An overview

Chongqing University was founded in 1929 with the vision of building a “well-equipped and influential university”. By the 1940s, the University had developed into a comprehensive university with a complete system of disciplines covering liberal arts, science, engineering, business, jurisprudence, and medicine, etc. In 1952, it became a multi-disciplinary university with focus on engineering disciplines after a round of nationwide faculty adjustment. In 1960, it was designated as a national key university. Since the Opening-up and Reform, the University has evolved into a higher education institution that mainly consists of engineering disciplines together with multiple other disciplines after all-around restoration, adjustment, reform, and construction. In 1998, the university was approved as a university for key construction under the state “Project 211”. In 2000, former Chongqing Jianzhu University and Chongqing Architecture Junior College merged with Chongqing University, together constituting the new Chongqing University. In 2001, it became a university for key construction under the state “Project 985”. In 2017, it was elected as a state “Class-A University under the National World-First-Rate University Construction Program”. In 2022, it was elected as a “Double First-class University” in the second round assessment. Hence, the University has entered a new era, striding toward the educational goal of a world-class university with Chinese characteristics.

Chongqing University has a full range of disciplines, covering 11 categories, namely science, engineering, economics, management, jurisprudence, literature, history, philosophy, medicine, education, and art. Now the University has 7 faculties, 35 schools, and 7 affiliated hospitals. The number of faculty and staff is over 5,300 persons, the student population is over 50,000 persons among whom over 24,000 are postgraduates and over 26,000 are undergraduates. The campuses occupy a total land area of over 5,300 mu (approximately 883 acres), consisting of Campus A, Campus B, Campus C, and the Huxi Campus, and the Liangjiang Campus.

Cultivation of talents

Chongqing University is selected into the first batch of 10 pilot universities for “Three-full Education” comprehensive reform, the first batch of 20 universities for “ideological and political work innovation centers of higher education institutions”, and the first batch of 10 universities for national elite institute of engineering construction, and is selected as one of the 10 universities for the “special cultivation program for energy storage technology high-level talents urgently needed by the state”, and is selected as a national industry and education integration innovation platform for energy storage technologies. The University is actively implementing the “2029 Action Plan for Undergraduate Education of Chongqing University” in order to build first-class undergraduate education. It has established Undergraduate School to fully carry out big category enrollment and cultivation and enhance general education. 61 majors of the University have been elected as Top Undergraduate Major of China, and 68 courses have been elected as Top Undergraduate Course of China. The majors of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics and Physics have been selected into “Pilot Reform of Enrollment for Basic Subject”. The Sugon Computer Science Top Student Cultivation Base has been approved as a basic discipline top student cultivation version 2.0 base by the Ministry of Education; and the School of Big Data & Software Engineering has been selected into the first batch of characteristic and demonstrative software schools. The University has established the Mingyue Lake New Engineering Education Innovation Platform and Chongqing Elite Institute of Engineering in collaboration with Liangjiang New Area.

Chongqing University continues to deepen reform of the cultivation systems and mechanisms and has carried out special pilot reform programs of cultivating research fund Doctors and engineering Masters and Doctors, and is actively implementing the “graduate education high-quality development action plan” so as to create excellent graduate education. The University has been approved as a university with the autonomous degree-granting authority. Currently, the University has 38 first-level discipline doctoral degree programs, 8 doctoral professional degree programs, and 51 first-level discipline Master’s degree programs and 25 professional degree programs. The size of doctoral degree student enrollment every year is more than 1,150 persons.

Chongqing University deepens “industry and education integration and crossover cultivation”. It has been successively accredited with such titles as the “National First Batch of Demonstrative Universities for Deepening the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Educational Reform”, a “University with National Typical Experiences for Innovation and Entrepreneurship”, and a “Demonstration Base for National Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation”, etc. The University has undertaken the 8th China International Internet+ College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Contest.

Construction of disciplines

Under the development ideas of “enhancing engineering, strengthening science, vitalizing liberal arts, enriching social sciences, expanding medicine, uplifting information science, and promoting inter-disciplines”, Chongqing University adheres to connotation development, high-quality development, and characteristic development of disciplines, consummates the optimized discipline layout mechanism that adapts to fast changes in science and technology and the systems and mechanism that are conducive to the emergence of leading disciplines in the future. The University has established a first-class discipline public service platform support system focusing on creating a first-class disciplinary ecology. It also carries out key construction programs in six disciplinary categories, continues to enhance the construction of first-class disciplines, type-I strong disciplines and three major disciplinary clusters, namely advanced manufacturing, smart energy, and new urbanization, and promotes and accelerates the development of the medicine discipline at a high starting point. It carries out the “basic liberal arts vitalization action plan” and the “basic science excellence action plan”, and accelerates and upgrades the overall developmental level of basic disciplines. As a result, the majors of Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Civil Engineering have been elected as “Double First-class” disciplines in the second round assessment; the majors of Engineering, Material Science, and Chemistry have been elected as ESI worldwide top 1‰ disciplines, and 14 disciplines have been elected as ESI worldwide top 1% disciplines; and 7 disciplines have been elected as Top 50 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects.

