Xi’an University of Science and Technology lies in Xi’an, a world-famous city with numerous ancient and historical sites and remains. Its head campus stands blocks away from the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, which is well-known both at home and abroad and its newly built Lintong campus close to another popular tourist resort Huaqing Hot Springs. And it has been regarded as the Model University and Garden Campus respectively by Shaanxi provincial CPC Committee and Shaanxi provincial government and the Xi’an municipal government.
The university has a long history as far back as to two origins: the Mining and Metallurgy division formed in 1895, of the Engineering College of Beiyang University, and the Mining and Metallurgy Department set up in 1938, of the National North-west Engineering College. Xi’an Mining institute, affiliated to Ministry of Coal Industry, was established on September 15, 1958, based on part of the faculty and the facilities of the Mining Department, the Geology Department and the Basic Course Division. In August 1998, the State Council detached the institute from the Ministry to Shaanxi Provincial government, financed jointly by the central government and the local government, chiefly administered by the local government. Approved by the State Council, the institute was renamed Xi’an College of Science and Technology on June 9, 1999. On April 16, 2003, under the approval of the State Council, its name was changed to Xi’an University of Science and Technology.
The university has a high comprehensive strength and education quality. It covers 1,170 mu of land with the built-up area of 452 thousand square meters. The university library houses 1.3 million volumes of books. It is constituted by 7 schools, and the other 11 departments and divisions directly under the university. It has one grade-1 discipline Mineral Engineering offering the doctorate degree, and 8 grade-2 disciplines offering the doctorate degree, 29 master’s degree programs, 39 undergraduate programs, 1 state key discipline, 4 key disciplines approved at provincial level or ministerial level, 3 key laboratories at provincial or ministry level, 2 model programs of Shaanxi province. In addition, the university is also authorized to approve the associate professorship, and to grant the application-oriented engineering master’s degree and the master’s degree for the working qualified applicant. Its present enrollment of students is 819 post-graduates for master’s degrees or Ph.D, 10,844 undergraduates, 1000-odd associate-degree students, and 3,800-odd adult students.
The university has a faculty and staff of about 1,500, with 410 among them bearing the senior professional titles. Of the current 830 faculties, 387 teachers have doctors or master’s degrees, 28 teachers are doctorate supervisors. The university is supported by a powerful guest academic team of 5 academicians of Chinese Academy of Science and Chinese academy of Engineering, 15 doctorate supervisors, 27 professors, 11 researchers or senior engineers equivalent to professorship.
The guideline governing the running of the university has always been: getting established by high-quality education, developing the university by distinguishable features, pursuing excellence. The education pattern of the university is to cultivate the students to have sound foundation, fine adaptability, powerful ability and high quality. With the motto of “unity, diligence, truth and innovation”, the university has distinguished itself by the outstanding feature of stressing solid foundation and high quality through strict administration and frequent practice teaching.
The university has paid attention to universal international academic exchanges with about sixty universities and enterprises from over twenty countries and areas. It has set up friendly intercollegiate relations with the universities in United States, Russia, Japan, the Netherlands and other foreign countries. The university succeeded in hosting a series of international academic conferences such as the International Symposium on Applications of Computer Methods in Rock Mechanics and Engineering. The university has also established jointly cultivating undergraduates and post-graduates cooperative relationship with well-known international university like Michigan Technological University, University of Missouri-Rolla, Troy State University of the United State and Monash University of Australia.
Looking forward to the future, it is confident to develop Xi’an University of Science and Technology into a rationally developing outstandingly featured multi-disciplinary university of education and research, widely influential both at home and abroad.