In 1984, the Ministry of Education issued a circular requiring institutions of higher learning established before 1977 to begin organizing efforts to compile school histories. The national university system has started the work of compiling school history. In the process of compilation, the universities deeply felt the need to exchange common issues in the compilation, and it was convenient to discuss the convening of the "Seminar on the History of Colleges and Universities" in September 1988. In the same year, more than a dozen colleges and universities held the first symposium on the history of colleges and universities at the university, and established the "Research Society for the History of Colleges and Universities" to receive guidance from the Chinese Association of Higher Education.
The main work content of the society is to study and improve the common problems in the compilation of school history of each school, and to provide school history information consultation for decision-making departments. On May 28, 1995, it was approved by the Chinese Association of Higher Education and officially became a branch. In December 2003, the Association of Higher Education issued a document officially approving the name as "School History Research Branch of the Chinese Association of Higher Education". After the establishment of the research society, a management organization was established, a charter was formulated, and an academic seminar was held every two years to exchange experience in the compilation and research of school history and specific problems in the work.
So far, eight seminars have been held in Xiamen University, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Beijing Normal University, Sichuan (Union) University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanxi University, Chongqing University, and Hunan University, and the book "History of Universities" has been published, which collects the academic ** of some member units of the first five seminars.
Council Member Units:
Peking University*, Beijing Normal University*, Chongqing University*, Fudan University*, Donghua University, Southeast University, Hefei University of Technology, Henan University, Hunan University*, East China University of Science and Technology, East China Normal University*, Central China Normal University, Jilin University, Henan Polytechnic University, Nanjing University*, Nankai University*, Lanzhou University, Tsinghua University, Shandong University, Shanxi University*, Shanghai Jiao Tong University*, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Sichuan University*, Tianjin University*, Tongji University, Wuhan University, Xi'an Jiaotong University*, Northwest A&F University, Xiamen University*, Yunnan University, Zhejiang University, Sun Yat-sen University, University of Science and Technology of China (Note: * is the executive director unit, in alphabetical order).
Tianjin University also has an executive director unit