Xi'an University of Science and Technology enjoys immense historical and academic heritage. Its history began with the establishment of the Mining and Metallurgy Division of National Peiyang Technical Institute in 1895. The division later merged into the Mining and Metallurgy Department of Northwestern Engineering Institute in 1938 and then into Xi'an Jiaotong University in 1957. However, in 1958, the department was separated from Xi'an Jiaotong University and became an independent school named Xi'an Mining Institute, one of the only two 5-year undergraduate colleges under the Ministry of Coal Industry at that time. In 1998, following the policy as 'developed jointly by the central government and the local government, chiefly administered by the local government', the institute was detached from the ministry and administered by Shaanxi Province. In 1999, the institute was renamed Xi'an College of Science and Technology. In 2003, the school adopted its present name as Xi'an University of Science and Technology.
Jointly built by the Ministry of Emergency Management and Shaanxi Provincial People's Government, the university is one of the universities implementing the "Excellence Engineers Education Program" launched by the Ministry of Education, the "National Construction of High-level University Public Graduate Project" and "the National Special Key Discipline Project". The university is also selected as implementation universities of "National Basic Ability Construction Project of Western and Central China", "Construction of High-level Universities of Shaanxi Province" and "First-class University, First Class Discipline' of Shaanxi Province". In 2004, the Ministry of Eduction evaluated the university as excellent in undergraduate teaching. In 2017, in the fourth round of China Discipline Ranking (CDR), the university's discipline of Safety Science and Engineering was listed in Class A, which makes the university the only school in Shaanxi with a discipline of engineering ranked in Class A. In August 2018, the university was selected as "Nationwide First-class Universities Construction" in Shaanxi Province while its discipline of Safety Science and Engineering was selected as the construction discipline of "Nationwide First-class Universities Construction". In July 2020, the discipline of Engineering of Xi'an University of Science and Technology was successfully ranked ESI top 1% globally. It has won the title of "Civilized Campus" and "Safe Campus" in Shannxi Province and "Garden Unit" in Xi'an city.
With 2 campuses namely Yanta Campus and Lintong Campus, the university, covering an area of 1,210,000 square meters, owns a graduate school and 20 faculties (departments). The university's Safety Technology and Engineering was approved as a national key discipline. Moreover, it has 8 advantageous characteristic (key) disciplines at the provincial level, covering 46 second-tier disciplines. The school not only has an innovative research team of the Ministry of Education but also owns 21 scientific research platforms at/above provincial & ministerial-level including State Energy Key Laboratory of Clean Coal Grading Conversion, State Key Laboratory of Minning Engineering of Coal Industry(provincial & ministerial level) and the Western Coal Mine Safety Engineering Research Center of The Ministry of Education. Now, the university has 8 national first-class undergraduate discipline construction sites and 10 provincial first-class undergraduate discipline construction sites. Also, the school features 8 national featured disciplines, 11 provincial featured disciplines, 1 course of national-level quality, 1 resource sharing course of national-level quality, 67 resource sharing courses of provincial-level quality (quality courses), 2 national first-class undergraduate courses, 13 provincial first-class undergraduate courses and 2 provincial bilingual teaching model courses. What's more, the school owns 1 national teaching team, 28 provincial teaching teams, 1 national-level talent cultivating innovation experiment zone, 15 provincial-level talent cultivating innovation experiment zones, 2 national experimental teaching demonstration centers (virtual simulation experimental teaching centers) and 18 provincial experimental teaching demonstration centers (virtual simulation experimental teaching centers). Since the implementation of the "11th Five-Year Plan", the school has won two national teaching achievement awards.
The school has 6 postdoctoral research centers and offers 7 first-level doctoral programs, 25 first-level master's degree programs, 6 ME (Master of Engineering) degree categories and master degree programs including Master of Business Administration (MBA), Master of Accounting (MPACC), Master of Applied Statistics, Master of Translation and Master of Engineering Management. Also, with 60 undergraduate disciplines, the university now has formed a school-running pattern that features disciplines of and related to geology, mining and safety, and that takes engineering as its main subject, and that conducts coordinated development of engineering, science, literature, management, law, economics, and arts. The school now has 23,000 full-time students.
The school has nearly 2,300 faculty members, among whom more than 1,300 are full-time teachers and around 600 are professors and associate professors. More than 1,200 teachers are either with doctoral or master's degrees. Among them, 31 people were awarded the title of "Experts and Scholars" at or above the provincial level, 101 people were awarded the title of "Experts and Scholars" at the provincial level, and 45 people were rewarded special government allowances of the State Council. The University also has a team of high-level part-time teachers consisting of around 300 experts and professors, among whom 18 are double employed academicians.
Since the 12th Five-Year Plan, the school has undertaken more than 7,900 scientific research projects, including 493 national projects such as National Science and Technology Major Projects, Program 973, Program 863, National Science and Technology Programs, National Key R&D Programs, National Natural Science Foundation of China and National Social Science Fund of China. The total contract amount of research funds has exceeded 1.5 billion yuan. The school won 5 National Science and Technology Progress Awards and earned itself more than 316 science and technology awards above the provincial and ministerial levels. Furthermore, the school has obtained more than 4,200 authorized patents.
The school has cooperated with nearly 60 universities from more than 20 countries and regions and is also one of the founding universities of the "Sino-American Cooperation on Higher Education and Professional Development (CHEPD)". It has jointly carried out two Sino-foreign cooperative education programs with University of Tasmania and Macquarie University from Australia. What's more, the school also offers bachelor-master-doctor exchange programs with universities from countries as Russia and Malaysia as well as 42 short-term exchange programs with universities as University of Cambridge. Now, 174 doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students from 29 countries have been enrolled.
For more than 60 years, under the leadership of the Ministry of Education, the former Ministry of Coal Industry, the CPC Shaanxi Province Committee, and the People's Government of Shaanxi Province, several generations of XUST people, with hard work, perseverance and strenuous efforts, have closely tied talent cultivation, scientific research, social service, culture heritage and innovation together, and made important contributions to the coal industry and the development of regional economy and society.
Looking to the future, Xi'an University of Science and Technology will adhere to great school spirits as "Solidarity, Diligence, Practicality and Creativity" and "Motivated and Self-driven", reform with determination and blaze new trails to strive to make itself a first-class high-level teaching and research university in China and to make a greater contribution to the development of regional economy and society as well as industries! (Updated in June 2022)
