Hunan University occupies the lower slopes of Yuelu Mountain, incorporating the Yuelu Academy — one of the four great centres of Song-dynasty Confucian scholarship — within its modern campus. The result is an unusually beautiful university: ancient lecture halls and Ming-dynasty gardens sit alongside Republican-era faculty buildings and mid-century teaching blocks, all threading through forested hillside. The contrast between the old academy courtyards and the crowded student cafeterias is part of the university's character rather than a problem to be solved.
The campus is open to visitors, who can walk between the academy buildings, the university library (which holds a significant classical Chinese collection), and the mountain trails that begin at the campus boundary. The university's engineering and economics faculties are among the strongest in China; the institution's longevity — over a thousand years in continuous operation in various forms — makes it genuinely exceptional. Walking the campus and the adjacent Yuelu Academy together takes two to three hours.