Kunming University of Science and Technology

Kunming University of Science and Technology (KUST) (昆明理工大学) is in Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan Province, Southwestern China.

As the goal by 2010, KUST was to become a key university with a strong science and engineering background. The university is to be developed into an important provincial training base for advanced technical personnel, a research base for applied fundamental research and a hi-tech research, an industrialization base for hi-tech, and a research consulting center for the national social and economic development.

Yunnan University Science Park (YNUSP) was established as an experimental site of University Science Park in 1999 and was awarded the status of national university science park in May 2001. The park is supported by Yunnan University, Kunming University of Science & Technology, and Yunnan Normal University.

Brief Introduction
Officially founded in 1954 and with the history started from 1925, Kunming University of Science and Technology (KUST) is one of the top 100 universities in China, and the largest university as well as the only polytechnic university across Yunnan province. Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping praised KUST “a famous university in China” in early 2015 during an inspection tour of Yunnan province. KUST has 3 campuses, all located in Kunming, the capital of Southwest China’s Yunnan province.

With 30 faculties (schools/colleges) and 3,900 staff members, KUST is offering over 300-degree programs at Bachelor, Master, and Doctor levels to around 40,000 full-time on-campus students. The programs cover engineering, science, management, economics, medicine, law, arts, philosophy, agriculture, and education. In 2005, KUST was ranked by the Chinese Ministry of Education as the first Excellent University in Yunnan province for its excellent undergraduate programs. The disciplines of engineering, material science, and chemistry of KUST are ranked by ESI as the top 1% worldwide.

The research in KUST is at the top level in Yunnan province, in both funding and achievements, with the important feature of very close connections to industries. In certain fields, especially the subjects related to the mineral industry, KUST is at the top level of research in China. The annual research fund of KUST in the recent 10 years has been taking a proportion of over 60% of the total funding to all the universities in Yunnan province. KUST has 17 national level key-labs or research centers, and 91 of provincial/ministerial level and around 100 university level.

The goal of KUST is to develop into a high-level research university in the international region, to serve the sustainable development of the region and serve the wellbeing of mankind, by offering excellent teaching, research, social services, and also by promoting culture inheritance and exchange. KUST has established partnerships with over 150 universities in more than 30 countries, for cooperation in research, student and staff exchange, joint programs, technical transfer, etc. As a representative institution of Chinese universities, KUST has been playing an important role for China in the cooperation with the neighboring Southeast Asia and South Asia countries, including in the mechanisms of Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC), China-ASEAN Cooperation, GMS Cooperation, etc., and also in the other international and regional cooperation mechanisms including China-EU Cooperation, Asia-Europe higher education programs, among the others.

History
Early in 1925, the beginning departments of KUST started admitting undergraduate students for bachelor degrees. In September 1954, KUST, formerly called KIT (Kunming Institute of Technology) became an independent public higher education institution. In 1999, the former KIT and former Yunnan Polytechnic University amalgamated into the current KUST.

Accreditation and memberships
KUST is a member of SAP University Alliances.

Programs
With the current 29 faculties (schools) covering the fields ranging from science, engineering and economics to administration, arts, law and education, KUST offers a complete list of degree programs including Ph.D., MS., MSEng., MEng, MA, BS, BSEng and BA, as well as programs including post-doctorate, preparatory, continuing education, vocational training and Chinese language training for international students.

Faculties
Graduate School

Division of Life and Medical Sciences Faculty of Life Science and Technology Center for Pharmaceutical Sciences and Engineering Center for Biotechnology and Bioengineering Medical School Department of Clinical Medicine Department of Basic Medicine Faculty of Agriculture and Food Department of Agricultural Mechanization Department of Agricultural Electrification Department of Agricultural Hydraulic Engineering Department of Food Science & Engineering Department of Food Quality & Safety Institute of Primate Translational Medicine Faculty of Metallurgical and Energy Engineering Department of Metallurgical Engineering Department of New Energy Science and Engineering Department of Energy and Power Engineering

Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering Department of Materials Physics and Chemistry Department of Metallic Material Science Department of Inorganic & Non-metallic Material Science Department of Material Process Engineering Department of Gemmology and Materials Technology Materials Experiment and Testing Center

Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering Department of Environmental Engineering Department of Environmental Science Department of Renewable Resource Science and Technology

Faculty of Land Resources Engineering Department of Geosciences Department of Land Information and Mapping Engineering Department of Resource Exploration Engineering Department of Mineral Process Engineering

Faculty of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Department of Mechanical Engineering Department of Industrial Engineering Department of Packaging Engineering

Faculty of Information Engineering and Automation Department of Computer Science Department of Automation Department of Telecommunication Engineering Department of Biomedical Engineering

