During November 2011, the sixth national census has been carried out throughout China. School leaders in SYSU attached great importance to this, and a supervising team has been set up for the arrangements of census work in SYSU, of which Yu Shiyou the Vice-president was named director. Thanks to the works of the census instructors and the staff of Census Office, the sixth national census in SYSU has been successfully completed.

The sixth census shows that SYSU has a registered population of more than 54 thousand, with 19083 in South Campus, 18028 in East Campus, 8004 in North Campus and 9300 in Zhuhai Campus. Altogether more than 260 teachers and students are engaged in the census in SYSU and more than ten thousand tables have been filled through handwriting. Compared with the fifth national census in 2000, the population in SYSU now has doubled, and people from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and foreign countries are also included in the sixth census. The census work has been completed through the following steps: assessment, propaganda, formal census, filling tables, recheck, quick collection, general coding and photoelectrical input.
All departments and offices in SYSU have done all they could for the successful completion of the sixth census, and students and teachers from various departments worked as surveyors and instructors for this census