As one of the earliest Departments of Chemistry in China, the Department of Chemistry at Beijing Normal University (BNU) was established in 1922. The predecessor of the department can be traced back to the Division of Physics and Chemistry established in 1912 at Faculty of Education, Capital Metropolitan University. Now the Department of Chemistry has a history of 100 years. In 1952, according to the adjustments of the universities in China, the Department of Chemistry at National Fu Jen University joined the Department of Chemistry at BNU. In September 2005, the Department of Chemistry was renamed as the College of Chemistry.

The College of Chemistry at BNU has long and brilliant history. Many famous and outstanding chemists and chemistry educators had (or have) been working and studying here, such as Professor Yu Tongkui who was the pioneer of chemical education in China, the originator and organizer of the European branch of the Chinese Chemical society. As one of the first student, he enrolled in the Normal Hall of Capital Metropolitan University in 1902. In 1920, he served as the president of Beijing Technology school, the predecessor of Beijing University of Technology. In 1922, he and Chen Shizhang found the Chemical Engineering Institute of China, the predecessor of Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China. He also established the Journal of Chinese Society of Chemical Industry and was the chief editor; Professor Chen Yuguang, who was one of the establishers of Chinese Chemical Society (CCS). He was once the 1st -4th president of CCS, the Dean of the Department of Chemistry at BNU, the acting president of BNU. Later he served as the president of University of Nanking; Professor Wu Chengluo, who also was one of the establishers of CCS,the 1st -4th Secretary General of CCS, the Chair and Director of the Council of CCS for 6 times, worked as a Secretary in Charge and Secretary for 10 years, and found journals of Chemistry, Chemical engineering, and Chemical Communication; Professor Ding Xuxian (the Chair of the Department of Chemistry of Beijing University since 1919); Academician Yuan Hanqing; Academician Xing Qiyi; Academician Jiang Lijin; Professor Lu Baozhong; Professor Hu Zhibin; Professor Chen Guangaxu, who was one of  the establisher of Chemical Education Committee ofChinese Chemical society, the founder of the journal of <Chemical Education> and served as its first chief editor;  Professor Yang Baochang; Professor Yan Meihe; Academician Li Dongying, who was the vice chairman and secretary-general of the Chinese Society of Rare Earths and the Nonferrous Metals Society of China, and the originator of the two societies; Academician Dong Shaojun, who is the Academician of the Third World Academy of Sciences; Academician Liu Ruozhuang;  Academician Liu Boli, and Professor Liu Zhixin, et al. In 2013, Professor Fang Weihai, the Chair of the College of Chemistry at BNU, was elected to be an academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

With the hard work of several generations of scientists, faculties, staffs, and students, especially in the last 30 years since China began the Reform and Opening up, the College of Chemistry has formed a reasonable distribution of subjects, with the characteristics of teaching and scientific research system. The high-qualitative teaching and scientific research team of the department has made great achievements in education and scientific research, also trained a large number of talents for China. Now the college becomes a solid institute having a major impact on the chemical education and research in China, and is an important base for training high-level research scientists.

The College of Chemistry is now employing 118 faculty, including 48 professors (all of them are advisers of Ph.D. students), 38 associate professors (12 of them are Ph.D. advisers), 2 academicians of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Professor Liu Ruozhuang Liu and Professor Fang Weihai), 1 academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering (Professor Liu Boli), 1 chief expert of 973 project, 2 candidates of the Country Thousand Talents Program, 2 Cheung Kong Scholars, 2 Cheung Kong Part-time Professors, 2 state level-d candidates of New Century Bai-Qian-wan talent project, 8 national winners of the Distinguished Youth Fund ( including 1 Distinguished Youth Class B), 2 candidates of the Country Thousand Young Talents Program, 2 national winners of the Outstanding Youth Fund, 6 winners of the Next Century Talent Projects, 3 members of the division of the Steering Committee of the University Teaching of the Ministry of Education, 2 winners of the National 100 Excellent PhD Thesis, 3 winners of the Beijing Excellent PhD Thesis.

The College of Chemistry is comprised of 7 institutes: Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Institute of Analytical Chemistry, Institute of Organic Chemistry, Institute of Theoretical and Physical Chemistry, Institute of the Polymer Chemistry and Physics, Institute of Applied Chemistry, and Institute of Chemical Education; 3 departments: Department of Material Chemistry, Department of Chemical Biology, and Department of Medical Chemistry; 1 Education center of Chemical Experiments, and 1 Shihong Drug Research Center.

