The College of Science and Technology, Ningbo University is a full-time regular institution of higher education providing undergraduate programs, established with the approval of the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China and the People’s Government of Zhejiang Province. Founded in April 1999, it was the first state-owned privately-run secondary college piloting the reform of higher education institutions in Zhejiang Province. In November 2004, it was confirmed by the Ministry of Education as one of the first independent colleges in Zhejiang Province. In December of the same year, it passed the special inspection on school-running conditions and teaching work conducted by the Ministry of Education and received the highest-level evaluation. In 2010, the college was awarded one of the first “National Advanced Independent Colleges”. In July 2018, it successfully passed the acceptance inspection for the standardized establishment of independent colleges in Zhejiang Province. In September 2019, the college was relocated as a whole from Zhenhai District, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province to Cixi City. In 2026, the college ranked 3rd in the Alumni Association China Independent Colleges Ranking.
The college designs its academic programs in line with the development trends of modern science and technology and the demands of local economic and social development. It has 10 subordinate colleges, namely the School of Humanities, School of Information Engineering, School of Economics and Law, School of Management, School of Design and Art, School of Life Sciences and Materials Chemistry, School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, School of Architectural Engineering, School of Basic Studies / Marxism College, and School of Continuing Education, offering 45 undergraduate programs that cover 9 major discipline categories: Economics, Law, Education, Literature, Management, Science, Engineering, Medicine and Art. A comprehensive, well-structured and mutually complementary discipline and major system has been basically established.
The college recruits students nationwide and currently has more than 15,000 full-time students. Adhering to the student-oriented school-running philosophy, the college strives to cultivate application-oriented undergraduate talents with strong independent learning ability and practical ability, namely the "Two-Strength" talents. To date, it has delivered more than 50,000 outstanding graduates to support social development. Over the years, the college's graduate employment rate, achievements in various discipline competitions, one-time passing rate of TEM-4 (Test for English Majors Band 4) and other indicators have consistently ranked among the top of similar institutions nationwide. The college has won gold medals in the China International College Students' Innovation Competition for five consecutive years, taking the lead among similar colleges and universities across the country. It advanced to the final review of the 19th "Challenge Cup" National College Students' Extracurricular Academic and Scientific Works Competition and won the Special Prize in the "AI+" Special Competition. Moreover, it was the only independent college in Zhejiang Province to win a gold medal in the First National College Students' New Liberal Arts Practice and Innovation Competition.
The college adheres to a development path featuring application-orientation, regional orientation and distinctive development. Since relocating to Cixi for operation, it has taken a more proactive approach to integrating into the local economy, and actively explored and practiced the "Two-Wheel Drive" development model of industry-education integration, which means boosting the construction of application-oriented education by building high-quality modern industrial colleges and high-level applied research institutes, and coordinating the advancement of the college's education and teaching, talent cultivation, scientific research, local services and other undertakings. To date, the college has attracted nearly 300 million RMB in social donations, and jointly built 12 industrial colleges, 2 industry-featured colleges, 18 specialized industry classes (including 2 Excellent Engineer Classes) and 485 practical training bases with governments and regional leading enterprises, and established 5 industry-specific industry-education integration alliances, blazing a distinctive new path for industry-education integration, school-enterprise cooperation and application-oriented transformation.
Since the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the college has successfully secured approval for 2 provincially key-supported modern industrial colleges, 1 industry-education integration alliance, 2 industry-education integration demonstration bases, 2 industry-education integration engineering projects, and 4 provincial industry-university collaborative education projects, achieving a "Grand Slam" of provincial industry-education integration platform programs. It has also been approved for 70 MOE projects for industry-university collaborative education and supply-demand matching employment and education cultivation, 3 typical cases of the "University-Enterprise Cooperation, Double Hundred Plan" by the China Higher Education Association, 29 Ningbo "Five Batches" platform projects for industry-education integration, and 3 Ningbo Industrial Engineer Colleges, ranking first in both the comprehensive ranking and total funding of Ningbo's special funds for industry-education integration for two consecutive years in 2023 and 2024.
The school-running model and achievements of industrial colleges have been repeatedly reported by mainstream media such as CCTV News, China Education Daily and Zhejiang Daily, playing a fine exemplary and leading role. In the meantime, the college has established high-level research institutes including the Institute of Applied Technology and the Institute of Regional Economy and Social Development / Regional Studies Institute. It has jointly built 8 joint laboratories, Medical-Engineering Intelligent Manufacturing Research Centers and collaborative innovation centers with high-tech enterprises, medical and educational institutions such as Zhongda Leader, Tiansheng Seals, Ningbo No.2 Hospital, and the College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering of Harbin Engineering University.
Furthermore, the college has jointly built the Smart Home Appliance Science and Education Innovation Park with the Home Appliance Characteristic Town; jointly developed the Ningbo Home Appliance Trusted Blockchain Platform with Alibaba; and jointly established the "Translation Along the Silk Road · Translation Research and Language Service Center" with the Translation Center of the Foreign Affairs Office of Gansu Provincial People's Government. It has undertaken 6 major special projects of Ningbo's "Science and Technology Innovation 2025", 15 projects of the "Yongjiang Science and Technology Innovation 2035" series, and 2 key R&D programs namely the "Bidding for Top Solutions" projects.The college has also been approved for a number of scientific and technological innovation platforms, including the Zhejiang Intelligent Home Appliance Industry Brain, Zhejiang Soft Science Research Base, Ningbo University Collaborative Innovation Center, and Ningbo Industrial Internet Demonstration Platform. It continues to deepen all-round and multi-level school-government-enterprise cooperation to empower industrial development and form a win-win situation.
The college actively promotes open education, continuously optimizes its layout and pools resources, and steadily improves its capacity and level of internationalized education.The undergraduate education program in Advertising, jointly offered with Juniata College of the United States, has been officially approved by the Ministry of Education.The Small Home Appliances XIN E-commerce Silk Road College was selected as one of Zhejiang Province’s 2025 Belt and Road “Silk Road Colleges”.The college has jointly established the Ningbo Belt and Road Spanish Language and Culture Center and the Ningbo Belt and Road Tourism Culture Communication and Research Center with the Hotel Management School of the University of the Balearic Islands, Spain.It has also joined hands with the Training Institute of the China Language Resources Development and Application Center to set up Ningbo’s first International Chinese Language Testing and Training Center.At present, the college has established long-term and stable friendly cooperative relations with more than 50 universities and institutions in many countries and regions including the UK, the US, Spain, South Korea, Japan and Thailand, and built a multi-level and diversified international education cooperation system covering Sino-foreign cooperative education, bachelor-master consecutive programs, and credit recognition.In the newly released 2024 Annual Report on the Internationalization of Higher Education in Zhejiang Province, the college ranks first among all independent colleges in Zhejiang Province in terms of overall internationalization level.
Currently, the college is in an important strategic opportunity period for in-depth transformation and development. All faculty, students and staff of the college will continue to uphold the spirit of “Pursuing Excellence and Seeking Truth”, forge ahead with determination, pioneer and innovate, comprehensively enhance comprehensive school-running strength, adhere to high-quality development, and strive to build a high-level application-oriented university with distinctive regional characteristics.
(Data as of December 2025)