Hunan University of Humanities, Science and Technology (HUHST), located in Loudi City in central Hunan Province, is a full-time public undergraduate institution sponsored by the People’s Government of Hunan Province. The university was established in 1978 as Lianyuan Normal College, initially offering only junior college programs. It was renamed Loudi Normal Junior College in 1983. In 1986, the former Loudi Institute for Teacher Continuing Education merged with the institution. In 1993, its name was changed to Loudi Higher Normal College. Following a merger with the former Loudi Normal School in 2000, the institution was upgraded to an undergraduate university in 2004 and renamed Hunan University of Humanities, Science and Technology. In 2006 and 2007, Lianshao Mining Group Technical School and the Loudi Agricultural Research Institute were successively incorporated into the university.

The university currently has 14 schools with offering 45 full-time undergraduate programs and 1 professional master's degree program. The university has 1,240 full-time teachers, 20,470 enrolled students, and 198 master's degree students. The university has a complete range of disciplines, covering 10 categories: economics, law, education, literature, history, science, engineering, agriculture, management, and arts.

In recent years, the university’s overall academic strength and core competitiveness have steadily improved. In 2011, it was granted the qualification to cultivate master's degree students in the professional degree of Agricultural Extension under the "Special Needs of the Nation" program. In 2012, it passed the Ministry of Education’s undergraduate teaching quality assessment. In 2017, it was designated as a key institution for the development of master’s degree programs in Hunan Province. In 2018, the university was recognized as a high-level applied and distinctive institution in Hunan’s “Double First-Class” initiative. In 2019, it successfully passed the Ministry of Education’s undergraduate teaching quality audit with distinction. In 2023, it was recognized as an Outstanding Performer in Hunan Province's Advancing Science and Technology Initiative, honored as an Outstanding Performer in the Innovation Enhancement Action of Hunan Province in 2024, and successfully passed the Ministry of Education’s undergraduate teaching quality audit in 2025.

The university boasts strong academic disciplines and well-established teaching and research platforms. It currently has five provincial-level applied and distinctive disciplines: Applied Economics, Marxist Theory, Plant Protection, Computer Science and Technology, and Materials Science and Engineering. It also has five national-level first-class undergraduate program development sites and sixteen provincial-level first-class undergraduate program development sites. In terms of teaching and course development, the university has established five national-level first-class courses and 70 provincial-level first-class undergraduate courses. The university is home to five provincial-level science and technology innovation teams, one provincial-level key laboratory, three key laboratories designated by the Education Department of Hunan Province, one provincial-level experimental station, nine provincial-level social science research bases, one Hunan Province 2011 Collaborative Innovation Center, two provincial-level engineering research centers, one provincial-level base for science and technology achievements transformation and technology transfer, and one provincial-level technology transfer demonstration site. The university has developed close partnerships with leading companies such as Sany Heavy Industry, Hunan Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd, Yuan Longping High-tech Agriculture Co., Ltd., and Chinasoft International. It has also established the Central China Branch of the National Engineering and Research Center for Advanced Steel Technology. Furthermore, the university has been approved to establish the Hunan Provincial Advanced Ceramics Modern Industry College and the Information & Innovation Modern Industry College.

The university boasts a strong and talented faculty. It has 405 full-time teachers with senior professional titles and 435 with doctoral degrees. It also has more than 60 high-level talents such as those selected for the National "Thousand Talents Plan," Cheung Kong Scholars Programme, the Young Talents in the National Publicity and Culture System, those selected for the "Furong Scholars Program" of Hunan Province, the leading talents of the Hunan Province Think Tank, and those selected for the "121" talent project of Hunan Province. A significant number of scholars have been granted special government allowances of the State Council or Hunan Province. And a number of teachers have received honors such as National Outstanding Teachers and Outstanding Young Social Science Experts of Hunan Province.

The university has achieved outstanding achievements in talent development. Its students have won 329 national-level awards and 1,213 provincial-level awards in various competitions, including academic competitions, the College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, and cultural and sports events. Since its establishment, the university has cultivated over 120,000 professionals, including prominent figures such as Academician Qing Fengleng (at the Chinese Academy of Sciences), renowned scholars Li Kenli and Qing Xinlin, and successful entrepreneurs ,such as Fu Shenglong and Xiao Zhihai, thus making significant contributions to national development and social progress.

The university has accelerated its pace of opening up to the world. It has successively established cooperative exchanges with over 50 universities and institutions from countries and regions including the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, Australia, and New Zealand. It has also set up a joint student training program with Bath Spa University in the United Kingdom. The university has been approved as a cultivation base for Innovation&Practice Program for the Cultivation of High-level Internationalized Talent by China Center for International People-to-People Exchange, as well as Hunan Provincial HOME Program Base, Hunan Provincial Designated Service Center for Foreign Experts, and a recruiting unit for the Hunan Provincial Scholarship for Chinese Language Learning students from the Countries along “The Belt and Road”.

The university has been recognized as the National Civilized Campus of the 3^rd Session and also a “Safe Unit” in Hunan Province for 14 consecutive years and has received a range of prestigious awards, including the Hunan Province Civilized Model Unit, the Advanced Unit for National Civilized Campus Development, the Advanced Unit for National College Student Social Practice Activities, the Hunan Province Green Campus Demonstration Unit, the Excellent Unit for the “Top Leadership Projects” in Graduate Employment and Entrepreneurship in Hunan Province, the Hunan Provincial Model University for Student Employment and Entrepreneurship, and the Advanced Unit for Ideological and Political Education Research in Hunan Province.

Looking to the future，the university will firmly bear in mind the mission of cultivating talent for the Party and the State with following the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Moreover, the university will still Adhere to the school motto of“Plan for the present to achieve long-term goals, and lay a solid foundation for future success,” and the educational ethos of “Talent First, Love First.” Adhering to the service orientation of "based in central Hunan, facing the entire Hunan region, radiating throughout the country, and serving the local economic and social development", the university will focus on the fundamental task of fostering virtue and cultivating talents, highlighting the characteristic of applied education, and striving to build itself into a high-level application-oriented university with profound cultural heritage and strong scientific and technological strength, and having a significant influence among similar universities across the country. (Updated in March, 2026)