Introduction to the School of Civil Engineering
The School of Civil Engineering originated from the Civil Engineering Section of Kailuan Construction Engineering School founded in 1953, with a history of more than 70 years. It currently has 2,040 full-time undergraduate students and 315 full-time master’s students.
The School comprises four teaching departments: the Department of Building Engineering, the Department of Engineering Mechanics, the Department of Transportation Engineering, and the Department of Intelligent Engineering. It has five well-equipped laboratories, including a relatively large structural laboratory in North China and laboratories specialising in mechanics, geotechnical engineering, materials, and transportation. The Structural Laboratory and the Mechanics Laboratory serve as provincial-level experimental teaching demonstration centres. The total floor area of the laboratories is 14,282 square metres, with the total value of laboratory equipment exceeding RMB 26 million.
The School offers six undergraduate programmes: Civil Engineering, Transportation Engineering, Engineering Mechanics, Road, Bridge and River Crossing Engineering, Urban Underground Space Engineering, and Intelligent Construction and Smart Transportation. It also offers a Sino-foreign cooperative education programme in Civil Engineering. The Civil Engineering programme has passed engineering education accreditation and has been selected as a National First-Class Undergraduate Programme, a National Characteristic Programme, and one of the first 18 pilot programmes nationwide for the Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate (CDIO) Engineering Education Model. The Engineering Mechanics programme has been selected as a Provincial First-Class Undergraduate Programme Construction Site. The School is authorised to confer master’s degrees in Civil Engineering as a first-level academic discipline and professional master’s degrees in Civil and Hydraulic Engineering. It has a provincial key development discipline in Structural Engineering and serves as a provincial-level educational innovation platform for the broad civil engineering discipline cluster.
The School currently has 122 faculty and staff members, including 49 with senior academic titles and 72 holding doctoral degrees. It has one faculty member selected as a Young Scholar under the “Yangtze River Scholars Programme”, one expert entitled to the State Council Special Allowance, one outstanding professional and technical talent of Hebei Province, and two scholars selected for the Hebei Province “Three-Three-Three Talent Project”. One faculty member has been included in the list of the world’s top 2% of scientists. The School has four provincial-level outstanding teaching teams and three provincial-level distinguished teaching faculty. It also has three university-level outstanding teaching teams, eight university-level distinguished teaching faculty, and three young university-level pillar teachers.
Focusing on the fundamental mission of fostering virtue through education, the School Party Committee follows the guiding principle of “Party building guiding institutional development and integrating Party-building efforts deeply with core school undertakings”. It has explored and implemented a “1+5+1” Party-building model, featuring one overarching leadership framework, five major initiatives, and one fundamental bottom line, thereby establishing a high-quality Party-building system. The School Party Committee has been designated as a model school for Party-building work among the second batch of universities in Hebei Province. The Party branches of the Department of Building Engineering and the Department of Transportation Engineering have been recognised as model Party branches for Party-building work at Hebei University of Engineering. The Party branch of the Department of Building Engineering has also established a “Double-Leader” Initiative (combining academic leadership and Party-building leadership).
The School has received 12 provincial and ministerial-level awards for scientific research achievements. It has secured 14 projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, one sub-project under the National Key Research and Development Programme, 31 provincial and ministerial-level projects including those funded by the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province, more than 50 other vertical research projects, and over 500 industry-sponsored research projects. The total research funding exceeds RMB 70 million. The School has published more than 500 high-quality academic papers and over 20 monographs or textbooks.
The School has received four provincial and ministerial-level awards for teaching achievements. It has developed one National First-Class Undergraduate Course, two Hebei Provincial First-Class Undergraduate Courses, three Hebei Provincial High-Quality Online Open Courses, six Hebei Provincial Excellent Courses, and one Hebei Provincial Excellent Postgraduate Course. In addition, eight projects have been recognised by Hebei Province as postgraduate model courses, professional degree teaching case resources (databases), and demonstration projects for curriculum-based ideological and political education. The School has also developed three First-Class Undergraduate Courses of Hebei University of Engineering and three pilot courses for CDIO-based engineering education reform.
The School hosts seven provincial-level research platforms, including the Hebei Provincial Key Laboratory of Low-Carbon Construction and Resilience Enhancement in Building Engineering, Hebei Provincial Innovation Centre for Prefabricated Structure Technology, Hebei Provincial Engineering Technology Research Centre for Surface Storage and Transportation Infrastructure of Coal Mines, Hebei Provincial Engineering Technology Research Centre for Municipal Road and Bridge Construction, Hebei Provincial Innovation Centre for Intelligent Attached Climbing Scaffold Technology, Hebei Provincial Innovation Centre for Green and Long-Life Pavement Engineering Materials Technology, and Hebei Provincial Key Laboratory of Intelligent Manufacturing of High-End Construction Machinery. It also operates two municipal-level research platforms: the Handan Municipal Key Laboratory for Solid Waste Utilisation and Green Building Materials, and the Handan Municipal Engineering Technology Innovation Centre for Urban Underground Space Engineering. The School has jointly established a provincial-level practice base for professional degree postgraduate education with China Coal Construction and Installation Engineering Group Co., Ltd. It has also established the Handan Modern Seismic Science Outreach Base in collaboration with the Handan Municipal Science and Technology Bureau. At the university level, the School has established seven research platforms, including the Urban Assessment and Urban Renewal Research Centre, BIM Technology Research Centre, Research Centre for Computational Mechanics and Engineering Applications, Engineering Research Centre for New Monorail Transit Systems, Institute of Construction Management, Institute of Transportation Pavement Engineering Technology, and Institute of Green Functional Materials.
Guided by a broad engineering culture, the School is committed to educating and nurturing students through culture. By integrating nine key elements, it has developed a distinctive “Good Builder” Culture system featuring its disciplinary and professional characteristics, cultivating “Good Builders” with a strong spirit of craftsmanship. With teaching at the centre of its mission, the School has actively implemented the “Teaching Quality Enhancement Project” and is dedicated to cultivating versatile applied professionals who uphold virtue, pursue excellence and drive innovation through craftsmanship. These efforts have achieved remarkable results. For many years, the School has continuously organised discipline-specific competitions, including structural design competitions, mechanics competitions, bridge design competitions, and BIM modelling and construction management competitions. It has also encouraged students to participate in innovation and entrepreneurship activities such as the National College Students Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Programme, the “Challenge Cup” National College Students’ Extracurricular Academic Science and Technology Contest, the “Challenge Cup” China College Students’ Entrepreneurship Competition, and the “Internet+” College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition. These activities have significantly enhanced students’ practical skills and innovative capabilities. Over the past five years, students have won 55 national-level awards and 129 provincial-level awards, and received approval for 10 national-level and 13 provincial-level student innovation and entrepreneurship projects.
Over the past 70 years, the School has nurtured more than 13,500 graduates. Their solid theoretical foundations and strong professional competency have received widespread recognition from employers across China. Particularly in regions such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, many alumni have become core professionals in research institutions, educational organisations, engineering design and construction enterprises, as well as senior managers in enterprises and public institutions. They have made significant contributions to national development.
(Data updated as of August 2025)