CUGB
Introduction of School of Energy Resources

The School of Energy Resources was founded in 1952, evolving from the Departments of Oil and Gas Geology, Combustible Minerals, Geological Exploration, and Energy Geology of the former Beijing Institute of Geology. It is the cradle for cultivating high-caliber talents in the field of energy exploration and development in China.

The School of Energy Resources has two postdoctoral research stations, three doctoral stations, five master’s stations and two undergraduate majors. Of these, Mineral Resource Prospecting and Exploration is a national key discipline and Oil-Gas Field Development Engineering is a Beijing Municipality key discipline. Petroleum Engineering and Resource Exploration Engineering (new energy resources direction) are national specialties and Resource Exploration Engineering is an innovative experimental discipline for national talent training models. Since 2012, the school has participated in the "2+2" joint education program with the Missouri University of Science and Technology in the United States, and training programs have been introduced for national outstanding petroleum engineers and for comprehensive reform of the petroleum engineering specialty in China.

The School of Energy Resources is composed of three teaching and research sections: Petroleum Geology, Petroleum Engineering, and Energy and Environment. The faculty has notable strength and depth, including both knowledgeable, experienced professors and a group of up and coming young and middle-aged teachers who provide the ‘backbone’ of the teaching establishment. The school has 58 teaching and administrative staff in total, including 21 professors (17 of whom are PhD supervisors), 15 associate professors, 14 lecturers, and 8 experimental technology and management teachers. In addition, there are 7 re-employed (retired) professors who act as PhD supervisors and 8 part-time professors. Most of the teachers hold doctoral degrees and have been engaged in advanced studies overseas, such as to the USA, the UK, Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands. Among all faculty members, two have been selected for the national-level “Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Project”, three have won the Silver Hammer Award of National Young Geological Science and Technology, two have been selected into the program for supporting “New Century Excellent Talents in University" of the Ministry of Education, one has won the "Outstanding Young Teacher Award" of the Ministry of Education, one has won the "National Excellent Doctoral Dissertation", two have won the title of “Outstanding Young Teacher in Beijing”, one has entered the Cross-century Talent Planning of the former Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources, two have won the title of “Excellent Teacher in Beijing”, one has been elected as a member of the first National Energy Expert Advisory Committee, and one is the assessment expert for the National High-tech R&D Program (the 863 Program).

The School of Energy Resources boasts strong science research capability, constantly tracks the disciplines development trends around the world and remains at the forefront of domestic discipline development. Revolving around the geological exploration and development of coal, oil, and gas in sedimentary basins, a number of research fields with distinctive characteristics have been established, confirming the school’s position at the forefront of energy resources development in China. These areas include sedimentology, sequence stratigraphy, petroleum tectonics analysis, petroliferous basin analysis, coal and coalbed methane geology, hydrocarbon accumulation dynamics, reservoir geology, organic geochemistry, natural gas geology, oil-gas field development geology, reservoir engineering, reservoir numerical simulation, and shale gas geological exploration and development. The school has participated in 165 scientific and research projects, including National Key Scientific and Technological Research Projects, National Climbing Projects, 973 Projects, and other key projects, as well as general projects supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and scientific research projects undertaken in cooperation with commercial enterprises. In the past five years, scientific research funds have totaled more than 300 million RMB, 11 scientific research studies have won provincial and ministerial science and technology awards, 15 monographs and textbooks—as well as more than 500 papers (over 70 SCI papers)—have been published, and four international/domestic academic conferences have been held.

The School of Energy Resources offers comprehensive experimental teaching conditions and experimental facilities, including a National Engineering Research Center (participating), three Provincial and Ministerial Key Laboratories, and hosts an Innovation Team of the Ministry of Education. The Energy Teaching and Experiment Center has 7 labs: the Energy Basic Laboratory, the Organic Geochemistry Laboratory, the Sedimentary Petrology Laboratory, the Petrophysics Laboratory, the Numerical Simulation Laboratory, the Oil-Gas Field Development Laboratory, and the Energy Information Analysis Laboratory. The Teaching Experiment Center of the School of Energy Resources offers relatively advanced equipments and access to experimental specimens of considerable research value accumulated over an extended period. In addition to support undergraduate and graduate teaching and postgraduate dissertation writing, the Teaching Experiment Center also provides services for related scientific research tasks. In 2009, the center was approved as a Beijing Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center and, in 2012, as a National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center.

According to the needs of discipline development and market demands, the School of Energy Resources constantly reviews and updates the professional content of courses. The curriculum combines the teaching characteristics and discipline advantages of the school, and supports the exploration and practice of models for the training of innovative talents. In 2008, two majors of the school were rated as national professional construction sites (Resource Exploration Engineering was rated as an innovation pilot zone of national talent training models, and Petroleum Engineering was rated as a national characteristic specialty). In 2009, the school’s "Talent Training Model of Petroleum Engineering of Integrated Exploration and Development" won second place in the Beijing Excellent Teaching Achievement awards. In 2011, Petroleum Engineering was approved as a National "Excellent Engineer Plan", and Resource Exploration Engineering (New Energy Geology and Engineering) was approved as a national characteristic specialty. In 2012, Petroleum Engineering was approved as a "National Comprehensive Reform of Specialty", and the school’s Industry-University-Research Cooperation Base in the Liaohe Oilfield was approved as a National Engineering Practice Education Center. In 2012, the “Construction and Practice of Diversified Cultivation Systems of Talents for Oil and Gas Exploration and Development” of the school won first prize in the Beijing Teaching Achievement awards.

For 60 years, the school has adhered to the spirit of excellence expressed as in "being plain in one's style of living, being realistic and pragmatic". Guided by its scientific outlook on development, the school bases its practice on the schooling philosophy of "feature and high quality". In doing so, it conscientiously implements the educational policy set out by the Communist Party of China, maintains a socialist orientation and strives to cultivate high-quality innovative talents with "excellent morality, solid foundations, extensive knowledge, and profound professionalism". The school has become a first-class institution in China and an internationally renowned base for scientific research and talent training.