Talent team

Chongqing University enthusiastically carries out the strategy of talents empowering the university, and has systematically established the “3+7” personnel and talents system and set up a pyramid of talent introduction and cultivation, actively nurtures an atmosphere for talent development that pleases insiders and attracts outsiders, and creates the inner driving force appealing to high-level talents with good systems and mechanisms. Currently the University has more than 3,200 full-time teachers, among whom more than 270 are national-level talents including 8 academicians, and more than 1,100 are doctoral supervisors, and more than 2,100 teachers have professional titles at and above the .deputy senior professional title.

Science research

Chongqing University deepens the reform of science research management and services, and has established the “1+5” new science research innovation system, boosting the generation of high-quality achievements with new systems and mechanisms. The University enhances connotation construction of the innovation system, implements the Basic Research Mount Everest Program, the major program achievements and talents cultivation plan, the key research base construction plan, and the military-civilian integrated development action plan in an all-around way. It also strengthens prospective layout of science research, fully integrates with the construction of Western (Chongqing) Science City, promotes the construction of Chongqing University Science Center, nurtures the construction of the ultra-transient experimental big science facility, and facilitates the establishment of such interdisciplinary research platforms as the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, and the Smart City Research Institute, etc.

During the period of the 13th Five-year Plan, Chongqing University has newly added 38 national-level, provincial-level, and ministerial-level science research platforms, and has had 3,212 national-level science research programs approved, among which the University led in 56 major programs with a value at and above RMB 10 million each. The University has won 112 first prizes of national-level, provincial-level, and ministerial-level science and technology awards, and has made historic breakthroughs in the number of first prizes of National Scientific and Technological Progress Award, major projects of Natural Science Foundation of China, and papers published in the journals Nature and Science. The University has witnessed successive new records of science research funds (RMB 3 billion in 2022) and a big growth in the number of high-level papers published and the number of invention patents approved.

It implements the humanities and social sciences prosperity plan, has received multiple programs under national key research and development plans, and has made noticeable achievements in the approval of National Social Science Fund projects. With an increasingly enhanced capacity of generating high-quality achievements, the University has won the Lu Xun Literature Prize and has been continuously promoting the construction of new high-end think tank platforms such as Research Center for Regional Economy and Science and Education Strategy, Chongqing Academy of Chinese Engineering S&T Strategy for Development, Chongqing Collaborative Innovation Center for Local Government at CQU, Center for Urbanization and Regional Innovation Pole Development, and Chongqing Institute of Talent Development, etc., so as to serve scientific decision-making. The University implements the high-level academic journal cultivation and sponsorship plan under which 9 journals edited by the University have been selected into authoritative core databases, and have won such honors as leading journals under the Excellence Action Plan for Chinese Science and Technology Journals, project support for High Starting-point New Journals, National Famous Journals of Social Sciences, Elite Science and Technology Journals of Chinese Universities, First-class Science and Technology Journals of Sichuan and Chongqing, Famous Columns of the Ministry of Education, and “Good Articles about Theme Publicity in Journals” published by the Publishing Bureau, Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, and so on. In addition, the University has newly created 5 new journals in the English language at a high starting point.

International cooperation

Chongqing University enthusiastically promotes the international development strategy and actively embraces the Belt and Road Initiative and the New Western Land-Sea Trade Corridor, enhances substantive cooperation with world-class universities and research institutes. So far, it has established good and stable cooperative relations with more than 300 higher education institutions and research institutes in 40 countries and regions in the world and has nearly 20 international cooperation platforms like the national-level disciplinary innovation and wisdom-introducing base, the international cooperation joint laboratory of the Ministry of Education, and so on. The University also innovates in the cultivation of internationalized talents, promotes global academic courses and the global academic frontier discipline lecture series for graduate students, encourages teachers and students to go abroad to conduct visit and exchange. As a result, the University’ international influence is constantly growing. Dedicated to the promotion of the Chinese culture, it has established Confucius Institute of Betong Municipality in Thailand, the Confucius Institute in Pisa, Italy, and Confucius Institute in La Trobe University, Australia, and has been selected into the first batch of demonstration bases for studying abroad in China by the Ministry of Education. It is actively building the brand “Studying Abroad in Chongqing University” and has so far established 45 master’s and doctoral degree programs and over 300 courses which are exclusively taught in English.

