With greenery turning to gold and distinguished guests assembled, SDUST's High-Quality Development Conference was grandly held at the Qingdao Campus on September 27. Leaders at all levels, academicians and experts, guests from all sectors of society, alumni from home and abroad, and faculty and students gathered to review the University's 75 years of endeavor and to chart a new blueprint for high-quality development.
Chen Ping, Vice Governor of Shandong Province and a member of the Party Leadership Group of the Provincial Government, attended and addressed the conference. Also present were Li Deren, academician of both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering and recipient of the State Preeminent Science and Technology Award; Ling Wen, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Chairman of the Shandong Association for Science and Technology; Song Zhenqi, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and professor at SDUST; Li Shucai, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Deputy Party Secretary and President of Shandong University, and a 1983 graduate of SDUST; Jin Zhijun, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dean of the Institute of Energy at Peking University, and a 1977 graduate of SDUST; Kang Hongpu, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Chief Scientist of China Coal Technology and Engineering Group; Jin Zhixin, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, professor at Taiyuan University of Technology, and a member of the Work Safety Committee of the State Council; Wei Yueguang, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, member of the 14th National Committee of the CPPCC, and Deputy Director of the Division of Information and Engineering Sciences at Peking University; Pan Yishan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and former Party Secretary of Liaoning University and professor there; Liu Quansheng, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, professor at Wuhan University, and a 1979 graduate of SDUST; Dai Shifeng, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, professor at China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), and a 1990 graduate of SDUST; Zhao Yangang, foreign member of the Engineering Academy of Japan and professor at Beijing University of Technology; Jiang Yujing, foreign member of the Engineering Academy of Japan and professor at SDUST; Song Yuanfang, former Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Shandong Provincial People's Congress, former Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Qingdao Municipal People's Congress, and a 1977 graduate of SDUST; Luo Xianqing, Deputy Director of the General Office of the Shandong Provincial People's Government and a member of its Party Leadership Group; Liu Feng, member of the Party Leadership Group of the Shandong Provincial Department of Science and Technology and Party Secretary and Director of the Shandong Institute for Innovation and Development; Wang Hao, member of the Education Work Committee of the CPC Shandong Provincial Committee, and Deputy Director and member of the Party Leadership Group of the Shandong Provincial Department of Education; Luo Gongli, delegate to the 20th National Congress of the CPC, Vice Chairman of the Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee of the Shandong Provincial People's Congress, and President of the Shandong Association of Higher Education; Zhuang Zengda, member of the Party Leadership Group of the Qingdao Municipal Government and concurrently Director of the Qingdao Municipal Office of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense; Zhang Jianwei, Vice Mayor of Tai'an and a member of the Party Leadership Group of the Tai'an Municipal Government; Wang Qingyuan, Deputy Secretary of both the Working Committee and the District Party Committee, Director of the Management Committee and District Mayor of Qingdao West Coast New Area; and Ma Bingguang, Chief Inspector of the Jinan Municipal Bureau of Education. Leaders and guests from national ministries and commissions, the CPC Shandong Provincial Committee and the Provincial Government, and local governments were also present.
The conference was also attended by officials from provincial, municipal and district governments and relevant departments; leaders of peer universities at home and abroad; representatives of co-construction partners; renowned experts and scholars; friends from all walks of society; and members of the University's current leadership, retired faculty, and alumni, faculty, student and media representatives. Guo Yiling, Deputy Party Secretary of the University, presided over the conference.
During the conference the University received letters and telegrams of congratulation from nearly 100 peer universities, local governments, research institutes, partner enterprises and international sister universities — among them Shandong University, the Shandong Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security, the Shandong Coalfield Geology Bureau, and the Fourth China–Russia Joint Arctic Scientific Expedition — all wishing SDUST continued success.
