Xi’an University of Technology is one of the first batch of pilot universities for comprehensive reform in higher education in China, is also a participant in the “Program for Revitalization of Higher Education in the Central and Western Regions”, a university jointly built by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and Shaanxi Provincial Government, a key high-level university prioritized for development in Shaanxi Province, and a university selected for cultivation in the “Double First-Class Initiative” in Shaanxi Province. The university is one of the important training bases and scientific research centers for senior professionals in China’s water conservancy, hydropower and equipment manufacturing industries.
The university has 3 campuses: Jinhua, Qujiang, and Lianhu, as well as a University Science and Technology Park. The university has over 18,000 regular full-time undergraduate students and more than 11,100 doctoral and master's degree students. The university has 2,700 faculties, including 1,048 with senior professional titles. It currently has 22 colleges, 2 centers, and 1 teaching department, offers 69 majors for bachelor’s degree, of which 32 are designated as the national first‑class demonstration point for the bachelor’s degree, 6 are designated as the first‑class demonstration point for the bachelor’s degree in Shaanxi Province, 10 are designated as the national specialty program demonstration point, 21 have passed engineering education accreditation, 16 are designated as the specialty program demonstration point in Shaanxi Province, and 8 are recognized the renowned majors in Shaanxi Province. There are 21 experimental teaching centers, including 3 national experimental teaching demonstration centers, 18 provincial experimental teaching demonstration centers and 3 provincial virtual simulation experimental teaching centers.
The university adheres to discipline-based development as the leading strategy, making solid progress in building first-class disciplines, and improving its core competitiveness steadily. The university is one of the first batch of universities in China authorized to confer doctoral, master's, and bachelor's degrees. Postgraduate education began in 1960, and then the graduate school was established in 2011. The university currently has 15 the doctoral degree programs at the first-level discipline, 4 professional doctoral degree programs, 27 master‘s degree programs at the first-level discipline, and 13 professional master’s degree programs, all of which span 9 academic categories: Engineering, Science, Management, Economics, Law, Literature, Agriculture, Art, and Interdisciplinary Studies, forming a disciplinary structure with engineering as the core and coordinated development across multiple disciplines. It currently has one national key discipline, 21 Shaanxi key disciplines, and 12 Shaanxi predominant disciplines Seven disciplines (Engineering, Materials Science, Environmental/Ecology, Computer Science, Chemistry, Agricultural Sciences, and Geoscience) are ranked within the top 1% globally in the ESI. In the 2025 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), Xi'an University of Technology was ranked 539th globally and placed 102–126th among universities in China.
The university has actively pursued the strategy of “invigorating the university through talent development”, and achieved sustained stable growth of its high‑level team by combining internal development with external recruitment, and has built a high‑level talent force. The "Shechtman Nobel Prize Institute for Advanced Materials” was established. It includes 40 participants of the national talent and team program (including 1 foreign academician, 14 national leading talents, 23 young talents, and 2 teachers titled the national model teacher teams in the spirit of Huang Danian); additionally, 120 participants of the provincial and ministerial talents and teams. The university has 5 recipients of the National Outstanding Teacher award, 1 recipient of National Advanced Worker award, 8 experts receiving the Special Government Allowance of the State Council, 1 recipient of the China Young Female Scientist award, 1 recipient of the National National March 8th Red Banner Pacesetter Honor, and 1 team titled the National Advanced Collective in the Education System, over 40 individuals recognized as experts with outstanding contributions, model workers, advanced workers, outstanding teachers, distinguished teaching masters, and exemplars of teacher ethics at the provincial and ministerial level. In addition, it also has one member from the Discipline Evaluation Group of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council and 7 members from the Higher Education Professional Teaching Steering Committees of Ministry of Education.
