Northwest University, is a public university located in Xi'an city, Shaanxi Province, China. It is one of the nation's leading comprehensive universities. Founded in 1902, it is one of the oldest institutions of learning in Northwest China. The university stresses international academic and personnel exchanges. Since the start of the Chinese economic reform in 1978, it has established cooperation and exchange relations with nearly 30 institutions of higher education of scientific research in the United States, Japan, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and The Philippines.
It is one of the first institutions empowered to set up doctoral, postdoctoral and master’s programs, to approve the promotion to professorship, and to select Ph. D. supervisors. To date the University has established 37 doctoral programs (of which 6 belong to the first-category disciplines), 92 Master's programs (including special programs like MBA, MPA and Master of Engineering) and 9 postdoctoral programs. The University also boasts 6 national bases for talent training, one national education base for cultural education of college students, 3 national key disciplines, 39 provincial key disciplines, one national engineering and technology center, 11 ministerial or provincial key labs and engineering and technology research centers.