Guangxi University established the Department of Chemistry in 1932 and the Department of Chemical Engineering in 1941. In 1964, these two departments merged into the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, then separated again in 1981. In 1985, the majors of Industrial Analysis, Chemical Process Automation, Organic Chemical Engineering, and Chemical Machinery of the Guangxi Institute of Technology were incorporated into the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Chemical Engineering. In 1993, the major of Chemical Process Automation of the Department of Chemical Engineering was incorporated into the Department of Electrical Engineering. In 1997, the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Chemical Engineering of Guangxi University merged with the Chemistry Teaching and Research Office of Guangxi Agricultural University into the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of Guangxi University. In 2004, the major of Forest Products Chemical Processing Engineering of the College of Forestry was incorporated into the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. In 2008, the Environmental Engineering Teaching and Research Office was independently established as the School of Environmental Science of Guangxi University. In 2009, the major of Inorganic Non-metallic Materials Engineering was incorporated into the School of Materials Science and Engineering. In 2015, the Department of Energy Chemical Engineering was established. In 2018, the major of Pharmaceutical Engineering was incorporated into the School of Medicine, and the major of Process Equipment and Control Engineering was incorporated into the School of Mechanical Engineering. In January 2020, the Department of Energy Chemical Engineering was merged into the Department of Chemical Engineering.
The School’s academic institutions consist of the Department of Chemistry, Department of Applied Chemistry, Department of Chemical Engineering, and the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Experimental Teaching Center. The School has the Party and Government Office, Student Affairs Office, Youth League Committee Office, Academic Office, Graduate Affairs Office, Scientific Research Office, and Alumni Affairs Office.
There are 160 faculty and staff members, including 127 full-time teachers, 46 teachers with senior titles, 41 with associate titles, and 108 with doctoral degrees. There are 45 Doctoral supervisors and 98 Master supervisors. The faculty includes 6 participants in national major talent projects, 5 recipients of Baogang Outstanding Teacher Awards, 1 National Outstanding Scientific and Technological Worker, 1 Specially-appointed Expert by the Guangxi Government, 1 talent from the Guangxi “Ten-Hundred-Thousand Talent Project”, 1 among the Top 100 Young and Middle-aged Discipline Leaders of Guangxi universities, 2 recipients of the Guangxi Outstanding Youth Science Fund, 2 Distinguished Scholars of Guangxi universities, 1 Guangxi Famous Teacher, and 1 Guangxi Outstanding Teacher. The School currently has 2 Guangxi Natural Science Foundation Innovation Teams, 2 High-level Innovation Teams of Guangxi Higher Education Institutions, and 1 Chemical Engineering and Catalysis Innovation Research Team of “Guangxi Bagui Scholars”.
The School currently offers three undergraduate majors: Chemistry, Applied Chemistry, and Chemical Engineering and Technology. The majors of Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and Technology are the first batch of construction sites for the national first-class undergraduate majors (Double-Ten-Thousand Project). The major of Chemical Engineering and Technology is a pilot major for the “Excellent Engineer” project of the Ministry of Education, an autonomous regional advantageous major, and an autonomous regional key major under construction. The major of Chemistry was selected as a construction site of the national first-class undergraduate major in 2021. The Chemical Engineering and Chemistry major group (including majors of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Chemistry, and Applied Chemistry) is an autonomous regional advantageous characteristic group under construction. Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics is a national quality course and a national quality resource-sharing course. Introduction to Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics (Bilingual) is a national online and offline first-class undergraduate course and an autonomous regional first-class undergraduate course. Organic Chemistry is a national offline first-class undergraduate course, an autonomous regional first-class undergraduate course, and an autonomous regional ideological and political education demonstration course. Chemical Reaction Engineering and Chemical Technology are both autonomous regional first-class undergraduate courses and autonomous regional ideological and political education demonstration courses. Inorganic Chemistry is an autonomous regional quality course. The Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Virtual Simulation Experiment Teaching Center is a national virtual simulation experiment teaching center. The Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Experiment Teaching Center is an autonomous regional experimental teaching demonstration center. The Engineering Practice Education Center, jointly established by the School and the Guangxi Nongken Mingyang Biochemical Co., Ltd. is a national engineering practice education center. The School insists on deepening the reforms of education and teaching, and focuses on cultivating students’ innovation and entrepreneurial abilities. Students have won the first and second prizes several times in competitions, such as the National College Student Chemistry Experimental Skills Competition, the National College Student Chemical Engineering Experimental Competition, and the National College Student Chemical Engineering Design Competition.