The College of Chemistry has one Postdoctoral station (established in 2001). It can authorize doctoral degree in Chemistry (since 2003); Inorganic Chemistry (1986), Analytical Chemistry (2007), Organic Chemistry (1981), Physical Chemistry (1981) and Polymer Chemistry and Physics (2008) can authorize doctoral degree within the Secondary Subject of chemistry. Inorganic Chemistry (1981), Analytical Chemistry (1984), Organic Chemistry (1981), Physical Chemistry (1981) and Polymer Chemistry and Physics (1990) can also authorize master degree within the Secondary Subject of chemistry. Medical Chemistry (self-setting in 2005) authorizes master degree. Medical Chemistry and Molecular Engineering (self-setting in 2012) can authorize doctoral degree. Chemical Education also has authority of master (1981) and doctoral (1998) degree. Physics Chemical is the national key discipline. Inorganic Chemistry and Organic Chemistry are Beijing key disciplines.

The College of Chemistry has 1 National Education Demonstration Center of Chemistry Experiment, 3  provincial and ministerial-leveled key Laboratories (Key Laboratory of Radio Pharmaceuticals of the Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Photochemistry of the Ministry of Education, and Key Laboratory of Energy Conversion and Storage Materials of Beijing), 5 Key Laboratories of the University. We also have 2 innovation teams of the Ministry of Education, one is the team of Quantum Chemical Biology, the other is the team of Energy Conversion and Storage Materials. In 2014, Professor Shao Jiushu Shao led to win the National Natural Science Foundation Innovation Research Groups. The College of Chemistry at BNU is the anchored unit of Chemical Education Committee of Chinese Chemical Society, Beijing Chemical Society, the Association of Asia Radiation Curing, and the Journal of Chemical Education of CCS.

The College of Chemistry has fruitful achievement in scientific research. A large number of high qualified articles are published in various famous international journals. The amount of the paper published in SCI core journals by the members in College of Chemistry ranks No.1 in Beijing Normal University in recent years. The faculty of the college also won several national and local awards, such as the State Scientific and Technological Progress Second Prize. They are taking on more than 50 research projects each year, including 973 projects, 863 projects, projects from National Natural Foundation of Science in China (NSFC), and so on. The number of projects and the amount of the grant both also rank No.1 in the whole university. In the last three years, more than 20 million￥ fund was gained in each year.

The college is paying a great attention on the foresting of talents, especially the undergraduate teaching, which is one of the two centers of the development of the college. We actively carry out educational reforms by combining the scientific research and teaching, and already obtain a number of achievements. Some excellent achievements in education research and practice have been widely promoted in other universities. In the last five years, we won 2 secondary national awards in education and teaching, 2 first Beijing awards in education and teaching. We also take on 1 national key project and, 3 national normal projects, 4 Beijing projects on teaching reform.The college owns 1 national outstanding teaching team, 1Beijing outstanding teaching team. We also preside over 3 national quality courses, 1 national bilingual demonstration course,4 national quality resource sharing courses and 5 Beijing quality courses.One professor won the Award of National Outstanding Teacher in education and teaching. Two professors won the Award of Beijing Outstanding Teacher in education and teaching.There are more than 30 textbooks, including 4 textbooks for the 21th century, 3 textbooks of the 10th Five-Year Plan, 6 textbooks of the11the Five-Year Plan,2 textbooks (for the first stage) of the 12th Five-Year Plan, 1National Quality Text books and 6 Beijing Quality Textbooks.There are also 7 projects on Beijing Quality Textbooks.

The College of Chemistry recruits about 150 undergraduate students, 80 master graduate students, 40 Ph.D. students ,and 2-4 Post Doctors each year. We also take on the missions of adult education and high school teacher training. In 2007, the college started to recruit free-education students who will become high school teacher after graduating. In 2010, the collage was included in the "the Experimental Plan of Training the Top Students on the Basic Subjects". Now the college has a complete system on the education of undergraduate students, master students, Ph.D. students and Post doctors. In the last 3 years, except the education fee-wavered students who have to be employed directly, 20% of the fresh graduates study abroad with full scholarships, 50% students pursue a higher degree. Most other students are employed by the government departments, high-tech companies, and high schools. The employment proportion of graduate students is up to 100%. And 98% masters are employed after graduation. Among the graduate students of the College of Chemistry , there are not only a large number of outstanding high school teachers, but also excellent academicians in chemistry, Changjiang Scholars, and Outstanding Youth. For example, Prof. Deqing Zhang is the director of Institute of Chemistry of Chinese Academy of Sciences; Prof. Liping Zhang is the director of Physical and Chemical Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Technology. The College of Chemistry has become the important bases to cultivate outstanding talents in chemistry education and research. Our graduates are also welcomed by the employers and the society.

These high-leveled research and education achievements demonstrate the heavy historical foundation of the College of Chemistry at Beijing Normal University. Now the college is at a new historical stage of development, all the students and faculty are united and working hard to make contributions to the course construction, talents training, and major social needs.

( Updated October 2014 )

Contact Information:

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E-mail: chem_dean@bnu.edu.cn

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