Southwest Forestry University (SWFU) is located in the northeastern part of Kunming City in Yunnan Province of China. Kunming is known for its spring-like climate all year round and is a picturesque garden city. SWFU is the only independent and multidisciplinary university in forestry in the Western Regions of China. It holds unique features and excellence in forest resources protection and sustainable use, silviculture, gardening design and construction, and forestry engineering. Other major fields of study include biotechnology, ecotourism, agronomy, business administration, computer sciences and technology, and English literature and education.
Yunnan, endowed with abundant natural resources, diverse climates and sound ecological environment, is renowned as the Kingdom of Plants and Animals and an ultimate tourist destination. Rich biological diversity, majestic mountains and great rivers, and multitudinous national and ethnic minority cultures consolidate Yunnan as an ideal choice for developing study and research programs with unique features in silviculture, forest protection and use, biodiversity conservation and ecotourism.
Adjoining the กฏ99 World Horticultural Exposition Garden in Kunming, the SWFU campus is embraced in a natural environment of graceful forest and mountains and is designated as a water conservancy area for Kunming. A campus with over 50% greening area and myriads of singing birds and blossoming flowers creates an environment for enjoying a high-quality student life and study.
SWFU was initially established as the Department of Forestry in Yunnan University in 1939. In 1978, the State Education Commission approved the establishment of Yunnan Forestry College (YFC), and in 1983 the Ministry of Education inaugurated YFC as Southwest Forestry University. As of December 2005, the university has expanded significantly to cover education programs: 9 schools and 5 departments, offering 45undergraduate majors and 25 graduate majors; staff: 943 (112 professors, 292 associate professors, 539 instructors and adjunct faculty. Above 72.21% of the faculty holds masters or doctorate degrees). Students: 12,316 (10,449full time undergraduate students, 789 graduate candidates; and1,058 full-time students registered in the continuing education programs). Forty percent (45%) of students at SWFU were enrolled from Yunnan and the remaining 55% from 29 other provinces of China, encompassing 37 ethnic minorities.
The teaching and research competency of SWFU are highly ranked among equivalent universities in forestry, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), horticulture, gardening design, resources and environmental management, urban and rural planning and management, environmental design, forest protection and tourism, wood science and engineering, chemical processing of forest products, agronomy and forestry economics, environmental sciences and engineering, water conservancy and desertification control, environmental engineering, wildlife and natural reserve management, plant protection, and commercial flowers.
The SWFU campus occupies 102.47 hectares and floor space of 444,500 m2. The University library stows about 1,022,700 books and more than 20 large databases of electronic magazines and books that are shared on campus networks. Students have ready access to the Specimen Museum (6,000 m2), a gymnasium (10,000 m2), indoor swimming pool (10,000 m2), indoor stadium and outdoor tracks (33,000 m2), and the Center for International Cooperation and Exchange (12,000 m2), and forest farms for field research and practice.
The University contributes to global communication by its attention to international cooperation and exchange. Competent students from around the world are welcome to join the SWFU community. Exchange ties have been established with universities and research institutes in the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Joint training and research programs have been conducted in cooperation with the Worldwide Wildlife Fund (WWF), Ford Foundation (FF), Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Rare, International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), the Nature Conservancy(TNC), and Conservation International (CI).