The original Hainan university was established in 1983. It was a key provincial university. On August 14, 2007, the Ministry of Education approved the merger of the South China University of Tropical Agriculture and Hainan University merged into a single which kept the Hainan University name. South China University of Tropical Agriculture, created in 1958 by the central people's government to break the obstruction and embargo of natural rubber forced by foreign powers. It specialized in rubber and tropical agriculture. It was the only higher education center in Hainan to offer the State Key Disciplines and doctoral programs, which ran in partnership with the China Academy of Tropical Agriculture created in 1954 to have won over 900 education and scientific research awards.
In 2008, Hainan university was approved by the state as a key university under the 211 Project.
In 2012, Hainan University was included in the Plan of Strengthening Higher Education in Middle and Western China and was successively supported by the National Basic Ability Construction Project of Western and Central China and the National Comprehensive Strength Enhancement Project of Western and Central China.
In 2017, Hainan University was listed in the national plan for establishing world-class disciplines.
In 2018, the Hainan provincial Party Committee and provincial government made a strategic decision to fully sponsor the development of Hainan University. Also in that year, the university came under the joint administration of the Ministry of Education and the Hainan Provincial People's Government, and was included among universities directly administered by the Ministry of Education.
Campuses
Hainan University consists of three campuses, with a total area of :
Haidian Campus is the main campus and is located on Haidian Island in Haikou. It has three main gates: The east gate, located on Renmin Dadao, the north gate, located on Wuxi Lu, and the south gate, located on San Xi Lu.
Chengxi Campus is located in Chengxi District of Haikou.
①State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea
The State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in the South China Sea is both the first state key laboratory for marine resources development, utilization and protection in the South China Sea and the only school-based state key laboratory co-established by Hainan Province and national ministries. In terms of members, Academician Zhang Si is currently the director of the Academic Committee, Professor Li Jianbao is the director of the Lab, and Professor Wang Ning is its deputy director.
②Hainan Key Laboratory for Sustainable Utilization of Tropical Bioresources
The Hainan Key Laboratory for Sustainable Utilization of Tropical Bioresources – State-level national key laboratory and cultivation base co-founded by Hainan province and Ministry of Science and Technology was established in 2010 by the Ministry of Science and Technology. Based on the needs of social and economic development and discipline construction in Hainan province, the laboratory takes the characteristic tropical crop resources and tropical microorganisms in Hainan province as research objects, and comprehensively and systematically carries out basic research for application on sustainable utilization of tropical bioresources. Research interests include research on tropical agricultural bioresources, research on genetic improvement of tropical crops, research on new tropical ecological agriculture technologies. The establishment of a theoretical system and technology platform for the sustainable use of tropical bioresources, and the domestic leading tropical agrobiology research center is praised by international counterparts in the tropics, promoting the construction and development of the first-class crop science discipline of Hainan University.
