The program of Geography at Yunnan Normal University originated during the period of the Southwest Associated University (referred to as "Southwest Associated"). In 1938, the Department of Geology, Geography, and Meteorology was established in the Faculty of Science of Southwest Associated, and the Department of History and Geography was established in the Normal College of Southwest Associated. In 1946, the three schools that made up Southwest Associated returned to the north, and the Normal College remained in Kunming to operate independently, named the National Kunming Normal College. In 1982, the Department of Geography was established in Kunming Normal College, which was later renamed Yunnan Normal University and continued to have the Department of Geography. In 1999, Yunnan Normal University established the School of Tourism and Geographical Sciences. In 2020, the university integrated the School of Tourism and Geographical Sciences, the Engineering Research Center of Geo-Information Technology for Western Resources and Environmental Conditions of the Ministry of Education, the Research Center for China's Southwest Opening-up and Border Security, and other scientific research and teaching resources to establish the Faculty of Geography of Yunnan Normal University.
The Faculty of Geography currently has 116 members, including 30 professors and 40 associate professors, which includes 1 Changjiang Distinguished Professor, 1 National "Ten-thousand Talents Program" Teaching Master, 1 Leader in Philosophy and Social Sciences, and more than 30 provincial and ministerial talents such as Yunnan Province "Ten-thousand Talents Program" Teaching Master, Yunnan Province Young and Middle-aged Academic and Technical Leader, etc.
The faculty has a first-level discipline doctoral degree authorization point in geography and a post-doctoral research mobile station in geography, and has a first-level discipline master's degree point in geography and professional master's degree points in Curriculum and Teaching Theory (Geography), Subject Teaching (Geography), Tourism Management, Tourism Management Master, and Resources and Environment Master, and has approved the construction of a provincial-level discipline doctor's point in Resources and Environment. It has formed characteristics and advantages in directions such as the history and methodology of geography, the effects of urbanization on lake water environment, political geography and border geography, plateau lakes and global changes, mountain environment and natural disasters, political economy geography of South and Southeast Asian countries and regions, ethnic culture and tourism geography, etc. In the fifth round of national discipline evaluation, the discipline of geography of Yunnan Normal University maintains a leading position in the southwest and is a key discipline supported by Yunnan Province and a discipline supported by the Fundamental Disciplines Development Program.
The faculty has 6 full-time undergraduate majors, including Geographical Science, Geographic Information Science, Physical Geography and Resource Environment, Human Geography and Urban and Rural Planning, Spatial Information and Digital Technology, and Tourism Management, forming an integrated talent training model from undergraduate to doctoral level. Among them, the major of Geographical Science is a National First-Class Professional Construction Point, a National Characteristic Major, and a Yunnan Province A-Class Professional Construction Point; the major of Geographic Information Science is a National First-Class Professional Construction Point and a Yunnan Province First-Class Professional Construction Point; Spatial Information and Digital Technology is a Ministry of Education "New Engineering" Construction Point and a Yunnan Province Emerging Professional Construction Point.
The Faculty of Geography has a total of 24 national and provincial scientific research and talent training platforms. Mainly including: the Ministry of Education China Southwest Geo-Environmental and Border Development Province-Ministry Joint Collaborative Innovation Center, the Engineering Research Center of Geo-Information Technology for Western Resources and Environmental Conditions of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Education's National and Regional Research Centers (Bay of Bengal Research Center, Myanmar Research Center, Cambodia Research Center), the State Ethnic Affairs Commission's Bay of Bengal Research Center, the National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center for Geographical Sciences, the National Virtual Simulation Experimental Teaching Center for Geographical Spatial Information Technology, the "Dabaigou Internationally Important Wetland" National College Students' Extracurricular Practice Training Base, as well as a batch of provincial platforms such as the Yunnan Province Academician Workstation, the Yunnan Province Key Laboratory of Plateau Geographic Process and Environmental Change, the Yunnan Province International Joint Laboratory for Resources and Security around the Indian Ocean, the Yunnan Province Key Cultivated New Think Tank for the Research Center for China's Southwest Opening-up and Border Security, and the Yunnan Province Teaching Master Studio, etc.
In the past ten years, the Faculty of Geography has presided over more than 200 national and provincial scientific research projects, involving disciplines such as geography, ethnology, economics, ecology, education, and sociology. Among them, it has presided over 2 national science and technology plan projects and topics, 72 National Natural Science Foundation and National Social Science Fund projects, 4 Ministry of Education humanities and social science research projects, 82 horizontal projects, and added nearly 60 million yuan in scientific research funds. Teachers of the Faculty of Geography have independently written, first-authored, and edited more than 70 monographs and textbooks such as the "China Human Geography Series" "China Ethnic Geography" volume, the national planning textbook "Introduction to Geographical Sciences", "Yunnan Encyclopedia" "Geography" volume, and "China Natural Resources General Canon" "Yunnan" volume, etc.; independently, first-authored, and corresponding author published more than 1000 academic papers in well-known domestic and foreign journals such as Science, "Chinese Social Sciences", Nature Communications, Water Research, Water Resources Research, "Geographical Journal", "Surveying and Mapping Journal", "Remote Sensing Journal", "Ecological Journal", "Dialectics of Nature Research", "Scientific Research Studies", "Chinese University Teaching", etc.
In recent years, the teachers of the faculty have participated in the compilation of the "China's Comprehensive Earth Observation System Ten-Year Implementation Plan" and, as the only Chinese expert, participated in the mid-term assessment of the ten-year strategic implementation plan of the International Earth Observation Organization, and the report formed is of great significance to China's Earth observation work; the research results in lake pollution and global changes have helped to achieve the strategic goals of pollution control of plateau lakes and the construction of ecological civilization; actively integrated into and served the national "Belt and Road" initiative, and the research results have been used by national foreign affairs, military and other departments; undertook the third-party assessment of 106 poor counties' exit in Yunnan, Tibet, Guangxi and other provinces and regions, and the third-party assessment of the creation effectiveness of 206 characteristic small towns in Yunnan Province, serving the national precise poverty alleviation and the construction of characteristic small towns in Yunnan.
The teaching and scientific research achievements presided over by the Faculty of Geography have won many high-level awards. Mainly including: 2 second prizes of national teaching achievements, 4 first prizes of provincial teaching achievements, Yunnan Province Science and Technology Progress First Prize, Provincial Philosophy and Social Science First Prize, Provincial Natural Science Second Prize, Ministry of Education Humanities and Social Science Second Prize, Ministry of Education Educational Science Third Prize, and other more than 40 awards.
The Faculty of Geography has formed a "one body and two wings" development structure with geographical science as the core, geographical information science and technology as the support, and tourism and planning as the characteristics, becoming an important base for talent training, scientific research, cooperation and exchange, and social service in the field of geographical science in the western region of China.
