Introduction to the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of Guangxi University

In 1932, the Chemistry Department was established at Guangxi University. In 1941, the Chemical Engineering Department was established. In 1964, the Chemistry Department and the Chemical Engineering Department were merged into the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Department. In 1981, the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Department was divided into the Chemistry Department and the Chemical Engineering Department. In 1985, the Industrial Analysis, Chemical Process Automation, Organic Chemical Engineering, and Chemical Machinery majors of Guangxi Institute of Technology were transferred to the Chemistry Department and the Chemical Engineering Department. In 1993, the Chemical Process Automation major of the Chemical Engineering Department was transferred to the Department of Electrical Engineering. In 1997, the Chemistry Department and the Chemical Engineering Department of Guangxi University, and the Chemistry Teaching and Research Section of Guangxi Agricultural University were merged to form the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of Guangxi University. In 2004, the Forest Products Chemical Processing Engineering major of the School of Forestry was transferred to the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. In 2008, the Environmental Engineering Teaching and Research Section became an independent unit, and the School of Environment was established. In 2009, the Inorganic Non-metallic Materials Engineering major was transferred to the School of Materials Science and Engineering. In 2015, the Energy Chemical Engineering Department was established. In 2018, the Pharmaceutical Engineering major was transferred to Medical School, and the Process Equipment and Control Engineering major was transferred to the School of Mechanical Engineering. In January 2020, the Energy Chemical Engineering Department was merged into the Chemical Engineering Department as a whole.

The teaching institution of the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering is currently composed of the Department of Chemistry, the Department of Applied Chemistry, the Department of Chemical Engineering, and the Experimental Teaching Center for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. The school has offices for Administration, Undergraduate Student Affairs, Youth League, Teaching, Graduate Studies, Research, Alumni Affairs, and Continuing Education.

The school has 160 faculty members, including 127 full-time teachers, with 46 professors and 41 associate professors. Among them, 107 have a doctor degree, 45 and 98 supervisors for doctor’s and master’s degree programs respectively. Among the faculty members, there are 5 candidates for the National Key and Major Talent Project, 5 winners of Baosteel Excellent Teacher Award, 1 national Outstanding Scientific and Technological Worker, 1 Guangxi Government Specially-appointed Expert, 1 talent in Guangxi "Ten Thousand Talents Project", 1 Young and Middle-aged Leading Disciplinary Talent in Guangxi universities, 2 winners of Guangxi Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, 2 Guangxi Distinguished Scholars, 1 Guangxi Famous Teacher, and 1 Guangxi Excellent Teacher. The school currently has 2 Guangxi Natural Science Foundation innovative teams, 2 Guangxi high-level innovation teams for higher education institutions, and 1 innovative research team on "Chemical Engineering and Catalysis” of Bagui Scholar Project.

The school currently has three undergraduate majors: Chemistry, Applied Chemistry, and Chemical Engineering and Technology. The Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and Technology majors are among the first batch to construct national first-level undergraduate majors, with the Chemical Engineering and Technology major being a pilot program for Education and Cultivation Program for Talented Engineers of the Ministry of Education, an advantageous major in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region(GZAR), and a key construction major in GZAR. The Chemistry major was selected to construct a national-level first-class undergraduate major in 2021. The major cluster (Chemical Engineering and Technology, Chemistry, and Applied Chemistry) in the School of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry is an advantageous and distinctive cluster to be constructed in GZAR. "Chemical Thermodynamics" is a national-level excellent course and a national-level excellent shared resource course. "Introduction to Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics (Bilingual)" is a national-level mixed online and off-line first-class course, a first-class undergraduate course in GZAR, while "Chemical Reaction Engineering," "Organic Chemistry," and "Chemical Technology" are first-class courses in GZAR. "Organic Chemistry" is ideological and political education demonstration course at the provincial level, and "Inorganic Chemistry" and "Organic Chemistry" are excellent courses in GZAR. The Virtual Simulation Experimental Teaching Center for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering is a national one, and the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Experimental Teaching Center is a provincial demonstration center. The Engineering Practice Education Center co-built by the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and Guangxi Reclamation Mingyang Farm is a national one. The School insists on deepening educational and teaching reforms, and emphasizes the cultivation of students' innovation and entrepreneurial capability. At present, there are more than 1700 full-time undergraduate students. Students have won first and second prizes in national competitions such as the National University Chemistry Laboratory Skills Competition, the National University Chemical Engineering Experimental Competition, and the Chemical Engineering Design Competition.

