University of Science and Technology of China

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University of Science and Technology of China
中国科学技术大学

Motto: 红专并进,理实交融
Established: 1958
Type: Public
President: Zhu Qingshi(朱清时)
Faculty: 1,542
Undergraduates: 7,667
Postgraduates: 8,921
Location: Hefei, China
Campus: Urban
Affiliations: APRU
Website: http://www.ustc.edu.cn/

The University of Science and Technology of China (USTC; simplified Chinese: 中国科学技术大学; traditional Chinese: 中國科學技術大學; pinyin: Zhōngguó Kēxué Jìshù Dàxué) is a national research university in Hefei, China. The university is regarded as one of the most prestigious universities in China. It was founded in Beijing by the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS) in September of 1958. It was moved to Hefei city in Anhui province in the beginning of 1970 during the Cultural Revolution.

USTC was founded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS) in 1958 in response to the urgent need for the national economy, defense construction, and education in science and technology. It has been featured by its competence on scientific and technological research and expended into humanities and management with a strong scientific and engineering emphasis. USTC has 9 schools, 23 departments, the Special Class for the Gifted Young, the Experimental Class for the Teaching Reform, the Graduate Schools (Hefei, Shanghai, Suzhou), School of Management (Beijing), the Software School, School of Network Education, and School of Continuing Education.

Contents

[edit] History [1]

USTC was founded in Beijing by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in September 1958. Mr. Guo Moruo was the first president. The founding of the University is aimed at fostering high-level personnel of science and technology absolutely necessary for the development of the national economy, national defense construction, and education in science and technology. The establishment was hailed as "A Major Event in the History of Chinese Education and Science". CAS has supported USTC by combining most of its institutes with the departments of the university. USTC is listed in the top 16 national key universities, becoming the youngest national key university.

In the beginning of 1970, USTC was moved to Hefei, the capital of Anhui province. Since 1978, USTC has initiated and implemented a series of open and reform measures with a forward-looking sense and innovative spirit. It recovered from the Cultural Revolution and achieved rapid development thereafter.

USTC set up the first graduate school in China in 1978 to effectively cultivate its postgraduate students. However, the main campus for graduate study in Beijing, where it was the first formal campus of USTC, was renamed Graduate School of the CAS later.

Since the 1990s, USTC has taken the initiative of adapting to the necessity and challenge of the development of science and technology, education, and social economy. In 1995, USTC was approved by the central government as one of the first batch of universities obtaining the support of construction in the National 9th Five-year Plan and the "Project 211". In 1999, USTC was singled out as one of the 9 universities enjoying priority support from the nation's "Plan of Vitalizing Education Action Geared to the 21st Century". Since September 2002, USTC has been implementing its "Project 211" construction during the 10th National Development Plan.

The USTCers have mandated the use of USTC in English or Keda[科大] rather than the full name University of Science and Technology of China due to honored tradition and the desire to avoid confusion with many similarly named institutions.

[edit] Administration

  • Professor Zhou Guangzhao, USTC Honorary President, Chairman of the China Association of Science and Technology, academician of the CAS.
  • Professor Zhu Qingshi, President, Chemist, academician of the CAS and the Third World Academy of Sciences.
  • Professor Guo Chuanjie, Party Secretary.

[edit] Academics

USTC consistently adheres to the school-running principle of pursuing the national interest and innovative pioneering. It upholds the combination of science with technology, teaching with research, and theory with practice. In a short period, USTC has turned into a comprehensive national key university of science and technology, with emphasis on the forefront of science and high and new technology. USTC also offers management studies involved with science and technology and the humanities.

Since the founding of the University, USTC has undertaken a large batch of national, ministerial and provincial research projects, achieving large number of research results. Since its participation in the CAS Experimental Program of Knowledge Innovation, USTC has achieved a batch of important and innovative results in the basic research of nano science and technology, quantum information science, life science research, fire science and fire protection technology, polar scientific investigation and research, bio-mass clean energy research. As a result, 3 papers were published in "Nature", 1 in "Science". 5 research results won national prizes, namely 1 Follow-up Prize and 1 Third Prize in the National Natural Science Awards, 2 Follow-up Prizes and 1 Third Prize in the National Achievement Awards in Science and Technology. Among these results, "Solvothermal Preparation and Characterization of Nanocrystalline Nonoxides" won Second Prize in the National Natural Science Awards in 2001; "Early Fire Intelligent Monitoring System for Large Space Buildings and Hidden-trouble of Electric Fire Checking System among them among them" and "An Artificial Monitoring and Policy-making Support System for Preventing and Reducing the Calamities of Anhui Povince" both won Follow-up Prize in the National Achievement Awards in Science and Technology. 5 research results has been candidates 7 times for the list of the 10 Major Pieces of Sci-tech News in China, the 10 Major Pieces of News of Basic Research in China, the 10 Major Pieces of Sci-tech News in Chinese Universities, and the 10 Major Achievements in Science and Technology in Chinese Universities. In recent years, the University has solely undertaken or taken part in a lot of national major scientific programs, such as the second-phase project for the National Synchrotron Radiation Lab, HT-7U Super-conducting Tokmak.

