On August 15, ShanghaiRanking Consultancy released the 2025 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). The ranking listed the world’s top 1,000 research universities, including 222 from the Chinese mainland. FAFU rose 192 places from the previous year to 450th globally in this year’s ranking. Domestically, it ranked 93rd among Chinese mainland universities, up 29 spots from last year.
The ARWU is one of the most influential and authoritative university rankings globally. FAFU saw a significant rise in its position in the 2025 ARWU, largely attributed to its focused efforts toward the national “Double First-Class” initiative. The university has adopted a systems-thinking approach to coordinate high-quality resources and remained strategically committed to deepening quality-driven development. First, FAFU has strengthened its leading disciplines, with a focus on building two major academic clusters. Driven by the goal of developing world-class disciplines, the university has worked to expand, enhance, and optimize the two priority clusters: Plant Protection and Forestry. Second, the university has focused on improving academic performance through the full implementation of the ESI “100-1,000-10,000” Project. This effort aims to cultivate eight ESI potential disciplines and steadily enhance their global academic influence. Third, FAFU is improving its academic ecosystem by optimizing the institutional and operational mechanisms of the Haixia Institute of Science and Technology. Through institutional innovation, it aims to build a sound academic ecosystem, unleash the advantages of talent concentration and scientific competitiveness, and promote major original innovations. The university is also actively tackling critical technology bottlenecks in the agriculture and forestry sectors through collaborative research. Fourth, it remains steadfast in advancing its “talent-driven development” strategy by building strong academic teams and enhancing faculty strength.
Haixia Institute of Science and Technology
School of Future Technology
State Key Laboratory of Agricultural and Forestry Biosecurity
China National Engineering Research Center of JUNCAO Technology
National Engineering Research Center of Sugarcane
Currently, FAFU has 10 disciplines ranked within the ESI Global Top 1%, including 2 within the top 0.1%. Over the past decade, it has published 19 papers in the three top-tier journals—Cell, Nature and Science (commonly referred to as “CNS”) as either the first or corresponding author institution; of these, 15 list FAFU as the first-author affiliation and 17 as the corresponding-author affiliation (some papers are counted in both categories). Additionally, nearly 500 papers have been published in CNS-affiliated journals with FAFU listed in these leading roles. In the past ten years, the university has led two projects that received the National Science and Technology Award, ranking 11th among agricultural and forestry universities nationwide and 98th among all universities in China. FAFU hosts one and participates in another National Key Laboratory. The university boasts two academicians and 547 professionals at or above the provincial level, accounting for 933 appointments, including 84 national-level scholars accounting for 165 appointments.
Correspondant/Photogragher:Office of Development and Planning
Translators: Lu Hanyang, International College
Huang Peifang, International College