The Chemical Engineering and Technology (first-level discipline) of the school is one of the core disciplines of "Civil Engineering and Advanced Materials" and has been selected as a part of the "Double First-Class" construction major cluster jointly built by the Ministry of Education and GZAR. It is also a key discipline in the construction of Guangxi's "Double First-Class" and Advantageous and Key Disciplines with Characteristics of Guangxi. Organic Chemistry (second-level discipline) has been selected as a key discipline in Guangxi. The school has a postdoctoral research station for the first-level discipline of Chemical Engineering and Technology, and offers doctoral and master's degree programs in the first-level discipline of Chemical Engineering and Technology (including 4 research directions: on-surface and catalytic reaction engineering, low-carbon and green chemical engineering, materials science and chemical engineering, and biomass resources processing and high-value utilization), as well as doctoral and master’s degree programs in first-level discipline of Chemistry (including 4 research directions: fluorescence sensing and chemical analysis, organic chemistry and high polymer material, physical chemistry, and inorganic chemistry). The school also offers a professional master's degree program in Materials and Chemical Engineering. Currently, there are over 1,200 master's and doctoral students enrolled in the school.

The School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering has a Thermochemistry Laboratory in National Engineering Research Center for Non-grain Biomass Technology, a Guangxi Key Laboratory for Petrochemical Processing and Process Intensification Technology, a Guangxi Key Laboratory for Electrochemical Energy Materials, a Guangxi Key Laboratory for Biorefining, Guangxi Calcium Carbonate Industrial Chemical Engineering Institute, a Key Laboratory for Applying New Chemical Technology in Resources co-built by Guangxi universities, a Key Laboratory for Applied Chemistry Technology and Resource Development co-built by Guangxi universities, and a Key Laboratory for Low-carbon and Green Chemical Technology Application co-built by Guangxi universities. The school currently has Guangxi Natural Science Foundation innovative teams, high-level innovation teams for higher education institutions, innovative research team on "Chemical Engineering and Catalysis” of Bagui Scholar Project and more than 100 industry-study-research collaboration bases, internship bases and employment bases for graduates.

TheSchoolfocuses onscientific and technological innovation and actively serves the development of society. From 2016 to 2023, ithas undertaken503 research projects, including 116 National Natural Science Foundation of Chinaprojects, among which there were 20 general projects. Ithasobtained 147 autonomous regional research projects, including 2 Guangxi Natural Science FoundationInnovationResearchTeams, 2Distinguished Young ScholarsFoundationProjects, 18KeyProjects, 7 GuangxiInnovationDrivenDevelopmentSpecialProjects, 8 GuangxiMajorSpecialProjects, and 11KeyResearch andDevelopmentPlans. Ithasobtained 401 authorized invention patents and more than 10 achievementsin technology transfer. Ithaswon 20science and technology awards attheprovincial and ministeriallevelsor above, including 1 Guangxi First Youth Science and Technology Outstanding Contribution Award, 1SecondPrize of the 18^thHuo Yingdong Education FoundationColleges and UniversitiesYouth Science Award, and 5 Guangxi Science and Technology Second Prizes.Inthe past five years, ithaspublished more than 2,800 academic papers and invited nearly 50 domestic and foreign experts for academic exchanges. Ithashostedmanyacademic conferences, including the2016 National Metallurgical Physical ChemistryAcademicConference and Metallurgical Physical Chemistry Field ProjectofNational Natural Science Foundation of ChinaCommunicationMeeting, the 9^thSeminaronFrontiers in Molecular Reaction Dynamics,the 10^thInternational Seminar on Integrated Macromolecules/Materials Science and Engineering (IMSE-10), the 2019 International Academic Forum on Calcium Carbonate Researchand Development(NanningChapter), the 7^thNational Academic Seminar on Catalytic Reaction and Separation, and the 12^thGlobal Chinese Chemical Engineering ScholarsNanningSeminar. TheChemistry disciplineis ranked in theESI globaltop 1%.In2022,the disciplines of Chemistry,Materials Science, andEngineeringof Guangxi University were rankedin theESI globaltop 1%.TheSchool’s contributionrates to these disciplines were36.8%, 19.9%, and 10.2%, respectively, making significant contributions to the “Double First-Class” constructionof Guangxi University.

In order to establish a platform for communication and exchange between alumni and their alma mater, as well as among alumni themselves, and to better serve the alumni, since the establishment of the Alumni Association in December 2017, the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering has established alumni branches inside and outside Guangxi to facilitate communication and exchanges among alumni and to better serve them. Currently, there are nine alumni branches, including the Liuzhou alumni branch, Nanning alumni branch, Guilin alumni branch, Wuzhou/Hezhou alumni branch, Baise alumni branch, Guangdong alumni branch, Qinzhou/Beihai/Fangchenggang alumni branch, Hechi alumni branch, and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei alumni branch. Through various means such as organizing alumni representative symposiums, alumni forums, alumni career fairs, establishing new employment and student internship bases, and industry-university-research cooperation bases, the school strengthens communication and exchanges with alumni, enhances cohesion, and promotes high-quality development of the GXU and itself.

The School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering is research-oriented. Through the construction of "Double First-Class" initiative, the school continues to advance the Chemical Engineering and Technology and the Chemistry as first-level disciplines. The goal is to build a research-oriented school leading in the central and western regions of China, with scientific research direction layout, reasonable faculty team and age structure, and a distinct characteristic in the research and utilization of regional resources.