Southwest University (SWU) is a comprehensive and national key university sponsored by the Ministry of Education of China. SWU was founded in July, 2005, by the amalgamation of two formerly individual universities, Southwest China Normal University and Southwest China Agriculture University. The history of both universities can be traced back to 100 years ago. It is one of the "211 Project" universities(top 100) which get preferential support for their development and construction from the Central Government of China. Now the total number of the students at SWU has reached more than 80,000, among them 50 000 are full-time students. There are many international students working for their bachelors, masters, doctors degrees and advanced studies in SWU every year. SWU is located in Chongqing municipality, which is the central city in the Western China Development Project. The Three Gorges, Dazu Stones Carving and Hotpot Food are worldwide famous and unique. Southwest University began to enroll international students in the 1950's. It is also one of the universities designated by the Ministry of Education to enroll Chinese Government Scholarship students. Most of the international students in SWU are now majoring in Chinese language, Pedagogy, Psycology, Economics, Business in China, Chinese Minorities Studies, Life Sciences, Food Sciences, Agriculture, Fine Arts, and Chinese Martial Arts,etc. The qualified International students in Southwest University have the privileges and chances to get Chonqing Mayor Scholarships and SWU Excellent Overseas Students Scholarship. In addition SWU is donating a share of Integrative Insurance for Medical Care and Accidents for every long term overseas student.
SWU covers a very broad range of studies including philosophy, economics, law, pedagogics, literature, history, science, engineering, agriculture and management. The university now offers 40 national key disciplines, 66 doctoral programs, 9 postdoctoral programs, 159 master's programs and 97 bachelor's programs. SWU is known nationwide for its teaching methodological and agricultural studies. Studies in Pedagogics, psychology and agriculture have distinguished predominance in China; The Research of Silkworm Genome is top in the world. A great deal of creative research works have been achieved in the fields like Zero Tillage Cultivation, Silkworm Genome, Studies on the Education and Psychological Behavior of Minorities in Southwestern China, and the Research on Human Time Cognition, etc.