With the motto "Studying diligently, making progress both in study and development of moral character", USTC has made distinguished achievements in talent fostering, scientific research and technology transfer, turning into an important base of high-qualified talent training and high-level scientific research for the nation. USTC is regarded by the Ministry of Science and Technology as one of the 4 universities with best scientific research performance in China. It ranks among the best in the review of Chinese top universities by the US journal "Science" and the French journal "Research".

There are 9 schools, 23 departments, the Special Class for the Gifted Young, the Experimental Class for the Teaching Reform, the Graduate School, School of Management (Beijing), the Software School, School of Network Education, and School of Continuing Education. USTC offers 43 undergraduate specialties, 17 first-category Ph.D. degree programs, 89 second-category Ph.D. degree programs, 105 second-category master degree specialties. It becomes the key base for the education of the Ph.D. students within the CAS.

USTC has three national research institutions: National Synchrotron Radiation Lab, the State Key Lab for Fire Science and the National High Performance Computing Center. It has 6 CAS key labs of Bond-selective Chemistry, Structure Analysis, Structural Biology, Internal Friction and Defects in Solids, Quantum Information, and Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials. It also has some key scientific research institutions such as the CAS Research Center for Thermal Safety Engineering and Technology.

16 academic societies are affiliated with the University, including the Synchrotron Radiation Committee under the China Society of Physics, the System Simulation Committee under the China Society of Automation, and the Quantum Optics Committee under the China Society of Physics. The University publishes some important academic journals, such as "Journal of the University of Science and Technology", "Fire Science", "Journal of Low Temperature Physics", "Journal of Chemical Physics", "Experimental Mechanics", and "Education and Modernization".

There are more than 3600 faculty and staff numbers, 22 CAS and CAE academicians, 432 professors. The number of students accepting normal higher education at USTC totals around 13794, 8243 undergraduate students, 3873 master degree students, and 1498 Ph.D. students among them. Besides, it also has 1575 professional master degree students, 110 post-doctoral fellows and 134 guest professors.

[edit] Campus

There are four campuses: East, South, West and North Campus. The campuses cover an area of 1.46 million square meters, with 890,000 square meters of building area. The library has a collection of 1.73 million books, 3000 kinds of journal in the language of Chinese,4000 kinds of English, 600,000 electronic books and 20,000 electronic journals in Chinese or in English.

An overview of USTC, including the Teaching Building II and the library
An overview of USTC, including the Teaching Building II and the library

A first-class campus computer network is running within the campus. Five public experimental centers for teaching and research is under construction, namely the Center of Physical Science, Life Science, Information Science, Engineering and Material Science, and Application of Synchrotron Radiation.

Transportation The campus bus runs from 7:00 am till 23:00 pm. The round-trip buses go through all 4 campus every 30 minutes, with direct-line buses run within 5 minutes between every the campuses. During the week, there are 130 bus-trips in one day, two dozen trips during the day of weekends or holidays. Boarding the bus, the teachers and students, using their E-card, are free of charge.

Hospital The school hospital, is a specific attachment to the university, and holds the aim of providing such services as disease prevention, health care, treatment and health education for the teaching staff and the students. After over forty years of development and construction, the hospital has been steadily expanded, the level of treatment has continuously improved, and the equipment has constantly been upgraded. The hospital covers 5,200 m2, with 110 beds and more than 110 employees.

The hospital is committed to the treatment and health care services for over 10,000 students, about 3,000 teachers and more than 700 retired employees, plus the families of the employees who live on the campus, which adds up to more than 20,000 people. A branch hospital and an outpatient department have been established separately on the west and the south campuses that are also centers for students' living and studying activities. The medical personnel are on duty around the clock for the convenience of the people.

