

Following the natural developing regulations of education, SDAU has proposed a three-step developing plan, and it has achieved the first two steps. At present, SDAU is making great progress toward a high level and comprehensive university with agricultural science as its advantage and life science as a distinctive feature.