The School of Bioengineering at Tianjin University of Science and Technology is located in the Binhai New Area of Tianjin, adjacent to the Binhai-Zhongguancun Science Park and the Tianjin International Joint Research Institute of Biomedicine. Its advantageous geographical location facilitates close collaboration with surrounding research institutions and enterprises, continuously promoting innovation and the practical application of research results in the field of bioengineering. With 68 years of dedicated development, the school has cultivated a profound academic foundation and an outstanding industry reputation in bioengineering. It has established a complete talent cultivation system encompassing undergraduate, master's, doctoral, and postdoctoral levels, currently employing over 1,100 undergraduate students and over 1,600 master's and doctoral students. It is a crucial base for talent cultivation and technological innovation in my country's bioengineering field.

I. Historical Development: Passing on the Torch and Moving Forward with Determination

The college traces its origins back to 1958, with its predecessor being the Fermentation Engineering major at Hebei Light Industry College. As a core major in one of the first four undergraduate institutions directly under the Ministry of Light Industry, it laid the foundation for talent cultivation and technological research and development in the field of fermentation in my country's light industry. During the nationwide consolidation of colleges and universities in 1964, the Fermentation Engineering major from Beijing Light Industry College was transferred to the college, making it one of the two strongest fermentation engineering majors in my country at that time. In 1993, the major was renamed Biochemical Engineering; in 1998, in accordance with the adjustment of the undergraduate major catalog by the Ministry of Education, it was officially renamed Bioengineering. To adapt to the rapid development of biotechnology and the needs of the domestic biopharmaceutical industry, the college added a Pharmaceutical Engineering major in 2000. In 2004, Bioengineering and Pharmaceutical Engineering were formally established as the School of Bioengineering, opening a new chapter of multidisciplinary collaborative development.

II. Strategic Positioning: Anchoring to Demand and Focusing Efforts

Guided by national strategies for biomanufacturing and biomedicine, and closely aligned with Tianjin's development strategy as a bio-industry innovation hub, the college adheres to the overall development approach of "establishing the college through distinctive features, strengthening the college through interdisciplinary collaboration, integrating industry and education, and promoting the college's regional development." Leveraging its traditional strengths in light industry fermentation and utilizing AI to empower biotechnology, the college focuses on practical industry needs and is committed to becoming a high-level, distinctive research-oriented college, providing solid talent support and technological guarantees for the high-quality development of the national bio-industry and the transformation and upgrading of the regional economy. The college is currently a member unit of the Teaching Steering Committee for Bioengineering and Biotechnology Majors of the Ministry of Education, a vice-chairman unit of the China Biofermentation Industry Association, and a vice-chairman unit of the Chinese Institute of Food Science.

III. Faculty: A collection of renowned teachers with an excellent teaching staff.

The college currently has 160 faculty and staff members, including 119 full-time teachers, 86 of whom hold senior professional titles. All faculty members hold doctoral degrees, forming a high-quality teaching team that combines experienced, middle-aged, and young teachers with a reasonable structure and outstanding academic achievements. The faculty includes a large number of industry leaders, including one member of the State Council Academic Degrees Committee, three recipients of the National "Ten Thousand Talents Program," one recipient of the National "Hundred, Thousand, Ten Thousand Talents Project," one National Outstanding Young and Middle-aged Expert, one National Excellent Young Scientist, one National Young Top-notch Talent, one Shennong Young Talent, and three experts receiving special government allowances from the State Council. Furthermore, the college has established one Ministry of Education "CJ Scholars Award Program" innovation team, two Tianjin "131" Innovative Talent Teams, and one Tianjin Key Field Innovation Team. It also boasts one National Teaching Master, one National Teaching Team, and three Tianjin Teaching Teams, providing strong faculty support for talent cultivation and scientific research.

The college has achieved remarkable results in Party building and teacher ethics development. The Applied Microbiology Faculty Party Branch was selected for the national "Double Leader" Teacher Party Branch Secretary "Strong Nation Action" special campaign, the Pharmaceutical Engineering Faculty Party Branch was awarded the title of the first batch of model Party branches in Tianjin, the Drug Design and Synthesis Team won the national March 8th Red Banner Collective honorary title, and the college was rated as an advanced collective in the Tianjin education system.

In recent years, the college's research teams and individual teachers have received numerous honors, including National Civilized Women's Post, National Worker Pioneer, National Women's Model Worker, Tianjin March 8th Red Banner Advanced Collective, Outstanding Communist Party Member of Tianjin Education System, Outstanding Teacher of Tianjin Education System, Most Beautiful Teacher of Tianjin, Tianjin Model Worker, Tianjin May 1st Labor Medal, Tianjin May 4th Youth Medal, Outstanding Scientific and Technological Worker of Tianjin, and Advanced Worker in Popular Science Work of Tianjin. At the same time, a number of exemplary teachers with high moral character and excellent professional skills have emerged.

