Introduction for School of Environment at Nanjing University

Founded in 1978, the School of Environment is one of the earliest institutions to carry out environmental teaching and research in China. The school is well known for student training and the prominent integration features of industry-university-research. Environmental science and engineering program is selected as the national "double first-class construction" discipline, Jiangsu Province key construction advantage discipline. In addition, both environmental science and environmental engineering have been selected as "double ten-thousand" construction majors. In 2022, the school ranked the top in the 5^th round of discipline evaluation of the Ministry of Education, and the 10^th in the world from Academic Ranking of World Universities. Moreover, in the nature index of "Earth and Environmental Science", school of Environment ranks the 1^st in the world among universities, and "Environmental Science" ranks the 1^st in the country from ranking of the alumni Association.

School of Environment has the first-class faculties. There are eighty-five full-time faculty members, including three members of The Chinese Academy of Engineering, one National Outstanding Teaching Master, five Chang Jiang Scholars, eight Distinguished Young Scholars supported by NSFC, and twenty-five members from Four-Young-Talent programs. The school of Environment has one Innovation Research group supported by NSFC, five innovation teams of Ministry of Education/Ministry of Science and Technology/Jiangsu Province/Sinopec Association.

The school has outstanding strength in environmental chemistry, environmental toxicology and health, water pollution control, environmental functional materials, and environmental planning and management. It has won 13 national science and technology awards, 14 first prizes at provincial and ministerial level and 6 international awards. It has established more than 70 international/domestic standards, authorized >90 international patents and published more than 250 papers in Nature sub-journals, e.g., PNAS, ES&T and WR in the past five years, ranking top 1‰ in ESI.

The school has several research and teaching facilities, such as the State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control & Resource Reuse, the National Engineering Research Center for Organic Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, the National Experimental Teaching Center of Environmental Science and Engineering, the National Virtual Simulation Experimental Teaching Center of Social Economic Environment System, the National Technical Standard Innovation Base (Water Environment Technology and Equipment), 6 provincial and ministerial platforms and 14 university-local joint platforms and 1 listed company (Nanda Huanjing).


The quality of the school's enrollment remains stable, with 78% of master's students and 74% of doctoral students coming from "first-class disciplines". Outstanding achievements in student training have been obtained, including 4 National Teaching Achievement Awards and 6 Jiangsu Teaching Achievement Awards. Student entrepreneurship and innovation projects have won 36 competition awards, e.g., the Gold Medal of Geneva International Invention Exhibition and the first prize of Challenge Cup. A number of graduates have become well-known professors, chairmen of listed companies, and executives of multinational companies/international organizations.


Among the faculty members, many of them are chief editor/deputy editor/editorial board member of 57 academic journals. The school also plays the leading roles in several international organizations, for example, the Sub-Committee of Industrial Water Reuse of the International Organization for Standardization, the International Institute for Environmental Studies jointly established by 21 universities and institutes in 13 countries (regions), the Sino-US Green Partnership Program, and the Asia Office of Springer Nature.

Now, the school has formed its unique characteristics of "integration of science and technology, integration of industry, education and research", "integration of industry and education, two-way extension, and adaptation to local conditions", and the platform system of "talent cultivation -- basic research-technology research-standard research-commercialization of scientific achievements". It has been developed into a highland with strong international influence for cultivation of high-end environmental talents, high-level scientific research, and specialized social services.