The College of Civil Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology has a long history, reaching back to the Civil Engineering Division, one of the four subjects taught in the Western Learning School of The National Shanxi Grand Academy, established in 1902. In 1953, an independent institute, Taiyuan Institute of Engineering, was established, in which the Department of Civil Engineering was one of four founder departments. In 1997, Taiyuan Institute of Engineering and Shanxi Mining Institute combined to form Taiyuan University of Technology. In the University, the Department of Civil Engineering, Department of Architecture, Department of Hydraulic Engineering, and Department of Environment and Municipal Engineering were combined to form the School of Architecture and Environmental Engineering. Renamed the School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, it retained the original Department of Civil Engineering and Department of Architecture purview. The School of Architecture and Civil Engineering was renamed the College of Civil Engineering in 2019 and incorporated the disciplines of the built environment and energy application engineering.

The College of Civil Engineering comprises three departments (Department of Architectural Engineering, and Department of Road and Bridge Engineering, and Department of Building Environment and Energy Application Engineering), one faculty (Basic Faculty of Civil Engineering), and one centre (Experimental Centre for Civil Engineering). It offers three undergraduate disciplines, that is, civil engineering, road, bridge, and river-crossing engineering, and built environment and energy application engineering. Therein, the civil engineering programs have passed their assessment (identification) of undergraduate education separately in 2011 and 2016, and form one of the key disciplines taught in Shanxi Province. Besides, building environment and energy application engineering has passed its assessment (identification) of undergraduate education separately in 2017. The college has established a post-doctoral research centre in civil engineering and is authorised to confer first-grade doctoral degrees in civil engineering and master’s degrees in civil and hydraulic engineering. Teaching activities are mainly performed in the Boxue Building A, Structural Laboratory of Civil Engineering, and Daoqiao Building, covering a usable floor area of about 10,000 m². The experimental centre of the college consists of 46 functional laboratories, equipped with 40 sets of large-scale instruments and equipment, with fixed assets valued at 50 million yuan.

Over 120 faculty members and 95 full-time teaching staff work for the college, including 23 professors, 30 associate professors, two outstanding teachers in Shanxi Province, 18 doctoral supervisors, and 47 supervisors of master’s degree programs. One was selected as a New Century Excellent Talent in the Universities by the Ministry of Education of China. In addition, two were rewarded as outstanding teachers, three as top backbone talents in the “Supporting Program for Sanjin(Shanxi) Talents”, one among the top 10 outstanding young and middle-aged scientists, three as leading talents in emerging industries, one as academic technology leader, four as outstanding young academic leaders, and 14 as outstanding young talents in the “Supporting Program for Sanjin(Shanxi) Talents”, of Shanxi Province.

The college cultivates talents to meet major national strategic needs and focuses on the frontiers of international discipline development. It has cultivated over 10,000 qualified graduates, making great contributions to nation-building and socio-economic development, thus winning extensive praise for the college. Now, over 1200 domestic undergraduates, 400 master’s degree students, and 50 PhD students are studying at the college. As for international students, there are 10 undergraduates, 18 master’s degree students, and two PhD students. As the president unit of the Alliance of Civil Engineering in Shanxi Province, Taiyuan University of Technology has sent 1510 students to participate in competitions based on scientific and technological endeavour and won 19 national prizes and 23 provincial prizes. The Third Graduate Student Party Branch of the college was included in the first batch of typical graduate student party branches across Shanxi Province in 2019.

The college has made great progress in scientific research. The college has applied for 126 national fund projects over the last five years, among which 19 have been approved, with granted scientific research funds amounting 19.7566 million yuan. The research findings have been presented in 626 academic papers, in which 155 are indexed by SCI and EI and 66 invention patents have been granted. The research findings have been widely used in many key projects and made significant contributions to solving bottle-neck problems in disaster prevention and mitigation, and to promoting the construction technology development, of Shanxi Province and indeed the whole of China.

The College of Civil Engineering has thrived during its long history since. Adhering to its mission of “Cultivating excellent talents in civil engineering” and the motto “Pursuing practicality and creating originality” of the university, staff of the college have always forged ahead and laid a solid foundation for the college with their wisdom and efforts. Looking ahead, they will keep pace with the times, stick to the intention and mission of “never forgetting previous sufferings and glories, keeping today’s mission in mind, and living up to future goals”, and forge ahead towards the goal of building first-class disciplines under the guidance of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Thoughts on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.