China University of Petroleum (East China)

The university’s history dates to 1953, in the early years of the People’s Republic of China, when national economic development urgently required petroleum resources and the petroleum industry urgently needed specialist talent. In response, Beijing Petroleum Institute, the country’s first higher education institution specializing in petroleum, was established around Tsinghua University’s Department of Petroleum Engineering, bringing together relevant faculty and educational resources from prominent universities including Peking University, Tianjin University and Dalian Institute of Technology. Under the Ministry of Fuel Industry, it was one of Beijing’s well-known eight institutes at the time. In October 1960, it was designated a national key university. In 1969, it moved to Dongying, Shandong, home of the Shengli Oilfield, and was renamed East China Petroleum Institute. In June 1981, a graduate department was established at the original Beijing Petroleum Institute site. In 1988, it was renamed the Petroleum University, gradually forming an educational structure spanning Shandong and Beijing. In 1997, it formally entered the first group of key universities under the national Project 211. In 2000, administration transferred from China National Petroleum Corporation to the Ministry of Education. In June 2000, the Ministry of Education approved its graduate school. In October 2003, the ministry and China’s four major petroleum companies signed an agreement to jointly support the Petroleum University. In August 2004, the ministry approved development of the Petroleum University (East China) Qingdao campus. In January 2005, the university was renamed China University of Petroleum. In August 2005, the Ministry of Education and the People’s Government of Shandong Province signed an agreement to jointly support China University of Petroleum (East China). In October 2006, it passed the Ministry of Education’s undergraduate teaching evaluation with an excellent rating. In 2010, it became one of the first 61 pilot universities under the Excellent Engineer Education and Training Program and one of 32 ministry-administered universities undertaking national pilot comprehensive reform of professional postgraduate education. In April 2014, the ministry signed an agreement with five major energy groups–China National Petroleum Corporation, China Petrochemical Corporation, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, Shenhua Group and Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum (Group)–to jointly support China University of Petroleum. In December 2018, the ministry and Shandong Provincial Government began providing priority joint support for China University of Petroleum (East China). In 2021, its registered location was moved to Qingdao.

The university covers more than 5000 mu, with over 1.7 million square meters of buildings. It has developed a structure of “two campuses and one park”: Tangdaowan and Guzhenkou campuses in Qingdao, and the Dongying Science and Education Park. The Qingdao campuses are in the attractive, highly regarded coastal city known as the city of sailing; the Dongying park is in Dongying, Shandong, the central city of the Yellow River Delta and a city of ecology and petroleum. All three sites are in the priority areas of the two national Blue and Yellow strategies, and the Qingdao campuses are also in Qingdao West Coast New Area, established as a national-level new area in 2014. The university has a graduate school and 16 teaching schools or departments: geosciences and technology, petroleum engineering, chemistry and chemical engineering, mechanical and electrical engineering, pipeline and civil engineering, materials science and engineering, the UPC-Shandong Energy School of New Energy, ocean and spatial information, control science and engineering, Qingdao Software School and the School of Computer Science and Technology, science, economics and management, foreign languages, humanities and law, Marxism, and physical education. It also has Huicui College, the School of International Education, School of Distance Education and School of Continuing Education.

Its disciplines and programs cover every area of the petroleum and petrochemical industry, and its core petroleum disciplines lead nationally overall. It offers doctoral degrees in 16 first-level disciplines, 7 independently established second-level disciplines and 6 independently established interdisciplinary disciplines; master’s degrees in 34 first-level disciplines; 58 undergraduate admission programs; and 13 postdoctoral research stations. It has 5 national key disciplines–mineral exploration and prospecting, oil and gas well engineering, oil and gas field development engineering, chemical technology, and oil and gas storage and transportation engineering–and 2 national key disciplines under cultivation, geodetection and information technology, and industrial catalysis. Nine subject areas–engineering, chemistry, materials science, geosciences, computer science, environment and ecology, general social sciences, mathematics and physics–rank in the global ESI top 1%. Engineering, chemistry, geosciences and materials science rank in the global top 1 per thousand. Two first-level disciplines, geological resources and geological engineering, and petroleum and natural gas engineering, were selected for the national Double First-Class initiative.

The university has a complete education system and a well-balanced structure of educational levels. It has more than 19000 full-time undergraduates, over 11000 postgraduate students and more than 800 international students. Since its founding, it has consistently treated fostering virtue through education as its fundamental task and focused on building a reputation for high-quality talent development, earning broad social recognition. It has 4 national experimental teaching demonstration centers, 3 national engineering practice education centers, 3 national virtual simulation experimental teaching centers and 5 Ministry of Education virtual teaching and research offices. It has received approval for 32 national first-class undergraduate programs and 64 national first-class courses. Its alumni include many outstanding figures: 32 academicians of the two Chinese academies, as well as numerous leaders and key engineering and technical professionals in the petroleum and petrochemical industries. It was designated a National Advanced Institution for Employment Work by the State Council in 2004; selected among 50 national universities with exemplary graduate employment experience in 2011; named a National Demonstration Base for Innovative Talent Development in 2019; selected among the first national distinctive demonstration schools of software in 2021; selected as a national innovation and entrepreneurship education practice base in 2022; and selected as a Ministry of Education collaborative innovation base for developing foreign-related rule-of-law talent in 2024.

The university has a highly qualified, ethical, skilled, well-structured and dynamic faculty. Its 2985 faculty and staff include 1734 full-time teachers, 1247 professors and associate professors, and 496 doctoral supervisors. Its faculty includes 1 academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1 academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 28 national leading-talent selections, 58 national young-talent selections, 3 National Model Teachers and 1 National Outstanding Teacher. It has 299 selections in provincial or ministerial talent programs, including the national Hundred, Thousand and Ten Thousand Talents Project, Shandong Taishan Scholar programs, and Shandong Distinguished and Excellent Young Scholars funds. It has 2 National Natural Science Foundation Excellent Research Group projects and 1 Innovative Research Group project; 3 national Huang Danian-style university teacher teams; 3 national teaching teams; 3 Ministry of Education innovation teams; 1 Shandong Taishan Scholars talent team for advantageous and distinctive disciplines; and 3 Taishan Scholars teams.

The university is an important research base for the petroleum and petrochemical industries, with strong capabilities in fundamental theoretical and applied research and nationally leading or internationally advanced standards in more than 10 research fields. It has more than 50 national, provincial or ministerial research platforms, including the National Key Laboratory of Deep Oil and Gas, National Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil, National Engineering Research Center for Marine Geophysical Exploration and Exploration and Development Equipment, and the China-Saudi Arabia Belt and Road Joint Laboratory for Petroleum Energy.

The university pursues openness, continually expanding its social services and development opportunities. It has signed comprehensive cooperation agreements with more than 130 local governments and major enterprises and institutions in China. It values international exchange and cooperation and has substantive partnerships with more than 250 higher education and academic institutions in 55 countries and regions, including the United States, France, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and Russia. It has appointed more than one hundred renowned experts and public figures as adjunct, honorary and visiting professors. International cooperation and exchange projects have increased in recent years, with promising prospects.

Over more than 70 years, the university has developed distinctive educational strengths and steadily improved its capabilities and standards. In the new historical period, it pursues distinctive, substantive and high-quality development and works toward becoming a world-class university in the energy field with Chinese characteristics.