Hunan University is a national public research university affiliated with the Ministry of Education. It is one of the top engineering research universities in China. 

HNU has Graduate School and 25 colleges and departments. Professional disciplines involve 11 subject categories, namely philosophy, economics, law, education, literature, history, science, engineering, management, medicine, and arts, which offer 28 first-order disciplines authorized to confer Ph.D. degrees; three professional doctorate degree authorization; 35 first-order disciplines authorized to confer Master's degree; 26 professional master’s degree authorizations; and, and 62 undergraduate disciplines.