By upholding the moral education as its fundamental mission, it deepens reforms in education and teaching, and continuously refines its talent‑training mode. In recent years, the university has won 10 National Teaching Achievement Awards, 114 Shaanxi Provincial Teaching Achievement Awards, and undertaken 126 provincial teaching reform projects, and received a Second Prize for the inaugural National Excellent Textbook Awards and published 34 Excellent Textbooks for Shaanxi ordinary higher‑education institutions. It offers 5 national flagship courses, 3 national elite resource‑sharing courses, and 72 provincial flagship courses; it hosts 2 projects from the first batch of national ideological and political course model projects, 33 Shaanxi provincial ideological and political course model projects, and 1 Shaanxi provincial ideological and political teaching research demonstration center. There are 37 national first‑class undergraduate courses, including 6 national first‑class virtual simulation experimental teaching courses; 79 provincial first‑class undergraduate courses; 1 national first‑batch virtual teaching studio, 3 provincial virtual teaching studios, 11 provincial virtual simulation experimental teaching projects, and 6 provincial first‑class virtual simulation experimental teaching courses. The university has 5 participants from the national teaching teams; 1 recipient of the first prize in the National University Teachers’ Teaching Innovation Competition, 2 recipients of the second prize, and 1 recipient of the third prize; 2 teachers named Shaanxi Province Exemplars of Teaching and Educating. Moreover, it has selected as the participant in 9 projects in the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s first batch of “14th Five‑Year Plan” textbook construction and has 1 textbook research base. Twenty‑two cases have been included in the Shaanxi Province Case Base for Professional Degree Graduate Education. With widely recognized talent quality, the university was rated Excellent in the Ministry of Education’s undergraduate teaching assessment, was among the first batch of universities to implement the “Excellent Engineer Education and Training Program,” and took the lead in passing the Ministry of Education’s undergraduate teaching work review and evaluation as a national pilot university in 2013. As a pilot unit of the Ministry of Education for comprehensive reform of professional degree graduate education and graduate course construction, it has established 2 national demonstration bases for joint practical training of professional degree graduates, 2 university–enterprise collaborative education demonstration bases of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and 8 Shaanxi provincial demonstration workstations for joint graduate training.
The university gives equal priority to teaching and research, advances both basic and applied research, and continuously strengthens its research strengths and social service capacity. It has established 11 post-doctoral research stations and 57 provincial or higher research bases, including 1 National Key Laboratory, 1 National‑Local Joint Engineering Research Center, 2 National Discipline Innovation and Talent Introduction Bases for Higher Education, 2 Key Laboratories of the Ministry of Education, 2 Engineering Research Centers of the Ministry of Education, 1 Technology Research and Promotion Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology, 1 Provincial–ministerial Co‑built Collaborative Innovation Center, and 1 Key Laboratory of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration. Over the past decade, the university has secured a total of RMB 4.373 billion in research funding, including RMB 1.406 billion in vertical funding and RMB 2.967 billion in horizontal funding. It has been awarded 889 projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and 73 projects funded by the National Social Science Foundation of China. It has been approved for more than 112 national major and key projects, including 4 major scientific instrument development projects of the National Natural Science Foundation, 37 key projects, 7 “Distinguished Young Scholars and Excellent Young Scientists” projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, 25 projects and subprojects of the National Key R&D Program, and 6 major and key projects of the National Social Science Foundation of China. Research achievements: 251 provincial and ministerial or higher research awards (including 101 participation awards), including 4 Second Prizes for the National Scientific and Technological Progress Award (including 2 participation awards), 2 First Prizes for the Natural Science Award of the Ministry of Education (including 1 participation award), 1 Second Prize for Humanities and Social Sciences Achievement Award of the Ministry of Education, 21 First Prizes for Shaanxi Provincial Science and Technology Awards (including 6 participation award), and 8 First Prizes for Shaanxi Provincial Philosophy and Social Sciences Awards. As the first affiliation, the university has over 16,570 papers indexed by the three major indexing services, including 276 highly cited papers and 69 hot‑topic papers. In 2025, as the corresponding first author, it had published important research achievements online in Nature. It holds 4,385 granted national invention patents and 58 granted international invention patents. 1,413 pieces of intellectual property rights are transferred or licensed. The university has deeply integrated into the construction of the Qinchuangyuan Innovation-Driven Platform, continuously advanced the pilot program of the "Three Reforms" for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, adhered to the "dual-wheel-driven development" of mechanism innovation and system innovation, and promoted the transformation of scientific and technological achievements. It conducts collaborative innovation with local governments and enterprises and has established strategic partnerships with more than 260 organizations both within and outside the province. The university has been designated as a National Pilot University for Intellectual Property and as a Shaanxi Provincial Comprehensive Pilot University for the “Three Reforms” in the transformation of scientific and technological achievements.
