North China University of Science and Technology (NCUST), co-constructed by Hebei Provincial Government, the former State Administration of Work Safety, and the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, is one of the top-ranking universities in Hebei province. It has a comprehensive range of disciplines covering 9 categories: science, engineering, humanities, medicine, economics, management, law, education and art, taking engineering and medicine as its backbone. Education programs at different levels are provided for doctors, masters, bachelors, international students and adult students. NCUST ranks 161st in Best Global Universities in China and 2nd in Hebei province according to the 2020 U.S. News Rankings.

In May 2010, the former Hebei Polytechnic University and the former North China Coal Medical College merged into Hebei United University, and then in 2015, it was renamed North China University of Science and Technology. The former Hebei Polytechnic University, which was founded in 1958 as a Mining and Metallurgy Institute, originated from the Department of Mining of Peiyang University founded in 1895 as the first higher educational institution in China, once named as Tangshan Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Hebei Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Tangshan Institute of Engineering and Technology, and Hebei Institute of Science and Technology, while the former North China Coal Medical College which was established as a medical college in 1963 and was named as Tangshan Coal Medical College and Hebei Medical College, traces its history back to Kailuan Advanced Nurse School founded in 1926.

NCUST is currently attended by 40,747 full time students, including 31,482 undergraduates, 3,590 master and PhD candidates, and 255 international students. It has 19 administrational departments, 33 teaching units, 9 teaching auxiliary organizations, and 5 subordinate units. Since August 2016, the brand-new campus, occupying a space of 300 hectares, and advanced facilities, with a floor space up to 1.036 million square meters, including language laboratories, multimedia classrooms, E-reading rooms, CAD centers, computing centers, audio-visual center, and computer network center has been put to use. The university library, with a floor space of 78,000 square meters, has a collection of 2.7 million volumes and 38 large-scale databases in Chinese and Foreign languages, which has ebook collection up to 96.5 TB. The layout of resources is organized according to discipline groups and one-stop discipline services are provided. NCUST is the publisher of 5 national influential academic journals in the area of natural science, medical science, and social science. Besides, it has 25 directly and indirectly affiliated hospitals.

 

To meet the needs of economic and social development, NCUST adheres to the principle of featured development and interdisciplinary construction. The university has 3 disciplines authorized by the state to grant doctoral degrees, 27 disciplines for master’s degrees, and 21 authorization categories for professional master’s degrees, 95 undergraduate programs and 1 post-doctoral research station, building metallurgical engineering as the world first-class discipline, mining engineering, and public health and preventive medicine as the national first-class disciplines. Besides, it has 2 national first-class specialties, 14 provincial first-class specialties, 10 state level characteristic specialties, 18 national and provincial key disciplines, 17 national and provincial technological innovation platforms, 1 provincial technology transfer demonstration agency, 1 national and 3 provincial collaborative innovation centers, 38 municipal level technological innovation platforms, 1 technology contract recognition and registration organization and 1 industrial consultancy of Hebei province, 10 provincial and 13 municipal technological innovation voucher providers, 10 enterprise consultancies and 1 mass innovation space of Tangshan. NCUST also possesses Mine Medicare Center Training Base of the former State Administration of Work Safety, Hebei Intellectual Property Training Base, Injury Research Institute of Hebei province, Hungary Research Center approved by Ministry of Education, Hebei Integration Research Base for Integration of Urban and Rural Areas, Tangshan Scientific Development Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tangshan Integration Research Center for Integration of Urban and Rural Areas, and Tangshan Academician Workstation.

 

NCUST has fully implemented the plan of “Double First-class” construction of Hebei province, systematically promoted the construction of the “3433”discipline groups, which means focusing on the construction of 3 strong characteristic disciplines: metallurgy and materials, mining and safety, and occupational health and safety, vigorously developing 4 key superior disciplines: chemical engineering and environment, architecture and civil engineering, advanced manufacturing and equipment, and basic medicine and clinical medicine, appropriately expanding 3 basic liberal arts and science disciplines: economics and management, law of humanities and art, information and computing, and actively supporting 3 new cross disciplines: life science, marine science and brain cognitive science.

 

NCUST has been committed to the connotative development with quality as the first priority, cultivating applied research and innovative talents with strong adaptability and high comprehensive quality. It owns 1 distinguished teacher of the state’s Ten Thousand Talents Plan, 12 distinguished teachers of Hebei province, 9 national and provincial teaching teams, 54 national and provincial high-quality resource sharing courses and high-quality courses, 14 provincial high-quality online open courses, 17 provincial first-class courses, 9 national and provincial specialty comprehensive reform pilot projects, 3 national Excellent Project programs, 12 national and provincial experimental teaching demonstration centers, and 4 national and provincial off-campus practice education bases for college students. NCUST has exhibited great strength in research and made remarkable achievements over the past five years. It has trained over 100,000 professional technical and management talents, and has become the cradle of general managers and chief engineers in metallurgy, mining and heavy chemical industries, as well as senior medical talents in the coal industry and the occupational disease prevention and control. NCUST graduates have the characteristics of high quality, strong ability, practical work style and adapting to social needs, and the employment rate has reached up to 95% for consecutive years, ranking among the best in Hebei province.

 

NCUST has been committed to building a team of high-quality professional teachers with noble ethics and superb professional capacity, adhering to the development strategy of strengthening the school with talents. At present, it has more than 4,000 professional and technical personnel, including 1,834 full-time teachers, 645 teachers with doctorate degrees, and more than 1,000 teachers with senior professional titles. The university has recruited more than 100 outstanding experts, including academicians, national candidates in the New Century Talents Project, experts of special allowance of the State Council, high-end talents of Hebei province, Yanzhao scholars, provincial excellent experts and so on.