IV. Discipline and Major Development: Comprehensive System with Prominent Advantages

The college boasts distinctive academic strengths. Since its development in 1958, it has established a complete talent cultivation system covering undergraduate, master's, doctoral, and postdoctoral levels, consistently ranking among the top institutions of its kind in China. The college offers doctoral and master's programs and a postdoctoral research station in Light Industry Technology and Engineering, master's programs in Bioengineering and Pharmacy, as well as professional doctoral and master's programs in Biology and Medicine. Among these, Fermentation Engineering is a national key discipline, Light Industry Technology and Engineering has received key support from higher authorities and has been selected as a top-tier and first-class discipline in Tianjin, while Pharmacy is a key discipline in Tianjin.

The college has strongly supported six disciplines—Agricultural Sciences, Chemistry, Biology & Biochemistry, Engineering, Materials Science, and Environment/Ecology—to enter the top 1% globally in the ESI rankings, with Agricultural Sciences ranking in the top 0.1% globally. It also supports the Polymer Science discipline to rank 9th globally in the US News rankings. As the leading university, the college has established a national municipal-level industry-education consortium for biomedicine, and supported the Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Area's biomedical industry-education consortium to be selected as one of the first batch of national-level industry-education consortia. In 2024, it spearheaded the establishment of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Biomedical Modern Industry College Alliance, setting up the first municipal-level university-affiliated Excellent Engineer College. In 2025, it spearheaded the alliance's teaching reform and talent cultivation seminar, creating a "Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Biomedical Talent Cultivation Community." Simultaneously, it conducts joint postgraduate training with outstanding research institutions and enterprises such as the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and CanSino Biologics, and has jointly established a Sino-British dual master's program with the University of Bradford, constructing a comprehensive collaborative education system.

Significant progress has been made in the development of these programs. The Bioengineering program is a national first-class undergraduate program, a national characteristic program, and a program selected for the Ministry of Education's Excellent Engineer Training Program. It has passed national engineering education certification and is also a Tianjin municipal brand program, a brand program integrating industry and education, and a key program for the development of new engineering disciplines. The Pharmaceutical Engineering program is a national first-class undergraduate program, a Tianjin municipal strategic emerging industry-related program, an applied program, and a brand program integrating industry and education. Both core programs demonstrate a distinct industry orientation and unique educational characteristics.

V. Teaching and Research Platform: Comprehensive and Strong Support

The college has built a comprehensive matrix of teaching and research platforms at the national, provincial, and industry levels, with more than 20 platforms of various levels and types, making it a benchmark force in the field of biomanufacturing.

In terms of scientific research platforms, the university boasts national-level platforms such as the National Key Laboratory of Bio-based Fiber Materials, the National Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety (co-constructed by the Ministry of Education and the Province), the National-Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Metabolic Control Fermentation Technology, the National Engineering Research Center for Industrial Enzymes, and the National Innovation Center for Synthetic Biotechnology. It also has provincial-level, industry-level, and international cooperation platforms, including the International Science and Technology Cooperation Base for Food Nutrition and Safety and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, the Key Laboratory of Industrial Fermentation Microbiology of the Ministry of Education, the Engineering Research Center for Food Biotechnology of the Ministry of Education, the Industrial Innovation Technology Research Institute of the China Alcoholic Drinks Association, the Key Laboratory of Microbial Engineering of China Light Industry, the Tianjin Engineering Technology Center for Microbial Fermentation and Metabolic Control, the Tianjin Haihe Laboratory for Synthetic Biology, the Tianjin Fermentation Industry Engineering Technology Center, and the China-Thailand Joint Research Institute of Modern Biology and Pharmaceutical Technology. These platforms provide advanced hardware support for original innovation and technological research and development.

In terms of teaching platforms, it boasts a national-level experimental teaching demonstration center for bioengineering, a national joint training demonstration base for postgraduate students in biopharmaceutical technology, a Tianjin municipal-level experimental teaching demonstration center for bioengineering, and a new engineering practice teaching base, among others. It has multiple secondary and tertiary laboratories with comprehensive and advanced experimental facilities and equipment. It also offers 3 national-level first-class courses, 1 Ministry of Education's "Tuojin Plan" course, and 6 Tianjin municipal-level first-class and characteristic courses. It has published over 40 textbooks, including "Microbiology (Second Edition)," which was selected as a national-level planned textbook for undergraduate education during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. It spearheaded the construction of the nation's first resource database platform for ideological and political education in light industry-specific courses and was approved as an excellent case study for "all-round education" in Tianjin schools.

