Introduction to Zhongyuan University of Technology

Zhongyuan University of Technology (ZUT), formerly known asZhengzhou Textile Institute, was founded in 1955. Originally affiliated totheformerMinistry of Textile Industry, ZUT wastransferred to the administration ofHenan Province in 2000.Since its establishment ZUT has been focusing on textileand appareltechnology development and hasmade great contributions to the industry. With this strong heritage ZUT hasnowdeveloped into a multidisciplinary university coveringengineering, management, literature, science, economics, law, philosophy, history andart.

ZUT has three campuses — theLonghu Campus, Zhongyuan Campus and West Campus with atotal area of 1,610 mu. ZUT has a building area of686,700 square meters and a library collection of4,414,200 volumes. The total value of its teaching and research facilities adds up to463 million yuan. There are altogether 1824staff members in the university. Of the1234full-time teachers, 557 are professors and associate professors and442 hold doctoral degrees. Six teachers have been awarded asNational Excellent Teachers, 1asNational Model Teacher, and 20asYoung& Middle-aged Experts with Distinguished Contributions andSpecial Allowance of theState Council. There are 17 Provincial TeachingTeamsandResearchGroups as well as dozens of excellent teachersand experts with provincial honorary titles.

ZUT has20 schools and departments, coveringthedisciplinesoftextile, fashiontechnology,energy& environmentalengineering, mechanical& electronicengineering, electronic& informationengineering, art& design, etc. There are63 undergraduateprograms as well as 11 fist-tier discipline master degree programs, 53 second-tier discipline master degree programs, and 7 professional master degree programs. ZUT has10 Provincial Key Disciplines, including 8 first-tier disciplines and 2 second-tier disciplines. The provincial distinctive discipline cluster ofNew Materials and High-end Equipments of Textile and Apparel involve 5 fist-tier disciplines. Both ZUT’s Engineering Training Center and the University Science and Technology Park are among the first group of its kind in Henan Province.

Holdinghigh quality standards in its educationZUT has carried out teaching reforms to nurture students’ capacity for original, rigorous, and critical thinking and cultivatestudents with all-round development and professional skills. In May 2016,it successfully passedtheUndergraduate Program Quality Reviewconducted bythe Ministry of Education. Four undergraduate programs areawarded with the honor of National-level Distinctive Programs,1 National-levelComprehensiveReformPilotProgram,1 National-levelPractical Teaching Center. There are also provincial-level distinctive programs, laboratories, training centers as well as courses in the university. In recent three years9 teaching research projects have won first prize and above ofprovincial achievement awards. ZUT students have won many prizes in variousnational competition events for college students,such as the Challenge Cup Competition, Mathematical Contest in Modeling, Electronic Design Competition,Mechanical Innovation Design Competition, etc. The students’ remarkable performances in the National Undergraduate Engineering Training Comprehensive Ability Competition make ZUT one of the three universitiesacross the countrythat won the first prize in five consecutive years. ZUT hasranked first in Henan universities in terms of the number of prizes in the 2017 NationalElectronic Design Competition for College Students andthe 14thNationalGraduateMathematicalModelingCompetition. Students of Industrial Design Program have twice won the German Red Dot Design Award. Students of Fashion Design Program have won the New Designers Award,top award of the National Fashion Design Competition for College Students.As a result, ZUT graduates are very popular with the society and enterprises and enjoy good reputation in their practical ability and creativity. The employment rate keeps above 90% in recent three years.

ZUT focuses onscientificresearch and boasts36national and provincial key laboratories and research centers, including the State-Local Joint Laboratory for Efficient and Precise Diamond Sawing and Cutting Techniques, Henan Textile and Apparel Industry Collaborative Innovation Center,Henan Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional Textile Materials,Henan Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional Salt, Henan Provincial Engineering Laboratory of Image Analysis and Machine Vision,Henan Provincial Research Center of Heat-pumping Air-conditioning Engineering, Henan Provincial Research Center of Diamond Carbon Composites Engineering Technology,etc. Since 2011ZUT teachershave undertaken over 1500 researchprojects and made landmark achievements.At the national level there are135NationalNaturalScience Foundation Projects,22 NationalSocial Science Foundation Projects, 4NationalScience andTechnologyKeyProjects and 3 sub-projects of National Key Research and Development Plan.At theprovincial level there are over660projects in naturalscience and 160 projects in social sciences as well as 447projectsfor industries and enterprises.Altogether 112projects have received national and provincial awards, including 2second prizes of theNational Science andTechnologyProgress Award,1 first prize of theProvincialScience and Technology Progress Award and2 first prizes of Henan Social Science Outstanding Achievement Award. 1,532 research papers have been included in SCI, EI and ISTP, 560 books have been published and 625 patents of invention have been authorized. ZUT has1 Provincial Innovation and Entrepreneurship Base and1 Provincial Incubation Center.

Being globallyoriented,ZUTis one of the first group of universities in Henan Province to conduct academic exchange and cooperation withoverseas universities. ZUT enjoys a long history of exchange and cooperation with universities from UK, Russia and Taiwan. There are 9 joint programs withthe University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University andUnitec Institute of Technology ofNew Zealand. Since 2002 hundreds of students have taken advantage of the programs and pursued their studies in world-renowned universities. In 2017Zhongyuan-Petersburg AviationCollege, anon-independent legal entity jointly runby ZUT andSaint Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation, was approved to start its enrollment bythe Ministry of Education. Up to now ZUT has established linkswithsuchuniversities asDeakin University (Australia),University of Florence(Italy),University of Bremen (Germany),Missouri University of Science and Technology (America),University of Mysore (India),King Juan Carlos University (Spain), etc. ZUT isthehome toHenan Education Association for International Exchanges. ZUT hosted the 7th National Annual Conference of Chinese-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools, and was elected as an executive director university of Research Branch of Chinese-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools of China Association of Higher Education. ZUT also hosted the 3rd International Travel Conference (China) on Logistics Management and Engineering as well as the International Academic Conference on Industrial Fibres and Textiles. ZUT and Bremen University jointly set up an International Research Center for Logistics Management and Engineering. What’s more, ZUT offers Chinese lessons and master degree for overseas students from Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and other Belt-and-Road countries.

For the future ZUT has made a three-step strategic plan. The first step is to upgrade the level of scientific research and accomplish the transformation from a teaching-orientated university to a teaching & research-orientated university by 2020. The second step is to further enhance its distinctive features in talent cultivation and obtain the authorization to offer doctoral degrees by 2035. The third step is to develop into a key and leading university with unique characteristics in the country by 2050