Department of Civil Engineering was one of the six oldest departments of then-South China College of Technology (renamed as South China University of Technology in 1988). Over more than 80 years, it has built a great impact and a long-standing reputation around the country, especially in southern China, Hong Kong, and Macao. More than 12,000 proudly alumni serve in the design, construction, and management of building and infrastructure. Notable alumni have become high-profile governmental leaders, renowned experts and scholars, including one member of the Chinese National Academy of Engineering, one member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and three master structural designers.
In 1984, structural engineering, a sub-discipline within civil engineering was granted to train doctoral students. In 1995, our civil engineering undergraduate program was among the first group of elite universities that pass the professional educational assessment initiated by the Ministry of Construction of China. In 2003, our civil engineering major was selected as a renowned undergraduate major by the Guangdong Province. In 2006, the discipline of civil engineering was granted the authority to approve a doctoral degree and train postdoctoral researchers, the only school in southern China. The civil engineering major also became the all-province brand major in 2010 and a well-known discipline of Guangdong Peak-climbing Plan.
Currently, our department has 82 full-time faculty and staff dedicated to education and academic research. There are a total of 33 full professors, 43 associate professors, and 6 instructors. Among them, 24 are PhD supervisors and 56 are master supervisors. Notable chair professors include one distinguished professor of the Changjiang Scholars Award Program, two awardees of The National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholar, one winner of the National Excellent Young Scientists Fund, two winners of the National Excellent Young Scientists Fund (Overseas), one junior professor of the Changjiang Scholars Award Program, one leading talent in science and technology innovation of the National Ten Thousand Talents Program, and one young and middle-aged expert with outstanding contributions from the Ministry of Construction. Two professors were selected into the Ministry of Education's New Century Excellent Talents training program. At the province level, our department has one Zhejiang Scholar Distinguished Professor of Guangdong Higher Education Institutions, one talent of Guangdong Province Special Support Program Outstanding Talents, two awardees of Guangdong Province Special Support Program Scientific and Technological Innovation Young Top Talents, one famous teacher of Guangdong Special Support Plan, three all-province teachers, two winners of outstanding Nanyue teachers in Guangdong Province, five university distinguished instructors. In addition, there are many honorary professors, adjunct professors, and consultant professors.
The Department of Civil Engineering is dedicated to educating the next-generation engineering students (both undergraduate and graduate) under the principle of “high morality, solid fundamentals, cutting-edge skills, and wide adaptability” and preparing them to enable innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship for the future global landscape. In 2010, the civil engineering major has listed as one of the first participants of the Excellent Engineer Education and Training Program implementation at South China University of Technology. Every year, a group of 40 freshmen is selected to study in the English-taught civil engineering elite program such that they can be adaptive to the innovation, globalization, and new technology in design, construction, and management that meets the industry's demands. The department contains the Guangdong Provincial Civil Engineering Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center, the South China University of Technology-Guangdong Changda Highway Engineering Co. Ltd. National Engineering Practice Education Center, has established more than 30 industry-based training centers within and outside mainland China and built plenty of joint educational exchange programs with global-recognized universities for undergraduates, masters, and doctoral students.
The Department of Civil Engineering has top-notch research facilities. The State Key Laboratories of Subtropical Building and Urban Science jointly built with the School of Architecture at SCUT is the only State Key Laboratories in the field of architecture and construction in China. Within the state lab, the Structural Fire Laboratory has the only experimental setup and equipment for fire engineering in southern China. There is a 4m×4m shaking table with 3 directions and 6 degrees of freedom. The Wind Engineering Key Laboratory for Guangdong higher education has a 5-meter-level reflow type and stimulation range up to the atmospheric boundary layer. Guangdong University Modern Road Engineering Technology Research Center is the only provincial road engineering research institution in southern China; In 2013, our school as the leading institution built “the durable and secure innovative platform for heavy transportation road by the Ministry of Transportation. The laboratory has achieved the qualification from the CMA (China Inspection Body and Laboratory Mandatory Approval) and the experimental conditions have reached the domestic advanced level. The main research directions include but are not limited to:
(1) Failure mechanism of engineering structures under extreme events;
(2) Theories and methods of disaster-resistant design of engineering structures;
(3) Theories and methods of life-cycle monitoring of engineering structures;
(4) Complex mechanism and design theory on geotechnical engineering;
(5) Theories and methods over road engineering materials and pavement structure design and construction quality control;
(6) Road computer-aided engineering and design.
In the past five years, the department has published more than 600 technical papers, and won one second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, one second prize of the National Natural Science Award, eight first prizes and nine second prizes of provincial and ministerial science and technology awards; granted over 100 national invention patents and utility model patents. Some of the research findings have been widely incorporated into the compilation or revision of standards on domestic and regions, directly serving the construction of many key major projects, and have made important contributions to social development and the national economy, especially the social and economic development of Guangdong.
Person of contact: Junxian Zhao
Telephone: 020-87111030
Email: ctjxzhao@scut.edu.cn
