Yan'an University is the first comprehensive university named by Comrade Mao Zedong and founded by the Communist Party of China. It is now a university jointly established by the People's Government of Shaanxi Province and the Ministry of Education, a high-level construction university in Shaanxi Province, an admissions college in Shaanxi Province, and a recommended institution for the qualifications of exempting outstanding undergraduate graduates to study for master's degree. The school was established in September 1941 , and its history can be traced back to the Northern Shaanxi Public School founded in 1937 . In July 1941 , two meetings of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee decided that the Northern Shaanxi Public School, China Women's University, and Zedong Young Cadre School merged to form Yan'an University.