# 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.

## Academics
### 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
Medical School
Faculty of Agriculture and Food
Faculty of Metallurgical and Energy Engineering
Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering
Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering
Faculty of Land Resources Engineering
Faculty of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering
Faculty of Information Engineering and Automation
Faculty of Electric Power Engineering
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Mechanics
Faculty of Architecture and City Planning
Faculty of Chemical Engineering
Faculty of Transportation Engineering
Faculty of Civil Aviation and Aeronautics
Faculty of Public Security and Emergency Management
Faculty of Management and Economics
Law School
Faculty of Science
Faculty of Art and Communication
School of Marxism
Faculty of Foreign Languages and Cultures
City College
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

## Exchange and cooperation
### 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.