School of Animal Science and Technology (SAST) is one of the earliest founded departments of Hunan Agricultural University, its history can be traced back to the founding of Hunan Provincial Agricultural College founded in 1941, and the establishment of the Department of Fisheries in 1942, which started enrolling students. In 1951, the Fisheries Department of Hunan Provincial Xiuye Agricultural and Forestry College, which originated from Xiuye Academy, merged with the College of Agronomy at Hunan University to form the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine Department of Hunan Agricultural College). In 1952, due to the nationwide restructuring of colleges and departments, the Animal Husbandry specialty was incorporated into Huazhong Agricultural College, while the Veterinary Medicine was transferred to Jiangxi Agricultural College. In 1958, the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine was rebuilt. In 1959, the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine of Hunan Agricultural College was established. In 1977, the national college entrance examination enrollment system was restored, and the department resumed offering the majors of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science. In 1985, Animal Nutrition and Feed Processing specialty was added and Freshwater Fishery major was added in 1987. In 1988, it was renamed the Department of Animal Husbandry and Aquaculture. In 1994, School of Animal Science and Technology was established. In 2006, it was divided into the College of Animal Science and Technology and the College of Veterinary Medicine, in 2023, the College of Animal Science and Technology was further divided into the College of Animal Science and Technology and the College of Fisheries. At present, SAST has formed a multi-level talent training system for undergraduate, master and doctor, which has rich educational resources, strong and well-qualified faculty, outstanding scientific research achievements and unique disciplinary advantages.

SAST has four departments: Department of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science, Department of Animal Genetic Breeding and Reproduction, Department of Intelligent Animal Husbandry and Experimental Teaching and Demonstration Center.

SAST has a total enrollment of over 1300 students, including 900 full-time undergraduates, nearly 400 master candidates and PhD candidates. The total trainee is more than 16000.

SAST currently has 78 faculty members, among the teachers, there are 41 professors, 26 doctoral supervisors (full-time and part-time), 61 master supervisors, eight state-level talents, 23 province-level talents, three province-level science and technology innovation team and one province-level outstanding graduate supervisor team.

Discipline and Degree

SAST has strong disciplines and outstanding achievements. Now it has one provincial key discipline of Animal Husbandry in the 12th Five-Year Plan. Animal Husbandry major is listed as one of the domestic first-rate disciplines in the 2022 Hunan “Double World-Class Project”.

Postdoctoral Station

● Animal Husbandry

Doctoral Program

First-Category PhD Degree Programs:

● Animal Husbandry

Second-Category PhD Degree Programs:

● Animal Genetic Breeding and Reproduction

● Animal Nutrition and Feed Science

● Animal Production and Animal Husbandry Engineering

● Animal Product Processing and Nutrition Engineering

Master Program

First-Category Master Degree Programs:

● Animal Husbandry

Professional Master Degree Program of Agriculture：

● Animal Husbandry

Bachelor Program

● Animal Science: It is a pilot major of the State Training Program of Excellent Agricultural and Forest Talents of the Ministry of Education, a national first-class major and a distinctive major.

Scientific Research and Social Services

Scientific Research

 Since the 12th Five-Year Plan, the school has undertaken more than 300 national projects, such as “863 Program”, National Natural Science Foundation, National Major Research Program and Major Research Program of Hunan Province, with more than 50 research achievements and patents at the national, provincial and ministerial levels, and one National Top 100 Excellent Doctoral Dissertation. Plant and Animal Sciences has entered the top 1% of ESI global rankings.  

Platforms and Bases

● Key Laboratory of Evaluation and Utilization of Livestock and Poultry Resources (Pig) of the Ministry of Agriculture (2022)

● Hunan Collaborative Innovation Center for Livestock and Poultry Safety Production (2021)

● Yuelu Mountain Innovation Center for Livestock and Poultry Seed Industry (2020)

● Hunan Engineering and Technology Research Center for Poultry Safety Production (2018)

● National Livestock and Poultry Safety Virtual Simulation Teaching and Experiment Center (2016)

● Hunan Key Laboratory of Livestock and Poultry Genetic Improvement (2011)

● Engineering Research Center of the Ministry of Education for Feed Safety and Efficient Utilization (2009)

● Feed and Feed Additives Effectiveness Testing Institution of the Ministry of Agriculture (2009)

● Hunan Key Laboratory of Quality Control of Livestock and Poultry Products

● National Animal Science Experimental Teaching and Demonstration Center

● National Training and Cooperation Base for Agricultural Science and Education Talents

● Hunan Outstanding Graduate Training and Innovation Base

● Hunan Outstanding Practice Teaching Base for Regular Higher Education Institutions

● Hunan Innovation Teaching Base for Regular Higher Education Institutions

Social Services

In order to promote local economic development and build new countryside services, SAST actively adapts itself to the needs of social development by the following means:

1) selection of science and technology commissioners;

2) “Three Areas” (which means poverty-stricken areas, border ethnic areas, and old revolutionary base areas) Scientific and Technological Talent Plan;

3) “Ten Thousand Experts Services Program”;

4) construction of teaching and scientific research bases and technology transfer.

2. SAST attaches great importance to the communication and cooperation domestically and internationally and has established long-term cooperative relations for academic exchange and talents development with many universities of over 10 countries and districts such as:

1) University of Wisconsin

2) University of Hawaii

3) Purdue University

4) University of Wroclaw

5) National University of Lesotho

6) University of Leon

7) University of Aberdeen

8) Kagoshima University of Japan.

3. SAST cooperates with more than 30 well-known enterprises at home and abroad, including Wenshi Group, Dabeinong Group, Tang Renshen Group, Haida Group, Tongwei Co., Ltd., Jiahe Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Baiyi Group, Guangxi Fufeng Group, Shanghai Muguan, Hunan Xiang Jia Husbandry, Tianxin Seed, Anhui Runhai, Jiangsu Shenlite, American Amuran, Japan Kolbis (Shanghai).

4. SAST focuses on the important common key technological innovation research, industrial transformation and upgrading, innovative talents cultivation in the agriculture and animal husbandry industry.

SAST will adhere to the HUNAU motto of “Sincerity, Sedulity, Practicality, and Creativity”, stick to the fundamental task of cultivating virtue through education, continuously refine its disciplinary focus, continue to improve the teaching quality of its majors, display the characteristics of “the integration of industry, teaching and research”, striving to build itself into a high-level teaching-research-oriented college.