USTB was founded in 1952 during a nationwide reorganization of higher education systems, which brought together the best departments in the fields of mining, metallurgy and materials from six eminent universities in China, like Beiyang University and Tsinghua University. At that time, USTB was named as “Beijing Institute of Iron and Steel Technology”, and in 1988, it got the present name “University of Science and Technology Beijing”.

USTB is strong in engineering, especially in materials science and engineering. While engineering is the focus, there are also programs in basic science, management, humanities, economics and law. Over half a century of remarkable growth, it has developed into one of the most influential key national universities in China, and is one of the first universities in China to establish Graduate Schools. USTB is part of the 211 project (which is designed to develop a hundred first-rate universities in the 21st century), and was selected for the “Platform for National Advanced Disciplines Innovation” program in 2006.

USTB consists of 16 schools, such as Materials Science and Engineering, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Metallurgical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, etc. It has 18 full span areas conferring doctoral degrees, and offers 73 doctoral programs and 121 Master’s programs. The four first class disciplines—Metallurgical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Mining, History of Science and Technology—were ranked top three among Chinese universities. Safety Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Thermal Power Engineering were ranked highly. USTB is particularly strong in Control Science and Engineering, Mechanics, Computer Science and Technology, Physics, Chemistry and Management. Emerging disciplines, such as Software Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Communication Engineering and Electronic Information are developing with vitality.

USTB has maintained close collaboration with local communities, extending the university’s social responsibility and developing further opportunities for worldwide enterprises in research, academic and educational fields. It has so far entered into partnership with nearly 130 foreign universities and institutes from different countries and districts, including RWTH Aachen University in Germany, Oakridge National Laboratory in USA, and Oxford University in UK.

USTB is now working hard towards its goal of becoming one of the top-ranking research universities in China and an internationally renowned higher education institute with its own distinguishing features. While retaining its current leading position in metallurgy and materials sciences, it is making great efforts to develop other areas and to achieve a balanced disciplinary structure in engineering and technology, science, management, economics, social sciences, humanities and law in the near future.