Ningxia University

Ningxia University in Yinchuan was founded in 1958 and is the leading university in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, part of Project 211 and the Double First-Class Initiative. Ningxia sits on the upper Yellow River in an arid zone, and the university's strengths follow from that: irrigation agriculture, grape and wine science, arid-zone ecology and water resources. The region is China's principal wine-producing area, developed on irrigated desert land. For a Kazakh applicant the irrigation and arid agriculture provision transfers directly. Kazakhstan's southern agriculture depends on irrigation from rivers under pressure, and the Ningxia model of farming arid land with limited water addresses the same constraints. Ningxia is a Hui autonomous region with a substantial Muslim population, so halal food, mosques and religious observance are established rather than exceptional. For some applicants that is a genuine consideration. Living costs are among the lowest in China.