It also emphasizes students’ holistic development, places strong emphasis on cultivating students’ scientific and technological innovation abilities, and continuously enhances comprehensive quality of students and the quality level of innovative talent. The university serves as the Deputy Director and Deputy Secretary Unit of the Ministry of Education’s Engineering Training Teaching Steering Committee, and a Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center of the Ministry of Education, a National Model University for Deepening Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Reform, one of the first-batch of the national Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Practice Bases, a National University Practice Education Innovation and Entrepreneurship Base, a Host University of the Ministry of Education’s National College Students' Innovative Experiment Program, an Outstanding Organizing Unit of the National Undergraduate Innovation Training Program, a Shaanxi Provincial Model University for Deepening Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education, and Shaanxi Provincial makerspace as well as Xi’an makerspace. Students have repeatedly won awards in the China International College Students’ Innovation Competition, the National “Challenge Cup” Competition, the China College Students’ Engineering Practice and Innovation Ability Competition, the National Student (Youth) Games, various national and Shaanxi provincial university sports competitions, and numerous arts performances. The university has been awarded the title “National Advanced Unit for School Art Education.” The “Ancient Capital Forum,” launched in cooperation with the Shaanxi Research Institute of Culture and History, has significant influence among universities in Shaanxi. It has been awarded titles of the “National ‘Three Trips to the Countryside’ Program” and “Social Practice Excellent Unit” 21 times by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China, the Ministry of Education, and the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League. It has been recognized as an “Important Contribution Unit” for the ten‑year development of the China Graduate Innovation Practice Series Competition, ranked 16th on the national Top 100 list of graduate‑training institutions by comprehensive contribution, and 2nd among local universities.
By adhering to an open school-running philosophy, the university actively engages in comprehensive international exchanges and cooperation, resulting in a continuously growing international influence. It has established friendly cooperative and exchange relationships with over 90 universities and research institutions across more than 30 countries and regions, including Germany, Japan, the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Morocco, and Tajikistan, thereby promoting collaboration and exchanges between its faculty and students and internationally renowned institutions. With approval from the Ministry of Education, the university has established a Sino‑foreign cooperative education institution — International Engineering College, Xi’an University of Technology, offering multi‑level degree programs at the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels. The university actively cultivates international students; more than 300 students from over 30 countries are enrolled in advanced degree programs, effectively enhancing the campus’s international atmosphere. Multiple national and provincial, ministerial discipline innovation and talent introduction bases have been established, so as to build a multidisciplinary and multi‑level collaborative research and innovation platform, and accelerate the internationalization of its research.
The university enrolls students from all 31 provinces (cities and autonomous regions) nationwide; applications are enthusiastic, and the quality of enrolled students ranks among the top of provincial peer institutions. Moreover, it has been recognized by the Ministry of Education as a “National Advanced Collective for Graduate Employment” and as a “National Model University for Graduate Employment Practices.”
For many years, the university has carried forward the spirit of "Strive for Self-improvement", upheld the motto "Motherland, Honor, Responsibility", and adhered to the educational philosophy of "student‑centered education and unity of moral knowledge and practice". It has trained nearly 300,000 specialized talents, including several academicians of the two national academies, prominent party and government leaders, and distinguished entrepreneurs, who have made significant contributions to national and local economic development, particularly to the advancement of the national water conservancy and hydropower and equipment manufacturing industries. In recent years, the university has focused on comprehensively improving quality, strengthened its connotation construction, and steadily enhanced its educational standards and social reputation.
Strive ahead in the new era and embark on a new journey. Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era, Xi’an University of Technology will fully implement the Party’s education policies, carry out the fundamental task of moral education and talent cultivation, keep firmly in mind the glorious mission of nurturing talents for the Party and the country, compose a new chapter in the high-quality development of the university in the new era, and work tirelessly to accelerate the construction of a distinctive, internationally influential, first‑class high‑level research university in China.