Faculty of Electric Power Engineering Department of Electrical Engineering Department of Hydraulic Engineering

Faculty of Civil Engineering and Mechanics Department of Civil Engineering Department of Engineering Mechanics Department of Municipal Engineering Department of Construction Management Institute of Building Environment and Energy Engineering

Faculty of Architecture and City Planning Department of Architecture Department of Urban and Rural Planning Department of Landscape Architecture

Faculty of Chemical Engineering Department of Chemical Engineering Department of Process Equipment and Control Engineering Department of Biomass Engineering

Faculty of Transportation Engineering Department of Traffic Engineering Department of Traffic and Transportation Department of Logistics Engineering Department of Vehicle Engineering

Faculty of Civil Aviation and Aeronautics

Faculty of Public Security and Emergency Management Department of Safety Engineering

Faculty of Management and Economics Department of Business Administration Department of Accounting Department of Applied Economics Department of Finance Department of Marketing Department of Management Science and Information System

Law School Center of Criminal Law Center of Constitution and Administrative Law Center of Environmental and Natural Resources Law Center of Civil and Commercial Law Center of Economic Law Center of Laws of Southeast Asia and International Law Center of Theories of Jurisprudence Yunnan Provincial Institute for Local Legislation Yunnan Provincial Institute of Intellectual Property Development

Faculty of Science Department of System Science and Applied Mathematics Department of Electronic Science and Applied Physics Department of Applied Chemistry Faculty of Art and Communication Department of Environmental Design Department of Industrial Design Department of Journalism and Mass Communication Department of Visual Communication Department of Fine Arts

School of Marxism Teaching & Research Centre of Fundamental Principles of Marxism Teaching & Research Centre of Sinicized Marxism Teaching & Research Centre of Ideological and Political Education Teaching & Research Centre of Development of Modern Chinese Society Research Centre of Philosophy and Social Sciences Education Centre of Humanistic Quality

Faculty of Foreign Languages and Cultures Department of English Language and Literature Department of College English Teaching Department of English Teaching for Non-English Major Postgraduates MTI Education Center

City College Department of Architecture Department of Mechanical Engineering Department of Information Engineering Department of Civil Engineering Department of Art and Design Department of Accounting Department of Language Enhancement Department of Management and Economics Department of Earth Sciences Department of Public Foreign Language Teaching Department of Sports Department of General Core Courses Department of Communication Engineering Department of Traffic Engineering Department of Mechanical Engineering Department of Logistics Engineering

School of International Education School of Continuing Education Oxbridge College

Students
KUST recruits students from all over China, including Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. In addition, KUST is authorized to recruit international students for degree programs ranging from Bachelor to Master and Ph.D. There are about 28,000 students studying at KUST; among them, nearly 2,000 were graduate students (2004).

KUST offers 64 Bachelor programs, 49 Master programs, and eight Ph.D. program areas. There are three state-authorized post-doctoral stations, one state-level key academic subject, and 14 province-level key academic subjects.

Staff
The staff numbers about 3,844 including academic and non-academic ones. Nearly 1,100 are professors and associate professors, and about 1,600 are full-time teaching staffs. There is one academician of China Academy of Engineering working for KUST and there are 17 academicians of China Academy of Science and of China Academy of Engineering jointly working for KUST.

Campuses and facilities
KUST is composed of three campuses, Chenggong, Lianhua, and Xinying. All are in Kunming City, occupying an area of about 120 hectares. The buildings on the campuses occupy over 730,000 square meters, and many important construction projects are in progress.

The university library has about 1.7 million volumes of books and periodicals, and the library is authorized as a state-level research document collection unit. KUST has founded a state-level engineering research center, two provincial and/or ministerial level test stations, two research and development centers, two key laboratories of provincial level, and one class-A design and research institute. There are 32 research institutes, 13 research laboratories, and 13 research centers.

Rankings and Reputation
In 2023, KUST ranked 401-500th globally by the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). The 2023 CWTS Leiden Ranking ranked KUST at #332 in the world based on their publications for the period 2018–2021. As of 2023, the Best Chinese Universities Ranking ranked KUST 2nd best in Yunnan Province after Yunnan University and 124th nationwide

Domestic
The university has ties with over 100 domestic local governments, institutions of higher education and research, as well as enterprises. The research activities in KUST play an important and critical role in Yunnan Province as well as in the southwest region of China. For the past two years, the increment of the research fund for KUST took a proportion of over two-thirds in the total increment for all the universities in Yunnan Province.

International
It has established cooperative and exchange relationships with nearly 70 universities in about 30 countries. One is Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas.