The University of South China was established through the merger of the Central South Institute of Technology and Hengyang Medical College in March 2000. In October 2002, the Sixth Research Institute of the Nuclear Industry was incorporated into it. The predecessor of the Central South Institute of Technology was the Hengyang Mining and Metallurgy Engineering College founded in 1959, and the predecessor of Hengyang Medical College was the Hunan Hengyang Medical College established in 1958. The university is jointly built by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the National Health Commission, the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, China National Nuclear Corporation and the People's Government of Hunan Province. It is a first-class university construction institution in Hunan Province and is supported by the Basic Capacity Building Project for Universities in Central and Western China. During its long history of running the school, the university has formed distinctive "nuclear characteristics", a "medical brand" and "environmental protection advantages". It is a comprehensive university with coordinated development in 9 major disciplines, mainly including engineering and medicine, as well as philosophy, economics, law, literature, science, management, and art. The university has 25 directly affiliated colleges, 8 directly affiliated affiliated hospitals, 27 postgraduate collaborative training units; offers 68 undergraduate majors; has 26 first-level discipline master's degree authorization points and 20 types of master's professional degree authorization categories; has 8 first-level discipline doctoral degree authorization points, including 1 type of professional doctoral degree category; and has 5 first-level discipline postdoctoral research mobile stations. The university enrolls students from across the country (including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) as well as some countries and regions. Currently, there are 38,106 full-time undergraduate students, 7,448 doctoral and master's degree postgraduate students, and 388 international students. The university currently has 2,609 faculty and staff members, among which there are more than 100 Changjiang Scholars Distinguished Professors, winners of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, experts of the National Key Talent Program, experts of the National Special Support Program for High-level Talents, middle-aged and young experts with outstanding contributions at the national level, and experts enjoying special government allowances from the State Council. There are also 152 scholars included in provincial and ministerial talent programs such as Hunan Furong Scholars and Outstanding Young Scholars. It has 38 national-level Huang Danian-style teaching teams, national defense science and technology innovation teams, provincial and ministerial innovation teams, provincial university science and technology innovation teams, and provincial teaching teams; and it is a discipline innovation and talent introduction base under the "111 Plan" of the state. The university has 19 national first-class undergraduate majors, and 21 national-level characteristic majors, key defense majors, majors in short supply, majors under the Excellence Program, and majors in the comprehensive reform pilot program. It has 3 national-level experimental teaching demonstration centers and virtual simulation experimental teaching centers. It has 20 national first-class courses, and 3 national-level excellent courses and excellent open courses. It has 2 practical teaching bases for the "Ideological and Political Course" of the Ministry of Education, and 46 provincial-level innovation and entrepreneurship education centers and school-enterprise cooperation innovation and entrepreneurship education bases. It took the lead in implementing the "Free Medical Students" policy across the country and promoted the reform of the "Medicine + X" talent cultivation model. It was selected as one of the first batch of units for the Excellent Engineers and Excellent Doctors Education and Training Programs of the Ministry of Education and was selected as one of the first batch of comprehensive reform pilot institutions for the "Three-All Education" across the country. It has been rated as the National May 4th Red Flag Youth League Committee, a national university with typical experience in innovation and entrepreneurship, and an advanced collective in national youth employment and entrepreneurship education. Eight disciplines of the university, including clinical medicine, chemistry, engineering, pharmacology and toxicology, biology and biochemistry, materials science, environmental science and ecology, molecular biology and genetics, have entered the top 1% of the ESI global ranking. Nuclear science and technology has been selected as a "World-Class Cultivation Discipline". It has 9 platforms such as the National Nuclear-Medical Integration Innovative Talent Training Demonstration Base, the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Technology and Equipment Collaborative Innovation Center jointly built by the province and the ministry, the National Demonstration International Science and Technology Cooperation Base for Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Safety, the National-Local Joint Engineering Research Center, the Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education, the Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and the National Key Laboratory Cultivation Base. It also has 84 provincial and ministerial key laboratories, provincial engineering technology research centers, and provincial social science research bases. The university has successively undertaken more than 3,600 scientific research projects, including projects of the "863" Program, the "973" Program, major national science and technology projects, key projects of the National Key Research and Development Program, major research plan projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China/joint fund key projects/key international (regional) cooperative research projects/foreign senior scholars research fund projects, defense basic research plans, and nuclear energy development special projects. It has won 13 national-level science and technology awards, more than 300 provincial and ministerial-level science and technology awards, and more than 20 provincial and ministerial-level outstanding social science achievement awards. The university has established cooperative and collaborative relationships with more than 30 domestic and foreign universities and scientific research institutions, such as the International Atomic Energy Agency, the University of Cambridge in the UK, the Australian National University, and Tohoku University in Japan. It has been approved as the "Hunan Foreign Experts Workstation", and its international student education has passed the certification of "Quality of Education and Management for International Students in China" by the Ministry of Education. The university is an advanced collective unit in the national foreign medical aid work. The 8 directly affiliated affiliated hospitals of the university are distributed in Hengyang and Changsha. Among them, the First Affiliated Hospital, the Second Affiliated Hospital, the South China Affiliated Hospital, the Changsha Central Hospital, the Affiliated Maternal and Child Health Hospital, and the Affiliated Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment Hospital are all Grade III Class A hospitals. The Seventh Affiliated Hospital is the first provincial honorary and veteran hospital transferred to a university in the country. The affiliated hospitals have a total of nearly 13,000 employees and more than 3,000 clinical teachers. They have a total of more than 10,000 open beds, with an annual outpatient and emergency volume of about 6 million person-times and an annual surgical volume of more than 160,000 cases. The university has been approved as the construction unit relying on the national major epidemic treatment base and the regional medical and health center. The university library has 2.92 million paper books, 568.67 terabytes of digital resources, 254 terabytes of electronic books, and more than 12,000 Chinese and foreign periodicals. The university sponsors academic journals such as the Chinese Journal of Arteriosclerosis, the Journal of Central South Medical Sciences, the Journal of the University of South China - Natural Science Edition, and the Journal of the University of South China - Social Science Edition. Over the past 60-plus years, the university has sent 300,000 high-quality professionals of various types to the country and local areas. It is the "cradle of talent cultivation" for the nuclear industry and an important force in the construction of a healthy Hunan. Graduates are widely distributed in industries and fields such as the defense industry, the nuclear industry, health and wellness, environmental protection, equipment manufacturing, and financial management, and have made important contributions to the economic and social development of the country and local areas. Based on the new era, the university adheres to the school motto of "Virtue, Erudition, Truth-seeking, and Aspiration", promotes the "Nanhua Spirit" of "Diligence, Practicality, Willingness to Dedicate, Vigorous Self-improvement, and Pioneering Spirit", adheres to talent cultivation as the center, serves the needs of the country and society, and continuously improves its comprehensive strength. It is striding forward bravely on the journey of building a high-level university in the new era towards the goal of "Double First-Class" construction.