VI. Scientific Research and Technology Transfer: Innovation-Driven Development, Empowering Industry

Leveraging its traditional strengths in light industry fermentation, the college empowers biotechnology with AI, focusing on four research directions: precision drug synthesis, low-carbon biochemical engineering, intelligent manufacturing of future foods, and intelligent biomaterials. It has assembled 19 research teams to reconstruct the entire biomanufacturing chain, opening up new application scenarios in pharmaceuticals, chemicals, food, and materials. The college has built a full-chain transformation platform from basic research to industrial application. Through an innovative "laboratory + incubator + enterprise" model, it solidifies original innovation, scales up processes, and promotes the transformation of research results, enabling scientific and technological achievements to quickly move from concept to application.

In recent years, the college has undertaken and completed over 700 national, provincial, ministerial, and industry-funded research projects, including leading 2 National Key R&D Program projects and 16 National Key R&D Program sub-projects, undertaking 2 major industry-funded projects worth 20 million RMB, 14 major industry-funded projects worth 10 million RMB or more, and over 170 industry-funded projects worth over one million RMB. Through technology transfer and other services, it has cumulatively increased the output value of enterprises by hundreds of billions of RMB; it has incubated over 10 biotechnology companies, with equity financing exceeding 1 billion RMB. The college has achieved remarkable research results, winning 2 National Science and Technology Awards, 6 China Patent Excellence Awards, over 40 provincial and ministerial-level science and technology awards, and 46 social science and technology awards. In the past five years, it has published over 1,500 academic papers, including over 750 SCI papers, and has been granted over 400 national invention patents. It has participated in the formulation and revision of over 20 national and industry standards, with many achievements reaching international leading or advanced levels.

VII. Talent Cultivation: Moral Education and Character Building Achievements are Remarkable

The college has always adhered to its fundamental mission of cultivating virtue and talent, keeping in mind its original aspiration of educating people for the Party and the country. Closely following the concept of "integration of vocational and general education, integration of industry and education, and integration of science and education," it promotes a collaborative undergraduate-master-doctoral training model. In recent years, it has completed 5 national-level undergraduate teaching quality projects or teaching reform projects and 8 Tianjin municipal-level projects. Among them, two projects, including "Exploration and Practice of Innovative Talent Training Model for Bioengineering and Biotechnology Majors," won national-level teaching achievement awards, and six projects, including "Under the Guidance of International Engineering Education, Innovative Undergraduate Talent Training System Oriented to the Bio-industry through Integration of Industry, Science, and Education," won Tianjin municipal-level teaching achievement awards. It boasts 3 national-level first-class courses and 6 Tianjin municipal-level first-class and characteristic courses. In recent years, it has published more than 40 textbooks, with "Microbiology (Second Edition)" selected as a national-level planned textbook for undergraduate education during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period.

The college highly values the cultivation of students' innovation and entrepreneurship abilities. Students have achieved outstanding results in competitions such as the International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition (iGEM), the National Undergraduate Life Science Competition (CULSC), and the China International Undergraduate Innovation Competition, winning a series of honors including iGEM gold medals, first prizes, silver medals, and bronze medals in national competitions. Some projects have been recognized as "Best Entrepreneurial Projects" and "My Favorite Projects" at the National Undergraduate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Conference. The college spearheaded the construction of the nation's first teaching resource database platform for ideological and political education in light industry-featured courses. The Biomedical Modern Industry College won the "National Best Case" award for the construction of modern industry colleges in 2022 and was approved as a Tianjin municipal-level modern industry college in 2023, achieving a seamless connection between teaching and industry needs.

VIII. International Cooperation: Openness and Inclusivity, Mutual Empowerment

The college deeply implements General Secretary Xi Jinping's concept of "building a community with a shared future for mankind" and the "Belt and Road" initiative, and puts into practice the "Opinions of the Ministry of Education and other eight departments on accelerating and expanding the opening up of education to the outside world in the new era," actively expanding its international cooperation areas. After years of development, it has successively carried out talent cultivation, scientific research cooperation, and academic exchanges with Japan, the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Germany, the Czech Republic, and other countries, establishing cooperative platforms such as Sino-British cooperative undergraduate programs, Sino-British dual master's degree programs, all-English undergraduate programs for international students, a Sino-British joint brewing laboratory, and a Sino-Thai joint research institute for modern biotechnology and medicine. It has constructed a two-way international education, research, and exchange system that combines internal and external cooperation, providing a broad platform for all faculty and students to broaden their international perspectives.

Standing at a new starting point for development, the School of Bioengineering at Tianjin University of Science and Technology will be guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, fully implement the Party's education policy, continue to deepen reforms and forge ahead, and make continuous efforts in discipline construction, talent cultivation, scientific research innovation, and achievement transformation. It will strive to build a distinctive, first-class domestic and internationally renowned School of Bioengineering, and contribute more to the high-quality development of the national bio-industry.