Northeast Electric Power University

Northeast Electric Power University is located in the scenic city of Jilin, Jilin Province. Founded in 1949, it was the first electric power engineering school established directly by the Communist Party of China. It was named Jilin Institute of Electric Power in 1958 and renamed Northeast Electric Power Institute in 1978. In 1981, it was approved among the country’s first master’s degree-awarding institutions, and in 1984 it received authorization to recommend outstanding graduating undergraduates for postgraduate study without an entrance examination. Formerly under the Ministry of Electric Power and the State Power Corporation, it adopted a model of joint central and local support, with local administration taking the lead, in 2000. It became one of Jilin’s first key universities in 2004 and was renamed Northeast Electric Power University in 2005. It was selected as a key university under the national Project for Basic Capacity Building of Universities in Central and Western China in 2012, approved to award doctoral degrees in 2013, and selected for Jilin’s distinctive high-level university development initiative as a provincial first-class university in 2019. In 2025, it became one of Jilin’s first pilot institutions for developing schools of excellence in engineering.

The university takes talent development, research, social service, cultural preservation and innovation, and international exchange and cooperation as its mission. Responding actively to the needs of the national electric power industry and Jilin’s economic development, it has formed a relatively complete disciplinary system characterized by energy and electric power and interdisciplinary integration. It has 15 schools and 51 undergraduate programs covering 9 disciplinary categories: engineering, science, management, literature, law, economics, education, the arts and interdisciplinary studies. It has 3 postdoctoral research stations; doctoral degree authorization in 5 first-level disciplines, 2 professional categories and 4 independently established interdisciplinary disciplines; master’s degree authorization in 15 first-level disciplines and 4 independently established second-level disciplines; and 11 professional master’s degree categories. Engineering ranks in the top 1.289‰ worldwide in ESI, while chemistry and materials science rank in the global ESI top 1%. Four subjects—instrument science, energy science and engineering, chemical engineering, and power electronics engineering—appear in ShanghaiRanking’s 2025 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects. Electrical engineering was selected for Jilin’s national Double First-Class discipline cultivation action plan. It has 6 distinctive high-level disciplinary clusters, 9 distinctive high-level disciplines, and 11 first-class discipline joint innovation platforms in Jilin. More than 25000 full-time students currently attend the university.

The university has more than 1500 faculty and staff, nearly 600 of whom hold senior professional titles. They include 2 participants in the first national Ten Thousand Talents Program cohort, 3 National Outstanding Professional and Technical Talents, 1 Changjiang Scholars distinguished professor, 3 nationally recognized young and middle-aged experts with outstanding contributions, 5 national participants in the Hundred, Thousand and Ten Thousand Talents Project, 3 Young Changjiang Scholars, 1 recipient of the National Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholars, 40 recipients of special government allowances from the State Council, and 1 national distinguished teacher. It has 2 innovation teams under the Ministry of Education’s Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team Development Program, 3 national teaching teams, and 1 of the first Huang Danian-style teacher teams at Chinese universities.

The university consistently places teaching at the center of its work and actively develops and improves its system for cultivating innovative talent. It has 5 national distinctive programs, 13 national first-class undergraduate program development sites, 10 national first-class undergraduate courses, 4 national quality courses, 4 national quality resource-sharing courses, 2 national experimental teaching demonstration centers, 1 national virtual simulation experimental teaching center, and 10 Jilin experimental teaching demonstration centers. In recent years, it has received 3 national outstanding teaching achievement awards. It is a national cultural quality education base for university students, a national training and research base for social sports professionals, one of the first institutions to develop national engineering practice education centers, a pilot university under the Excellent Engineer Education and Training Program, and a national continuing education base for professional and technical personnel.

The university follows a scientific and technological innovation policy oriented toward global technological frontiers, major economic activity and major national needs, continually improving academic research and innovation capabilities. It has 2 national-local joint engineering laboratories, 2 Ministry of Education key laboratories or engineering research centers, 1 national university science park, 5 Jilin collaborative innovation centers addressing major needs, 2 Jilin international science and technology cooperation bases, and 39 Jilin key laboratories, engineering research centers, humanities bases and related facilities. In recent years, it has undertaken more than 3000 research projects of various types and levels, including the National Key Research and Development Program, national major science and technology projects, national major scientific instrument and equipment development projects, and key National Natural Science Foundation projects. It has received 4 second prizes in the National Science and Technology Progress Awards and more than 160 provincial or ministerial science and technology awards, including the Jilin Special Contribution Award in Science and Technology and the Jilin Achievement Commercialization Contribution Award. It has been granted more than 800 invention patents, making important contributions to scientific and technological progress and to the construction and development of the electric power industry and regional economy.

The university has undertaken various forms of scientific, technological and academic exchange with universities and research institutions in the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Russia, South Korea, Germany and other countries. It was approved to educate international students in 1998. In 2000, the State Council Academic Degrees Office approved its cooperative undergraduate program in international economics and trade with Utah State University in the United States. In 2012, the Ministry of Education approved its cooperative undergraduate program in electrical engineering and automation with the University of Strathclyde in the United Kingdom. In 2011, it was approved to implement the China Scholarship Council’s overseas study program for young key faculty. In 2013, the Ministry of Education approved it as a host university for Chinese Government Scholarship international students. In 2023, it jointly established the China Electric Power College with Samarkand International University of Technology in Uzbekistan.

In recent years, the university has received honors including National Civilized Unit, National Civilized Campus, National Advanced Unit for Openness of Institutional Affairs and Democratic Management, National Model Collective for Ethnic Unity and Progress, National Model Staff Home, one of the Top 50 Universities for Typical Graduate Employment Experience, and Jilin Advanced Primary-Level Party Organization. It has produced many exemplary teachers recognized as National Advanced Workers, National Model Teachers, National Outstanding Science and Technology Workers, National Advanced Individuals in Employee Professional Ethics, National March 8th Red-Banner Pacesetters and National Outstanding Ideological and Political Workers. It has also produced outstanding students recognized as National Outstanding Communist Youth League Members and national university student models of self-improvement.

During the 15th Five-Year Plan, the university will fully implement the Party’s educational policy and General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important statements on education. It will deepen its strategy of establishing the university through quality, strengthening it through talent, developing it through disciplines, operating through cooperation and pursuing distinctive development. It will further integrate education, science and technology, talent and industry, continually improve its overall strength and core competitiveness, strive to become a national Double First-Class discipline development university, and accelerate its progress toward becoming a distinctive high-level university.