Public services

Chongqing University always adheres to the educational tenet of “academic research, talent cultivation, local vitalization, social service” under which it actively performs the function of public services. The University deepens and expands university-locality cooperation, for example, a bunch of science & technology innovation platforms and new high-end research institutes such as Nanjing Research Institute, etc., have settled down and taken roots. The lunar micro ecosystem of which the research is led by the University has grown the first green leaf on the Moon, accomplishing the first lunar biological growth cultivation by the human kind. The University has established the first university board of directors of the nation approved by the former State Education Commission. Chongqing University Science Park is selected into the first batch of 22 university science and technology parks of the country. In addition, it also actively promotes the work of trusteeship of and support to county middle schools under the counterpart support program, creatively carries out the work of targeted poverty alleviation and rural vitalization, and helps Lvchun County, Yunnan Province and Zhuxian Town, Wushan County, Chongqing, to promote rural vitalization in an all-around way. The University utilizes the advantages of its affiliated hospitals and provides high-quality services to the society in many aspects such as pandemic prevention and control, and medical rescue and treatment, and so on.

Regarding “taking roots in the Bayu land, serving the development of Chongqing” as its own mission, Chongqing University grabs such national strategic opportunities as the construction of Chengdu-Chongqing Dual-city Economic Circle, the New Western Land-Sea Trade Corridor, etc., proactively utilizes its advantages of wisdom and talents, deeply embraces regional innovative development of economy and society, and strives for building a new Chongqing amid all-around socialist modernization in the new journey for the new era. The University has jointly started the preparation of Chongqing Laboratory and the United Graduate School of the Yangtze River Ecological Environment together with Chongqing Municipal People’s Government; and it continuously deepens cooperation with over 30 districts and counties of Chongqing and has jointly established such institutions as the Chongqing University Rim Innovation Ecosphere, International United Research Institute, Bishan Advanced Technology Research Institute, the balloon-platform microwave vertical energy transfer experimental verification platform, and Chongqing New Energy Storage Material and Equipment Research Institute, etc., with these districts and counties. Besides, the University led the establishment of University Alliance of Chengdu-Chongqing Dual-city Economic Circle which focuses on building a community of science and technology and education innovation for Chengdu and Chongqing.

Campus culture

Chongqing University carries forward the great Party-founding spirit, upholds the socialist core values in building soul and cultivating people, enthusiastically promotes the “culture empowering university” strategy, condenses and carries forward Chongqing University’s spirit of “revitalizing the nation, swearing to be vanguard”, and facilitates the world-class university construction with a first-class university culture. It has been accredited with the title of National Civilized Campus in the second round assessment.

The University vigorously selects and establishes role models. Nearly one hundred teachers have won honorary titles such as National Excellent Communist Party Member, Exemplary Individual in the Fight against the COIVD Pandemic, the Most Beautiful Striver, and the Most Beautiful College Counselor, etc. The University concentrates on building the university history hall and the “Establishing Virtues and Cultivating People” Theme Exhibition Hall, deeply probes the connotation of patriotism and the spirit of devotion, and carries forward the science spirit and high virtues. There are a bunch of cultural products created by the University, such as Chongqing Letter Home, Past Events of Chongqing: Red Lovers, Brilliance, Original Aspiration 1929, Yinchu Pavilion, He Lu, Yu Creativity & Yu Innovation, etc. The University tells Chongqing University’s stories and demonstrates humanity qualities and patriotic sentiments.

It also inherits and creates the fruits of characteristic and excellent traditional Chinese culture represented by Sichuan Opera, and has been approved as a Chinese Excellent Traditional Culture Inheritance Base (Sichuan Opera) among National Colleges and Universities; it carries forward the revolutionary culture, continuously holds events like the Red Rock revolutionary story exhibition and performance, etc., and creates the characteristic archive repository for teachers, students, and alumni, establishes Chongqing University Library, and propagates the spirit of Chongqing University. Besides, it undertakes the architectural and cultural landscape consummation project, and the University’s contemporary and modern architectural cluster and early architectural cluster have been selected into the 2nd batch of Chinese 20th Century Architectural Heritage and the 8th batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Sites, respectively.

Looking into the future, Chongqing University will hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, fully implement Xi Jinping’s thoughts on socialism with Chinese characteristics for the new era and the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, honor the educational tenet of “academic research, talent cultivation, local vitalization, social service”, set foot on the new developmental stage, implement the new developmental notions, and serve the construction of the new developmental pattern, so as to build a world-class university keeping pace with the times and fully boost its capacities of serving regional development and national strategies. With the responsibility of “ceaseless worries and efforts all the time”, the University will try its best to write a new chapter of high-quality development in the new stage, so as to make Chongqing University’s contributions to comprehensively building a modernized socialist country and comprehensively promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.