Hunan Normal University, founded in 1938, is a higher education institution in Changsha, Hunan Province. The university is a former 211 Project university, one of the country's 100 key universities in the 21st century that enjoy priority in obtaining national funds. It is also a Chinese state Double First Class University Plan university, a major government initiative to comprehensively develop a group of elite universities into "world-first-class universities" by 2050. It is particularly reputable for its concentration on teachers education and training, foreign language studies, Chinese literature and history. Hunan Normal University was built on the first independent teachers' college in China, named "National Normal College," established in 1938. Its historic origin can be traced back to Yuelu Academy in Northern Song Dynasty, one of the four most prestigious academies over the last 1000 years in China. It was integrated into Hunan University in 1949. Consisting of five campuses, the university covers a total area of 1.78 km2, with one million square meters of floor space. Most of the campuses are located near the Yuelu Mountain. The university is divided into 23 colleges, 3 teaching departments, 51 research institutions. The university offers 74 undergraduate programs, 147 master programs, and 55 Ph.D. programs. There are 10 postdoctoral scientific research stations, 13 State Training and Research Bases or Centers and 7 key laboratories, jointly constructed by the Ministry of Education and Hunan Province, on the campus. Since its founding, the university has educated nearly 300,000 students, including about 4,000 international students and students from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Currently, over 24,000 undergraduates, 8,000 graduates and 300 international students are studying on campus. There are 1091 professors and associate professors at the university; among them are one academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and one academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. The university has invited about 600 scholars and experts to give lectures or conduct scientific research on campus from more than 20 countries since 2,000, and has established relations with over 80 foreign institutions of higher learning for academic exchanges.