History of UCAS

Located in Beijing, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences was established with the approval of Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Its predecessor, Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (GUCAS), was the first graduate school in China. UCAS granted China’s first PhD degree in science, first PhD degree in engineering, first PhD degree to a female student, and first double PhD degrees. In June 2012, GUCAS was renamed UCAS. 

UCAS and CAS

UCAS is administered and managed by Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), which was established in 1949. Comprising more than 100 institutes, CAS is China's highest academic institution in natural sciences, highest-ranking consulting institution in science and technology, most preeminent research and development center for natural sciences and high technology, and most important base in the training of advanced scientific talents.

UCAS Education: "The Fusion of Research and Teaching"

Most of our faculty is selected from different institutes of Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS Institues) where its education and research centers and scientific platforms are distributed. Most of our colleges are jointly run by CAS Institues, therefore, UCAS is believed to be a university that integrates scientific research and teaching. 

 As of Dec, 2021, UCAS had 72 teaching and research institutes, 16 affiliated hospitals, 73 national key labs, 191 CAS key labs, 39 national engineering research centers (labs) and various national frontier scientific research projects. It also boasts a huge talent pool where there are 3,155 professors, 12880 supervisors, including 191 CAS members and 7537 PhD supervisors from two national research centers (or labs).

Taking advantages of the top research and human resources of CAS, UCAS is committed to building itself into a world-class university. According to the Essential Science Indicators (ESI) report released in March 2022, UCAS ranked 42th worldwide, and 1st among all the universities in Chinese mainland. In terms of ranking lists by research fields, UCAS found itself in the top 1‰ in the fields of materials science, chemistry and environment/ecology, the top 1‰ in 9 fields, including materials sciences, chemistry, environment/ecology, plant & animal sciences, geosciences, biology & biochemistry, physics, agricultural sciences and engineering, and the top 1% in 19 fields.

International Cooperation

Based on CAS and its extensive international network of scientific cooperation, UCAS has established close partnerships with esteemed oversea institutions of higher learning such as Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia University, Stanford University and Cambridge University, and research institutes including British Royal Academy of Sciences, French National Research Center, German Academic Exchange Center, American Academy of Sciences.       UCAS is a member of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), and has co-founded the Sino-Danish College in China with the Danish Ministry of Science and Education and eight Danish public universities, and has established the ICTP-AP with UNESCO. Supported by the Kavli Foundation of the United States, UCAS has also founded a Kavli Institute for Theoretical Sciences, one of the 20 Kavli institutes across the world. 

To help promote education in Belt and Road countries, UCAS has been involved in international projects, including UCAS Overseas Joint-Science and Educational Centre, ANSO fellowship and the CAS “Belt and Road” Master fellowship program.

For Better Students, For Better Future

Embracing its motto “Knowledge, Devotion, Wisdom, Virtue”, carrying the CAS tradition of “Science, Democracy, Patriotism and Dedication”, and promoting the CAS ethos of “Practicality, Truth, Cooperation, and Innovation”, UCAS is committed to laying a solid foundation for the students for future scientific research through strengthening their innovation capabilities, cultivating their down-to-earth characters, and developing their social responsibility. In its development path towards a comprehensive national science center, UCAS is reaching further to explore its potential in the fusion of research and teaching, in order to build itself into a top world-class university by 2035.