The discipline of Chemical Engineering and Technology (first-level discipline), as one of the core disciplines of “Civil Engineering and Advanced Materials”, was selected as part of the “Double First-Class” discipline group jointly constructed by the Ministry and the Region. It is also a Guangxi “Double First-Class” discipline under construction and a Guangxi advantageous characteristic key discipline. Organic Chemistry (second-level discipline) was selected as a Guangxi key discipline. The School has two post-doctoral research mobile stations for the first-level disciplines of Chemical Engineering and Technology and Chemistry, as well as doctoral and master’s programs for the first-level disciplines of Chemical Engineering and Technology (four research directions: Green Chemical Engineering and Process Intensification, Catalytic Reaction Engineering, Biochemical Engineering, and Materials Chemical Engineering) and Chemistry (four research directions: Organic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, and Fluorescence Sensing and Chemical Analysis). It has a professional master’s program for the major of Materials and Chemical Engineering. Currently, there are over 1200 master’s and doctoral students.
The School has following laboratories: National Research Center Thermal Chemistry Laboratory of Non-Food Biomass Energy Engineering Technology, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Petrochemical Resource Processing and Process Intensification Technology, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Electrochemical Energy Materials, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Bio-refining, Guangxi Calcium Carbonate Industrialization Engineering Institute, Guangxi Colleges and Universities Key Laboratory of New Chemical Application Technology in Resources, Guangxi Colleges and Universities Key Laboratory of Applied Chemical Technology and Resource Development, and Guangxi Colleges and Universities Key Laboratory of Low Carbon Green Chemical Engineering Application Technology. Additionally, there are Guangxi Natural Science Foundation Innovation Teams, Guangxi Colleges and Universities High-level Innovation Teams, Chemical Engineering and Catalysis Innovation Research Team of “Guangxi Bagui Scholars”, and over 100 industry-academia-research cooperation bases, internship bases, and graduate employment bases.
The School focuses on scientific and technological innovation and actively serves the development of society. From 2016 to 2023, it has undertaken 503 research projects, including 116 National Natural Science Foundation of China projects, among which there were 20 general projects. It has obtained 147 autonomous regional research projects, including 2 Guangxi Natural Science Foundation Innovation Research Teams, 2 Distinguished Young Scholars Foundation Projects, 18 Key Projects, 7 Guangxi Innovation Driven Development Special Projects, 8 Guangxi Major Special Projects, and 11 Key Research and Development Plans. It has obtained 401 authorized invention patents and more than 10 achievements in technology transfer. It has won 20 science and technology awards at the provincial and ministerial levels or above, including 1 Guangxi First Youth Science and Technology Outstanding Contribution Award, 1 Second Prize of the 18th Huo Yingdong Education Foundation Colleges and Universities Youth Science Award, and 5 Guangxi Science and Technology Second Prizes. In the past five years, it has published more than 2,800 academic papers and invited nearly 50 domestic and foreign experts for academic exchanges. It has hosted many academic conferences, including the 2016 National Metallurgical Physical Chemistry Academic Conference and Metallurgical Physical Chemistry Field Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China Communication Meeting, the 9th Seminar on Frontiers in Molecular Reaction Dynamics, the 10th International Seminar on Integrated Macromolecules/Materials Science and Engineering (IMSE-10), the 2019 International Academic Forum on Calcium Carbonate Research and Development (Nanning Chapter), the 7th National Academic Seminar on Catalytic Reaction and Separation, and the 12th Global Chinese Chemical Engineering Scholars Nanning Seminar. The Chemistry discipline is ranked in the ESI global top 1%. In 2022, the disciplines of Chemistry, Materials Science, and Engineering of Guangxi University were ranked in the ESI global top 1%. The School’s contribution rates to these disciplines were 36.8%, 19.9%, and 10.2%, respectively, making significant contributions to the “Double First-Class” construction of Guangxi University.
To build a platform for the communication between alumni and Guangxi University, and better serve alumni, the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Alumni Association was established in December 2017. Since then, the School actively established alumni chapters both inside and outside the autonomous region. At present, 9 alumni chapters are established at Liuzhou, Nanning, Guilin, Wuzhou/Hezhou, Baise, Guangdong, Qinzhou/Beihai/Fangchenggang, Hechi, and Beijing/Tianjin/Hebei. Through organizing alumni representative symposiums, alumni forums, alumni recruitment meetings, and establishing new employment bases, student internship bases, and industry-academia-research cooperation bases and other, the School strengthens the communication among alumni and unity and promotes the high-quality development of the University and the School.
The School is research-oriented. Through the construction of “Double First-Class”, it will continue to promote the development of the first-level discipline of Chemical Engineering and Technology and Chemistry. It strives to build a leading research-oriented college in the central and western regions of China with a scientific layout of research directions, reasonable faculty teams and the education related structure, and distinctive features in the research and utilization of regional resources.