In addition to carrying out daily diagnosis and treatment, the school hospital also, according to the college hygiene regulations, undertakes physical examination services under the principle of prevention. It is already a convention for students to take physical examinations both after their entrance and before graduation, and another check during their college years. Physical examinations are given every two years for school personnel and those who have retired.

To fulfill the demands of the science-major students for medical knowledge, the corresponding doctors of the school hospital have compiled a book titled Health Education for College Students, which, as the textbook for the selective course of health education, illuminates medical knowledge systematically from various angles. In recent years, this course has been taken by increasing numbers of students, and the title "advanced collective" has been bestowed on the hospital by the education authorities.

[edit] USTC Statistical Data[2004]

Item Data
Land Area 1,335,818 M2
Building Space 833,261 M2
Library Books 1,579,300
Permanent Assets 947,675,500 Yuan
Equipment Value 701,505,400 Yuan
Total Staff & Faculty 3,600
Faculty 1,100
Research Personnel 330
CAS Academicians 20
CAE Academicians 4
Professors 432
Associate Professors 564
Teaching Assistant Staff 577
Ph. D. Students 1,498
Master Degree Students 5,600
Undergraduates 8,423
Continuous Education Students 6,000
International Students 27
Undergraduate Specialties 43
Second-category master Degree Specialties 105
Second-category Ph.D. Degree Programs 89
First-category Ph.D. Degree Programs 17
Professional Master Degree Specialties 3
Engineering Master Degree Specialties 8
Post-doctoral Research Stations 17
Post-doctoral Research Specialties 45
National Key Disciplines 19
Provincial Key Disciplines 19
Schools 9
Departments 23
The Special Class for the Gifted Young 1
National Research Institutions 3
CAS and Provencal Key Labs 10
University Research Institutes 54

[edit] Present

Since its participation in the CAS Experimental Program of Knowledge Innovation, USTC has achieved a batch of important and innovative results in the basic research of nano science and technology[2], quantum information science, life science research, fire science and fire protection technology, polar scientific investigation and research, bio-mass clean energy research. As a result, 3 papers were published in "Nature", 1 in "Science". 5 research results won national prizes, namely 1 Follow-up Prize and 1 Third Prize in the National Natural Science Awards, 2 Follow-up Prizes and 1 Third Prize in the National Achievement Awards in Science and Technology. Among these results, "Solvothermal Preparation and Characterization of Nanocrystalline Nonoxides" won Second Prize in the National Natural Science Awards in 2001; "Early Fire Intelligent Monitoring System for Large Space Buildings and Hidden-trouble of Electric Fire Checking System among them among them" and "An Artificial Monitoring and Policy-making Support System for Preventing and Reducing the Calamities of Anhui Povince" both won Follow-up Prize in the National Achievement Awards in Science and Technology. 5 research results has been candidates 7 times for the list of the 10 Major Pieces of Sci-tech News in China, the 10 Major Pieces of News of Basic Research in China, the 10 Major Pieces of Sci-tech News in Chinese Universities, and the 10 Major Achievements in Science and Technology in Chinese Universities. Recently USTC has solely undertaken or taken part in a lot of national major scientific programs, such as the second-phase project for the National Synchrotron Radiation Lab, HT-7U Super-conducting Tokmak.

One Dining Hall on the East Campus
One Dining Hall on the East Campus

USTC has taken a leading position among Chinese universities on the number of research papers published internationally and in the citation rate of the papers. Since 1996, USTC consistently ranks No. 4 on the number of papers included by SCI; Since 1999, it ranks No. 1 on the number of papers published in the journals with high-impact factor among universities across China. Between 1991 and 2000, USTC ranks No. 1 among Chinese universities on the number of papers published in the internationally distinguished journals of "Science", "Nature", "PRL", and "Jacs". USTC ranks No. 2 among the universities and research institutions in the world on the number of nano-research papers published from 1996 to 2000.

USTC actively encourages and push forward transfer of the research results and the industrialization of high and new technology. The University-Region (Enterprise) Cooperation Committee was established for the strengthening of the cooperation with the local governments and enterprises. It has established and developed the relationship of cooperation with some famous large and medium-sized enterprises such as the Daqing Petroleum Administration, Sinopec, the Bao Steel Group, Lenovo Group, and Haier Group. In total, 16 local governments and enterprises have become members of the USTC-Region (Enterprise) Cooperation Committee. Some research results incubation bases have been established, such as the Hefei National University Garden of Science and Technology, the Luohe Hi-tech Garden, the Guiyang Industrial Garden of Science and Technology, the Shanghai Research and Development Center, and the Shenzhen Futian Base of Industry, Teaching and Research. The Anhui Provincial Government and USTC have jointly presented the "Province-University Cooperation Program", fostering the industrialization of technological results. USTC also actively files applications for the "Seed Funds" established by prefectures and cities in China, sparing no efforts in making contribution to the regional economic construction and social development.

