The history of Fujian Hwa Nan Women’s College goes back to 1908 when Hwa Nan College of Letters and Science was founded. Reestablished in November 1984, Fujian Hwa Nan Women’s College is the first private women's higher education institution with independent qualifications to issue academic diplomas after the founding of the People's Republic of China. It is also a pilot project unit of the reform of the running system of non-profit private colleges and universities sponsored by the Ministry of Education. Located at the eastern foot of the beautiful Qishan Mountain, it is the only private vocational college stationed in the university town.
Since its reestablishment, the college has received strong support from the governments of the Fujian Province and Fuzhou City. President Xi Jinping and other national and provincial leaders Jia Qinglin, He Guoqiang, Li Lanqing, Chen Muhua, Lei Jieqiong, Chen Mingyi, Wang Yifu have come to the college to inspect and guide the work. President Xi wrote an inscription for the college, "Women are not inferior to men, and Hwa Nan women of distinction appear one after another."
Following the ideology of “nurturing women with highest personality” and the motto of "self-reliance, exploration, diligence and dedication", the college adheres to the principles of surviving on high quality, seeking development with unique features, fostering virtues through education, and opening to the outside world. Focusing on women, children and the elderly, five academic major groups of Culture and Education, Healthcare and Nursing, Art and Design, Tourism Services, Finance and Business and twenty-four majors related to modern service industry are developed.
Through consolidating foundation, emphasizing practice and strengthening skills, the college enhances the adaptability of vocational education, cultivates quality laborers and skilled workers with innovative aspirations and makes positive contribution to the economic development of Fujian province.
Fujian Hwa Nan Women’s College has sustained its unique features and high quality education. It is listed in the Best of the Republic as a historic event and an iconic achievement during the fifty years after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. In 2008 and 2015, the college passed two rounds of talent training evaluations. It received honors of Contribution to the Innovation and Development of Private Education in China, Advanced NGO of China, China May 4th Red Flag Communist Youth League Branch, Provincial Civilized Campus in four consecutive years, and Advanced Community-level Party Organization of Fujian Province. Former Council Chair Chen Zhongying and College Teaching Supervisor Ma Xiufa were awarded Outstanding Teachers of Fujian Province. Foreign teacher Betts was honored with National Friendship Award and five other foreign teachers were granted Fujian Friendship Awards.
The college is comprised of two campuses, namely Qishan Campus and Yan Tai Shan Campus, covering 234 Chinese ares of land with a total construction area of 81,000 square meters and a total investment of 160,000,000RMB. The college has Provincial-level Key Major, Provincial-level Higher Vocational Education Exemplary Major, National-level Quality Course, Provincial and Ministerial Level Quality Course, Provincial-level Teaching Achievement Award, Provincial-level Entrepreneurship and Innovation Education Reform Pilot Major, and Fujian Education Department Major Development Achievement Award. It also has Skill Master Studio, Footwear and Clothing Design and Technique Application Training Base, and Fujian Province Family Service Vocational Training Demonstration Base.
Fujian Hwa Nan Women’s College has made notable achievements in international exchanges. Since 1985, it has brought in more than two hundred foreign teachers from America, Britain, Australia and Japan. Inter-collegiate cooperation and exchange agreements have been signed with Florida State University in the USA, Puget Sound University in the USA, Centenary College in the USA, Morningside College in the USA, Ateneo De Manila University in the Philippines, and Assumption University in Thailand for academic exchanges, sending visiting scholars to each other's schools regularly, selecting teachers to teach in Hwa Nan, and accepting Hwa Nan young faculty to study abroad. Each year, top graduates of Hwa Nan are granted scholarship to seek bachelor degrees in Centenary College and Morningside College in the USA.
Fujian Hwa Nan Women’s College is undertaking a swathe of reforms in major establishment, major group development, curriculum, teaching content, teaching methods and school management mechanism in the hope of fully leveraging the advantages of private schools, training more technicians and skilled workers needed for the development of the Economic Development Zone on the West Bank of the Taiwan Straits, and making contributions to China’s economic development and its reform and opening-up.
