South China University of Technology (SCUT) is one of China’s key universities operating under the direct leadership of the State Ministry of Education. The university, which has a total area of 294 hectares, is situated in Guangzhou, a southern metropolitan in China. The university has two campuses. The North Campus is situated in the university center of Shi Pai, Tianhe District. Named as “Civilized Campus” by the ministry of education, the campus is a propound culture area in beautiful surroundings of lakes and mountains, bluish greenery and luxuriant flowers, traditional buildings and modern architecture. The South Campus is situated in the Higher Education Mega Center in Panyu District. This campus provides an ideal place for study and research with a beautiful environment and advanced facilities, as well as innovation mechanisms and professional management.
South China University of Technology (SCUT), formerly known as the South China Institute of Technology, was established in 1952, through the amalgamation of the technical faculties of 12 universities in 5 provinces in central and southern China, including Sun Yat-sen University, Lingnan University, Hunan University, Guangxi University, etc. In 1960, SCUT was awarded ranked among the key universities of China. In 1981, it was authorized by the State Council to confer doctor degrees and master degrees，and was among the first universities in the country to do so. In 1995, it was selected as one of the universities into which China will make significant investment in the 21st century. In 1999, it was rated “excellent” during the Undergraduate Teaching Assessment, and was among the first “Excellent Universities of Undergraduate Education” in the country. In the same year, a national science park was established with the authorization of State Ministry of Technology and State Ministry of Education. In 2000, Graduate School was authorized to be established. In 2001, the new cooperative construction of State Ministry of Education and Guangdong Province was implemented in SCUT and it was listed among the top universities in the country.
After more than 50 years of development, SCUT has become a multidisciplinary university of high reputation in South China and in the whole country, focusing on engineering, combined with science, also promoting well coordinated development of management, economics, humanities and law. SCUT is presently made up of 23 schools and an Independent School, i.e. Guangzhou Auto College. Subjects currently offered in SCUT cover 5 national key disciplines, 67 bachelor’s programs, 75 doctoral programs, 177 master’s programs, master’s programs of engineering (in 21 fields), master’s programs of architecture, master’s programs of business administration (MBA, EMBA), master’s programs of public administration (MPA), and 15 stations for post-doctoral research.
The university has a favorable condition for education and a fine environment for teaching. At present, the university is in possession of 44.8 billion RMB fixed assets, including the cost of 9.2 billion RMB equipments and devices. The schoolhouses have a cover area of 1.81 square kilometers. South China Network Center of China Education and Research Network, as well as Network Center of Guangdong Education and Research Network have been established in the university. The university has complete teaching and experimental devices. One national teaching demonstration center of mechanical foundation course, 10 fundamental teaching experiment centers, and a batch of modern experimental centers have been established. The University library, with a total area of 67,000 square meters, has a collection of 4,910,000 volumes. The University library is steadily being developed into a digital library. The university has built up complete physical facilities for students, including international standard sports ground, gymnasium, student entertainment and sports center as well as plastic tennis court. The track & field team, the football team, the basketball team, the volleyball team, the swimming team and the ping pong team of the students have attended national and provincial competitions time after time and have achieved excellent grades. The annual arts festival of science & culture for the students and the students’ social practices have successfully integrated with society and enterprises, which has become an important process for the improvement of students’ integrated diathesis.
The university has a batch of scientific research organizations and technology development bases with advanced standards. At present, there are 2 state key laboratories, 2 national engineering research centers, 4 key laboratories designated by the State Ministry of Education, 3 engineering research centers designated by the State Ministry of Education, 1 national first-grade architecture design and research institute, 1 national science park, 1 national teaching base of engineering mathematic course, 1 national cultural diathesis education base for university students, 1 national training base of integrated circuit intellects, and 6 key laboratories designed by Guangdong province. Relying on these centers, numerous key research bases have been formed, which are responsible for large numbers of research assignments designated by the State, the province and the city, and which have formed integrated key problem solving measures of multidiscipline and multi-field as well as a chain pattern of basic research, applied research and development research. The university pursues its scientific research by responding to requirement of the market and puts its scientific and technological achievements into the market through certain transformations. In 2007, the university has received 44.4 billion RMB research expenditure allowances. The amount of patents applied by the university has ranked first among universities and colleges in China for years. The university is among the first universities in the country to be authorized as the pilot paten running organization of enterprises and institutions.
SCUT has a faculty of over 4,500, with 2,213 teaching and researching staff, 3 fellows of China Academy of Science, 2 fellows of China Academy of Engineering, 18 double appointed fellows (honored by two universities), 1 foreign fellow of Russian Academy of Science, 464 professors, 631 associate professors and 1,169 supervisors for postgraduates (including 337 supervisors for doctoral students). More than 83.8% teaching and researching staff has received master or higher degrees. The excellent faculty and good environment of the university have attracted a large number of students. Presently, SCUT has over 66,010 students, including 12,859 master’s degrees candidates and doctoral candidates, 24,762 undergraduates, 14,367 continuing education students, 13,390 on-line education students and 632 international students, which have formed a complete talent cultivation system of bachelor degree, master degree and doctor degree.
With precise knowledge pursuit, the school eminent spirit of comity and factualism has come into being. SCUT sticks to its educational guideline of “emphasizing moral character, building well-grounded base, strengthening ability and cultivating comprehensive adaptability”. And this guideline has helped cultivating exclusive technological and management talents that are welcomed to the society. In recent years, the demand of graduate students has exceeded their supply. The employment rate of its undergraduates in 2007 has reached 98.16% and that of its graduates 96.15%. Since its founding, the university has cultivated for the country over 160,000 graduates at all levels. A large number of school fellows have become technological mainstays, distinguished entrepreneurs or leading cadres. SCUT is named by the society as “a cradle of engineers” and “a cradle of entrepreneurs”.
Facing the new century, SCUT will take discipline constructions as pre-requisite, regard individual as its roots, consider talent cultivation as its ultimate aim and highlight technological pursuit. SCUT intends to enlarge and extend its scale and realize the coordinated development of its scale, structure, quality and benefit. SCUT accelerates its education reform by gearing the university from multidiscipline-oriented to integration-oriented, from teaching research-oriented to research-oriented, and from partial open form to completely open form, so as to build SCUT into a top-ranking State university and a famous world-class university.