Before the conference, guests, faculty and students visited the Exhibition of Achievements in SDUST's High-Quality Development. Through photographs, objects and data, the exhibition traced the University's history and achievements since its founding in 1951: from its first sparks in Hongshan, Zibo, to its presence across the Qingdao, Tai'an and Jinan campuses; from a key university under the former Ministry of the Coal Industry to a high-level provincial university in Shandong's "striving for first-class" program. Photographs, exhibits and striking figures recorded how the University has kept to its mission of fostering virtue through education and serving the country through science and technology, moving in step with national strategies and with regional development. The exhibition highlighted recent breakthroughs in disciplines, talent cultivation, innovation, faculty development and openness: three disciplines, including Engineering, have consistently ranked in the top 1‰ (0.1%) worldwide in Essential Science Indicators; Safety Science and Engineering was rated A in the fifth round of national discipline evaluation; and in 2026 the University won five national science and technology awards and 22 provincial ones. Together these achievements reflect the enterprising spirit summed up in the University's watchword: pursuing excellence and seizing the day.
The conference opened with the national anthem.
Addressing the conference, Chen Ping extended warm congratulations on behalf of the Shandong Provincial People's Government and warm greetings to faculty, students and alumni at home and abroad. Since its founding in 1951, he said, SDUST has upheld its motto of "Seeking Truth and Pursuing Innovation," keeping pace with national development, with the times, and with the province's drive to become stronger. In recent years, in particular, it has seized the opportunities presented by China's push to build a leading country in education and Shandong's push to build a strong province in education, and has worked to become a high-level applied research university led by engineering and marked by distinctive strengths, with solid results: it has become an important force in the regional innovation system of higher education, both in the province and nationally. The Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government, he noted, have always attached great importance to universities, giving priority to planning, funding and resource allocation, and have worked to speed up the development of higher education and help it scale new heights. He expressed the hope that SDUST would shoulder its responsibilities, speed up and improve the quality of its development, strive for a historic breakthrough in the "Double First-Class" program, take the lead and set a benchmark among provincial universities, and make new and greater contributions to building Shandong into a strong province in both education and science and technology.
Wang Junsong, Party Secretary of SDUST, delivered the report on the University's high-quality development. Over 75 years, he said, the University set out in response to Comrade Mao Zedong's call to "develop the mining industry" and has pressed forward through the great endeavor of building a strong nation and rejuvenating the Chinese nation, forging a path of high-quality development marked by distinctive strengths. In recent years, in particular, the University's fourth Party congress set out the "One-Three-Six-Eight-Ten" strategic framework, and the University has worked to build a high-level applied research university led by engineering and marked by distinctive strengths, achieving a historic leap in its educational capacity and raising its overall strength to a new level. The report reviewed the University's journey, summed up its achievements in reform and development, and set out its direction: aiming for the top and pressing ahead. Looking to the future, he stressed, the University will strengthen its internal development and build first-class disciplines; improve the supply of education and cultivate first-class talent; and shoulder its mission and make first-class contributions, moving toward the future with ever firmer steps as it serves the nation and empowers the province.
Li Shucai spoke on behalf of peer institutions. He recalled his years at his alma mater, SDUST, then known as Shandong Institute of Mining and Technology, where he earned his bachelor's and master's degrees, saying that "the unyielding perseverance and drive to excel that define my alma mater shaped how I conduct myself, how I do my work and how I pursue scholarship." SDUST, he said, has a profound heritage, a complete range of disciplines, outstanding engineering strengths and strong innovation capacity, and is a shining example of high-quality higher education in Shandong. Shandong University is ready to work with SDUST to build a deeply integrated community for high-quality development, to set a model of collaborative innovation among provincial universities, and to contribute more to building a leading country and a strong province in education.
