Kuang Yaming Honors School of Nanjing University has gone through four stages of development over the past thirty-five years. It was first founded in 1985 as the Gifted Youth Program. It became the Department of Intensive Instruction in 1989, the School of Intensive Instruction in Sciences and Arts in 1998 and finally, Kuang Yaming Honors School in 2006.

This school is a forerunner of the higher education reform of Nanjing University and the Ministry of Education of China, and it has, within a short period of decades, cultivated more than 1,800 high level, high caliber young scientists and engineers not only in the basic research fields of physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, and related interdisciplinary subjects, but also in practical areas such as administration management, financial services, and high-tech enterprises. Many of them have become well-known scholars and specialists at home and abroad.

Furthermore, its education model, in which students are enrolled into groups according to key disciplines to build up their foundation in basic subjects throughout both their undergraduate and graduate studies, has important influence both in China and even abroad. This innovative education model along with its fruitful results, has received the National Teaching Achievement Prizes, Special Trophy by Jiangsu Province, and over ten individual awards, and it has taken the lead in the “Double Three System” reform of Nanjing University’s undergraduate education and played an exemplary role among universities in China.

Kuang Yaming Honors School of Intensive Program in Sciences used to be the Gifted Youth Program of Nanjing University. In 1985, some forward-looking educators proposed the set-up of this program to cultivate promising and talented adolescents, enrolled from all over the country.

In 1989, the university established the Department for Intensive Instruction in answer to the call of the former State Education Commission to protect and strengthen basic sciences.

In 1993, this department set up general science experimental classes, forming the national training base for the talented in sciences.

To push further this new model of education, the university set up the School of Intensive Instruction in Sciences and Arts in 1998, as an important step of the educational reform. This represented a significant measure Nanjing University took to cultivate the new type of talented personnel that meets the requirements of the new century in basic sciences with a spirit of creativity and innovation.

In March 2006, in commemoration of the 100th birthday of the university’s former president Kuang Yaming, an outstanding and prominent Marxist theorist, educationist and social activist, Nanjing University decided to rename the School of Intensive Instruction in Sciences and Arts Kuang Yaming Honors School so as to inherit and carry on his education philosophy and promote his idea of education.

In 2007, to improve administration and management, the university integrated into Kuang Yaming Honors School its School of Intensive Instruction in Humanities, a national training base for the talented in humanities.

In 2009, the honors school’s program of intensive instruction in sciences was selected to be a pilot program for the university’s experiment on cultivating the talented in basic disciplines.

Currently, as a school where the university experiment its general education, Kuang Yaming Honors School has provided enriched instructions in both Sciences and Arts (the enrollment in humanities subjects were suspended in 2013 due to the re-adjustment disciplines).

In sciences (including math, physics, astronomy, chemistry, biology, computer science, biochemistry, biophysics, and biochemistry), the school lays emphasis on foundation courses and on the education of research-minded personnel. In social sciences (including economics, business, law, and journalism), the school focuses on the training of future scholars in these fields.

The principle is “students are enrolled into groups according to key disciplines to build up their foundation in basic subjects throughout both their undergraduate and graduate studies” The method is “to make innovations in undergraduate general education and research teaching, enhance basic science and research training, promote international cooperation, and improve political, ideological and moral education.” The goal is “to cultivate top-notch talented personnel in sciences and humanities, with a strong research foundation and outstanding innovative abilities.”