In 1983, HQU was granted as one of China’s Prioritized Fostered University by Chinese Central Government. In 2003, the university was qualified as “Excellent” by the Ministry of Education in its first Undergraduate Teaching Performance Assessment. In 2017, HQU was inscribed into the program of World-class Universities and World-class Disciplines of Fujian Province.
HQU upholds the principle of “facing Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and foreign countries”, takes the mission of “serving the overseas Chinese community and spreading Chinese culture”, and fulfills the motto of “integration of Chinese wisdom and foreign expertise, unification of moral character and professional excellence.” Since its establishment, nearly 200,000 students of all levels have graduated from the university, among which around 60,000 currently live in overseas areas.
HQU has 25,551 full-time undergraduates,5,953 graduates , among which 5,000 are students from over 50 countries and regions including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. It is one of the universities that recruit the largest number of overseas students in China.
HQU currently has 94 undergraduate programs, among which 10 have achieved the engineering education certification. There are 30 primary discipline master’s degree programs, 20 professional master’s degree programs, 21 doctor’s degree programs and 5 post-doctoral research centers in the university. With 41 state or provincial key disciplines, among which Engineering, Material Science and Chemistry rank among the top one-percent in ESI (Essential Science Indicators). In December 2017, 16 primary disciplines were listed in the Assessments of National Academic Disciplines released by the Ministry of Education. The same year witnessed the university ranking the top 100 among the Best Chinese Universities released by Shanghai Ranking.
As one of the pioneer universities adopting the system of board of directors, it is also a comprehensive university jointly constructed by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, the Fujian Provincial People’s Government, the Municipal Government of Quanzhou and the Municipal Government of Xiamen. The school board is consisted of overseas Chinese, compatriots from Hong Kong and Macao, overseas talents from various sectors and many other experts and leaders. Zhuang Xiquan, Hu Ping, Jia Qinglin, Chen Mingyi, Song Defu, Wang Gang served successively as the Board’s chairman. Edmund Ho Hau-wah, the deputy chairman of CPPCC and the former Macao SAR, served as the Board's honorary chairman.
State leaders Liao Chengzhi and Ye Fei acted as the first and second presidents of HQU. The incumbent headmaster, Xu Xipeng, has been listed as the Leading Talents in the National High-level Talents Special Support Plan (Ten Thousands Plan) and awarded the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars.
