Ocean University of China
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The Ocean University of China, especially renowned for its marine sciences and fishery sciences, is one of the key comprehensive universities under the direct jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. It consists of such branches of learning as science, engineering, agronomy (fishery), economics, literature, medical science (pharmaceutics), philosophy and law.
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History
The university was first set up in 1924 as a private institution, and with the founding of Shandong College of Oceanology in 1959, it became one of the 13 national key universities in October 1960. In January 1988, it was renamed Ocean University of China, and Mr. Deng Xiaoping wrote the name of the university in his own calligraphic style to mark the occasion.
Location
The university is situated on a hill with a view of the sea, in the scenic area of Qingdao, a coastal city with an ideal climate, in Shandong province.
With its main campus in Yushan Road and sub-campus in Fushan district, the university covers an area of more than 733,000 m² with a floor space of 230,000 m².
Organization
With 32 departments in 12 colleges, namely, Marine Environment College, Information Science and Engineering College, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering College, Marine Life Sciences College, Marine Geology College, Fishery College, Management College, Engineering College, Foreign College, Chinese Language & Culture College, Law School, and Mathematics Department, Environmental Science and Engineering College, Economics College, Vocational Technology College .
The university has set up 38 four-year undergraduate programs and more than 20 junior college programs. It is one of the universities earliest authorized by the State Council's Academic Degree Committee to confer doctoral, master and bachelor degrees. It is also authorized to approve and confer all academic titles including professors and Ph.D. supervisors. At present, the university has 5 postdoctoral program, ten doctoral programs and 28 master programs. It boasts of 2 national key specialties, and the National Research Center of Marine Pharmaceutical Engineering Technology, approved by the Commission of Science, now the Ministry of Science and Technology is under construction here. Besides, there are three open research labs of the Ministry of Education, 9 provincial key specialties and 6 provincial key labs. The university also set up a national base for training talents to be engaged in basic research and teaching in the fields of oceanology and marine chemistry.
Studying at the university now are more than 8000 enrolled students, more than 600 of whom are doctoral and master students and about 100 are foreign students. The university is staffed with more than 1000 people, more than 200 of whom are professors and about 200 are associate professors or people with other senior titles. Many of them are specialists or scholars well-known both at home and abroad. Among them are 2 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, one academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and 57 Ph.D. supervisors. More than 200 teachers and scientists of the university have been awarded or commended by the state, Shandong Province or Qingdao Municipality, 82 professors enjoy a special subsidy from the State Council, 9 professors have been awarded the tittle of Middle-aged and Young Experts Who Have Made Outstanding Contributions to the State, 22 professors have been awarded the title of the Outstanding Talents of Shandong Province. In recent years, there have appeared some outstanding young experts, 40 of whom are professors under the age of 40.
The university endeavors to deepen reform in education and teaching, readjust its specialties and strengthens teaching construction to meet the need of social development and economic construction. Under the school guideline of "Unity, Diligence, Practicality and Creativity", the university has cultivated its unique educational style and school discipline. Strict teaching and administration have steadily raised the quality of teaching and learning. The series of measures to reform and promote teaching and learning in the university have won appraisal and support from both teachers and students of the school and from the society at large.
The university has 73 different laboratories and a new 3500-ton marine research vessel Donfanghong 2. The Audio-Visual Education Center, the Computer Center and the Analyzing and Testing Center are all well-equipped. The school library has a collection of 800,000 books and more than 2000 Chinese and foreign journals and periodicals. Journal of Ocean University China (both natural science and social science editions) is a regular publication of the university. The campus computer network with 3,000 user-terminals connected with internet and Cernet has been set up.
The university has set up 26 research institutions, among which the Academy of Marine Drugs, the Institute of Physical Oceanography, the institute of Ocean Remote Sensing, and the Academy of Marine Economy and the Law of the Sea are most well-known. Being multi-disciplinary, comprehensive and talent-packed, they are mainly engaged in theoretical studies, marine environment investigation and prediction, research in marine economy, marine law, maritime affairs, exploitation and utilization of marine resources, etc. Since the beginning of the eighth five-year plan period, 65 of the school's research achievements have reached the international leading or international advanced level, 85 have been considered to be original or advanced in China, and 149 monographs and 3028 academic papers have been published. The research achievements of the university have won 10 international gold medals, 10 national awards, 99 provincial or ministry-level awards and hundreds of municipality-level awards. Besides, the university has got 105 national patents and 4 of the research results have been registered for patents in foreign countries.
The university has always laid stress on the training of its teachers and the promotion of foreign academic exchanges. In the past years, half of the teachers of the university has been to foreign countries as students, visiting scholars or guest lecturers. It has established cooperative and exchange relationship with more than 50 universities and research institutions in 35 foreign countries or regions.
In 1994, the university began to operate under the dual leadership of State Education Commission and the People's Government of Shandong Province. Successfully passing the strict preliminary assessment and examination for the Project-211 in January 1996 and getting admitted into the project in June 1997, Ocean University of China has entered a new stage of development.
See also: List of universities in Mainland China