Jason McGovern, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Swinburne University of Technology in Australia, reviewed the achievements of six years of cooperation in jointly running Swinburne College. As the technological revolution and industrial transformation accelerate, he said, international cooperation in education has long gone beyond a single agreement to become a bridge for mutual learning among civilizations, for sharing knowledge and for passing on friendship. Swinburne is confident about SDUST's future and, looking to the next decade, hopes to keep raising the quality of Swinburne College, deepen research collaboration and expand people-to-people exchanges, so that the tree of friendship and cooperation between the two universities stays deeply rooted and evergreen.
Li Wei, Party Secretary and Chairman of Shandong Energy Group, said that as an SDUST alumnus he is always heartened, whenever he returns to campus, by his alma mater's new progress, new changes and new achievements. Shandong Energy Group and SDUST have long and close ties and have cooperated comprehensively and in depth in talent training, scientific and technological innovation and the commercialization of research results. To date the University has supplied more than 20,000 professionals of various kinds to the Group, and many SDUST alumni have become the driving force behind its technological innovation and the backbone of its management, making outstanding contributions to its reform and development. Looking ahead, Shandong Energy Group will remain SDUST's most steadfast supporter and closest strategic partner and will fully support the University's high-quality development.
Li Deren, Chairman of the University's Strategic Development Advisory Committee, spoke in that capacity. His ties with SDUST, he said, date back to 1985, and he has watched it grow into a provincial engineering university of distinctive strengths and clear advantages. Safety Science and Engineering at SDUST meets an urgent national strategic need, its applied-research orientation fits the logic of classified reform, and the University already has core strengths it can demonstrate and that command respect, with pioneering and underpinning contributions to its credit. Its push for "Double First-Class" status, he said, has policy support, a clear path and a solid foundation, and he hoped the University would build its safety discipline to even greater heights, put organized research on a firmer footing and broaden the platform for industry-university-research collaboration, so as to contribute more to building a leading country in education and advancing Chinese modernization.
Ling Wen extended warm congratulations on behalf of the Shandong Association for Science and Technology and expressed sincere greetings and deep respect to the faculty, staff and students who have long worked on the front lines of education and research in Shandong. SDUST, he said, is a key provincial university with deep roots in industry-specific fields that serves industrial development, and since its founding it has moved in step with Shandong's development, building clear strengths in energy security and ecological security and making important contributions to the province's industrial upgrading and high-quality development. The Association, he said, will strengthen collaboration among universities, research institutes and enterprises, support SDUST in leading the creation of innovation consortia, help more research results be commercialized and industrialized in Shandong, and assist the University as it works toward "Double First-Class" status and takes on greater responsibility in serving the province's high-quality development.
A series of launch and signing ceremonies were held, at which several national- and provincial-level platforms were inaugurated and a number of university-enterprise and university-government agreements were signed.
Liu Quansheng and Yang Fanlin, Member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and Vice President of SDUST, unveiled the national-level Discipline Innovation and Talent Introduction Base (the "111 Plan"). Jiang Yujing and Zhu Jingyi, Member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and Vice President of the University, unveiled the School of Technology and Business. Zhao Yangang and Chen Shaojie, Member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and Vice President of the University, unveiled the Qingdao Innovation Port. Linghai Technology, Qingdao Kelaibu Intelligent Technology, Shanke Mining Technology, Shanke Qingyun Zhixing Technology and the OPC startup team Qingdao Qunyu Network Technology have moved into the port. The University signed cooperation agreements with the China National Administration of Coal Geology, the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Shandong Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mineral Exploration and Development, Shandong Energy Group, Shandong Gold Group, Goertek, Qingdao Haifa Group and Lovol Heavy Industry.
The conference concluded on a note of warmth and resolve.
Alongside the conference, the University ran a High-Quality Development Month, with academic forums, cultural displays, alumni events and exhibitions that showcased its achievements and pooled support for its development. Standing at a new starting point, SDUST will continue to work toward "Double First-Class" status and to build a high-level university that is more distinctive, more responsible, more excellent and more open, moving forward with ever firmer steps as it serves the nation and empowers the province.