A sculpture near the library on the East Campus
A sculpture near the library on the East Campus

USTC has concluded agreements of cooperation and exchange with around 100 universities and research institutions in more than 30 nations and regions. Around 300 international experts and scholars will visit USTC every year for lecturing and collaborative research. USTC has sent around 10,000 individual visits to more than 30 nations and regions for study and cooperative research.

There are 16 affiliated academic societies, including the Synchrotron Radiation Committee under the China Society of Physics, the System Simulation Committee under the China Society of Automation, and the Quantum Optics Committee under the China Society of Physics.

[edit] Laboratories

Only the national and national key laboratories are listed below, while the former ones with higher qualification. USTC is the only university in mainland China which possess two National Laboratories at the same time.

National Laboratories (2):
*The National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory [3] 
*HFNL Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Science at the Microscale (under construction) [4]
Key Laboratories & Units:
 *The Engineering & Technology Research Center for Thermal Safety, CAS [5]
 *The State Key Laboratory of Fire Science [6]
 *The Key Laboratory of Material Mechanical Behavior and Material Design, CAS
 *The Key Laboratory of Quantum Information, CAS [7]

[edit] Schools & Departments

High lights: USTC set up the first graduate school in China in 1978 to effectively cultivate its postgraduate students.

 ♣Special Class for the Gifted Young 

 ♣School of Science 
  Modern Physics 
  Astronomy and Applied Physics 
  Mathematics 
  Physics 
 ♣Chemistry and Materials 
  Chemistry 
  Polymer Science and Engineering 
  School of Chemistry & Material Science 
  Chemical Physics 
  Materials Science & Engineering 

 ♣Life Science 
  School of Life Sciences 
  Molecular Biology and Cell Biology  
  Neurobiology and Biophysics  
 ♣Engineering Science 
  School of Engineering Science 
  Modern Mechanics   
  Thermal Science and Energy Engineering 
  Precision Machinery and Instrumentation  

 ♣Information Science and Technology 
  School of Information Science and Technology 
  Electronic Science and Technology  
  Computer Science and Technology 
  Automation     
  Electronic Engineering and Information Science  
 ♣Earth and Space Science 
  School of Earth and Space Science 
  Earth and Space Science 
 ♣Business School 
  School of Business 
  Business Administration Training 
  Statistics and Finance 
  Management Science  
  Information Management and Decision Science  
 ♣Humanities & Social Science 
  reign Languages 
  Sci-tech Communication and Sci-tech Policy 
  The Teaching and Research Division of Marxism 
  Scientific History and Archaeometry  
  Center for Modern Art 

 ♣Continuing Education 
  
 ♣Suzhou Graduate School of USTC

[edit] USTCers

Some Notable Alumni

  • Xiao-gang Wen[8] - Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics, MIT
  • Shan X. Wang[14] - Professor of Materials Science and Engineering & Electrical Engineering, Director of Stanford Center for Magnetic Nanotechnology, Stanford University

Famous Faculty

  • Guo Moruo (1892-1978) - A Chinese author, poet, historian, archaeologist, the first president of USTC.
  • Yan Jici (1901-1996) - Pioneer of Modern physics research and education in China, former Vice-president, President and Honorary President of USTC.
  • Hua Luogeng (1910-1985) - Pioneer of modern mathematics research and education in China, former Chairman of the Department of Mathematics and Vice-president of USTC.
  • Qian Xuesen (1911- ) - Father of missiles of China, former Chairman of the Department of Mechanics with USTC.
  • Zhao Zhongyao (1902-1998) - Pioneer of modern particle physics research and education in China, one of the first in the world to find positrons, former Chairman of the Department of Modern Physics with USTC.
  • Qian Linzhao (1906-1999) - Famous physicist and educator, pioneer of scientific history and education in China, former Vice-president of USTC.
  • Zhou Guangzhao (1929- ) - Famous theoretical physicist, Vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China, Honorary President of USTC at present.
  • Meng Xuenong (1948-) - Former Mayor of Beijing, now Governor of Shanxi Province

[edit] External links