University of Science and Technology of China

Located in Hefei, the capital of the Chinese Province of Anhui, the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) was founded in 1958 to meet the country’s growing science and technology needs while boosting its international competitiveness. The establishment of the University is aimed at fostering high-level personnel of science and technology necessary for the development of the national economy, national defense construction, and education in science and technology.

Originally established in Beijing, USTC relocated to its current home in the east of the country during the Cultural Revolution in 1970.

Today, USTC is home to approximately 15,000 students and 3,500 faculty members who oversee its 15 schools, spanning physical sciences, life sciences, software engineering and electro-optical technology, among many other science and technology disciplines. 

The university houses two national labs – the National Synchrotron Radiation Facility and the Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale – the only university in the country to do so.

With a stated mission to ‘focus on frontier areas of science and technology and educate top leaders in science and technology in China and the world,’ USTC prides itself on offering cutting-edge technology and developing talented individuals. It cites research strengths in fields such as quantum manipulation, nanotechnology and high-temperature superconductivity.

In 2013, USTC hosted the signing of an agreement between the C9 League, a group of China’s top nine research universities, and the Association of American of Universities, the Australian Group of Eight (Go8), and the League of European Research Universities (LERU), to promote co-operation among world-class research universities.

It also maintains strategic links with international organizations such as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), as well as the universities of Oxford, Stanford and Princeton.

USTC is a world leader in fields like quantum manipulation, nanotechnology, high-temperature superconductivity, speech processing, fire science and life science. It is always ranked as one of the best universities in China. For example, USTC was ranked first among Chinese universities from 2008 to 2013 by Nature Publishing Index China. The 2010-2011 The Times Higher Education Rankings ranked USTC 49th overall in the world and 2nd in China. 

USTC has more than a dozen schools, many of which are devoted to the sciences, but the university also has academic divisions focused on subjects such as public affairs and business.

USTC consistently adheres to the school-running principle of pursuing the national interest and innovative pioneering. It upholds the combination of science with technology, teaching with research, and theory with practice. In a short period, USTC has turned into a comprehensive national key university of science and technology, with emphasis on the forefront of science and high and new technology. USTC also offers management studies involved with science and technology and the humanities.

USTC’s core strength is scientific and technological research, and more recently has expanded into humanities and management with a strong scientific and engineering emphasis.