To promote the comprehensive reform of the University to a new level, create a new situation and achieve new results, and provide an institutional guarantee for the construction of a world-class university in the field of earth sciences, in accordance with the requirements of the Ministry of Education, CUGB officially started the revision of its charter in November 2021. On November 15, 2022, the Ministry of Education approved the amendment to the Constitution of China University of Geosciences (Beijing). The Constitution of China University of Geosciences (Beijing) (2022 Amendment), formed by the approved amendment to the Constitution, was officially released today.

The university constitution is an important embodiment of the civilization of the modern university system, which has fixed the functions, educational ideas, cultural characteristics, development goals and education orientation of the university in the form of the system. To clarify the governance structure and operation mechanism of a university is the basis for institutions of higher learning to run independently, implement management and perform public functions according to law, as well as the basic principle for all teachers, students and staff who study, work and live in the university.

The current Constitution of China University of Geosciences (Beijing) came into effect on June 26, 2015. In April 2020, the University began to revise the charter for the first time, which was approved and implemented by the Ministry of Education on November 15, 2022. Since its inception, the current constitution has adhered to the Party's educational policy, taken the president responsibility system under the leadership of the CPC Committee of China University of Geosciences (Beijing) as the basic management system, accelerated the construction of a high-level research university and a world-class university in the field of earth sciences in the construction of the "Seven major projects", and improved the modernization level of university governance. It has played an important role in safeguarding the fundamental interests of teachers, students and staff.

The three-stage development goals of "climbing the plateau, occupying the highland and climbing the peak" was made clear in the 11th Party Congress of the university with all the faculty more determined to make leapfrog development, and the upward trend of accelerating development and improving quality and efficiency, which has laid a solid foundation for building CUGB into a world-class university in earth sciences. At the important point of the "14th Five-Year" development plan of the university, a timely amendment of the Constitution of China University of Geosciences (Beijing) has become the concern of the whole university and the expectation of the faculty as well as students on how to ensure the appropriate orientation for the beginning of this new stage of development.

Under the strong leadership of the University Party Committee and in accordance with the requirements of the Party and the state for the development of higher education under the new situation, the 18th Standing Committee of the University Party Committee deliberated and passed the Work Plan for the Revision of the Constitution of China University of Geosciences (Beijing) in November 2021, officially launching the revision of the Constitution of the University.

The revision of the constitution is a major event in the political life of the university. The Party Committee of the university always attaches great importance to it and has set up a leading organization for the revision of the constitution led by Party Secretary Ma Junjie and President Sun Youhong. Nearly 30 units and departments of the university have participated in the revision, which lasted for 1 year with a successfully completion of the revision task and approvement by the Ministry of Education.

Carefully Study and firmly revision of direction. By means of data review and group discussion, the working group of the revision of the Constitution studied systematically the important discussions and instructions on education by President Xi Jinping, the important documents issued in the field of higher education since the 18th CPC National Congress, and the spirit of the Central Conference on Human Resources Work, the National Education Congress, the National Conference on Ideological and Political Work in Colleges and Universities and strictly abide by the Teachers Law of the People's Republic of China, Regulations on the Work of primary-level organization of Institutions of Higher Learning of the Communist Party of China, Interim Measures for formulating the Articles of Association of institutions of higher Learning and other laws, rules and regulations, as well as the normative documents issued by the relevant departments at higher levels. It will further clarify the guiding ideology for university running, uphold and strengthen the overall leadership of the Party, fully implement the Party's educational policy, adhere to and improve the system of principal responsibility under the leadership of the Party Committee, further clarify the responsibilities and rules of procedure of the Party committee and president, implement the fundamental task of cultivating virtues and talents, and optimize the academic governance system.

In-depth investigation and summary of revision experience. Before the formal launch of the revision of the university charter, relevant departments have carried out the work of investigation, research, policy consultation and so on. During the revision of the charter, the working group for the compilation of the charter summarized and analyzed the historical evolution and reality of the construction of the charter of the university, made a systematic analysis of the basic situation of the revision of the charter of more than ten other universities, such as Peking University, Jilin University and Tongji University, and special research was carried out on specific issues relating university affairs committee and academic committee. 

Pooling of ideas to safeguard democracy and scientific application. In order to ensure the democratic and scientific nature of the revision of the articles of association, the working group attaches great importance to the soliciting of opinions and suggestions in all aspects of the revision of the articles of association. The Working Group coordinated a number of seminars, expert advisory meetings and functional seminars. Opinions and suggestions were solicited from teachers, students, staff, alumni and people from all walks of life who are concerned about the construction and development of the university. 32 opinions and suggestions were received from the community meeting, and 25 were accepted for revision. In addition, it has absorbed 30 opinions and suggestions from all the representatives collected by the executive committee of the sixth Teaching Congress of the University. The whole process of revising the constitution reflects the democracy of the whole process of major decision-making of the university.

The purpose of the constitution is for implementation. As the fundamental norm of school governance, constitution is the basic observance of all actions in the university. The constitution is the authoritative symbol for the identity as a member of the university community. All actions concerning the running and management of the university should consciously abide by the provisions of the constitution and all the teachers, students and staff should consciously maintain the authority and seriousness of the constitution.

At present and in the near future, to study and implement the Constitution of China University of Geosciences (Beijing) (2022 Amendment) would be an important political task for the university. Studying, observing, implementing and maintaining the articles of association should be the essential responsibilities of all units and departments of the university. It is the obligation and responsibility of every teacher, student and staff to have a thorough understanding and full mastery of the articles of association. The university will continue to improve the rules and regulations system with the constitution as its core, carrying out all kinds of work in a solid and in-depth way, and promote the comprehensive reform of the university to a new level and create a new situation and achieve new results, so as to lay a solid legal foundation for accelerating the improvement of the modern university governance system and continuously improving the governance ability and level. The Constitution also serves a strong institutional guarantee for the early establishment of a world-class university in the field of earth sciences.

Appendix: The Constitution of China University of Geosciences (Beijing) (Revised 2022) as linked below

https://www.cugb.edu.cn/tzgg/43422.jhtml