Kunming University of Science and Technology New Student Scholarship

About the university

Kunming University of Science and Technology (KUST), abbreviated as "KUST", is a multi-disciplinary comprehensive university under the administration of the Yunnan Provincial People's Government and jointly established with the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense. It has been successively under the management of the former Ministry of Higher Education, the former Ministry of Metallurgical Industry, and the former China National Nonferrous Metals Industry Corporation. It is a state-run full-time regular institution of higher education, the largest provincial key university in Yunnan Province with the most comprehensive range of educational levels and categories. It has been selected into the National "111 Plan", the Ministry of Education's Demonstration Universities for Deepening Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Reform, one of the first batch of national innovation and entrepreneurship college construction units, a university implementing the Ministry of Education's "Excellent Engineer Education and Training Program", a university under the National "Basic Capacity Building Project for Universities in Central and Western China", and a project university for the "National College Students' Innovative Experimental Program". Kunming University of Science and Technology was founded on September 1, 1954, originally named Kunming Institute of Technology. It was renamed Kunming University of Science and Technology in 1995. In 1999, the former Kunming University of Science and Technology merged with the former Yunnan Polytechnic University to form the new Kunming University of Science and Technology. In 2004, the Yunnan Analytical Testing Center was incorporated. As of May 2025, the university has three campuses: Chenggong, Lianhua, and Xinying, with the Songming campus under construction. The total area covers 5,418 mu (approximately 361 hectares). It comprises 1 faculty, 28 schools (including 2 modern industrial colleges), 6 research institutes, and a graduate school. It offers 92 undergraduate programs. It has 12 national postdoctoral research stations and 8 provincial postdoctoral research stations. It has 18 first-level doctoral degree authorization points and 5 professional doctoral degree authorization points; 44 first-level master's degree authorization points and 24 professional master's degree authorization points. A total of 12 disciplines, including Engineering, Materials Science, Chemistry, Molecular Biology and Genetics, have entered the top 1% of ESI globally, with Engineering entering the top 1‰. The university has 4,202 faculty and staff, and 53,088 students. In August 1954, the School of Engineering of Yunnan University was separated to form the Kunming Institute of Technology. In September, in accordance with the Central Ministry of Education's policy of "focusing on cultivating industrial construction and teaching staff, developing specialized colleges, and rectifying and strengthening comprehensive universities" and the national adjustment plan for engineering colleges, the Kunming Institute of Technology was established with the approval of the Central People's Government. In June 1961, the Department of Chemical Engineering was relocated to Mengzi to establish Diannan University (the Diannan Branch of Kunming Institute of Technology). In September, the Department of Metallurgical Machinery of Diannan University and the Ferrous Metallurgy program of Yunnan Railway College were merged into Kunming Institute of Technology. In September 1963, the Department of Chemical Engineering of Diannan University was merged into Kunming Institute of Technology, and the university was placed under the management of the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry. Subsequently, most of the faculty and students from Yunnan Coal College, Yunnan Railway College, and Dianxi University were merged into Kunming Institute of Technology, and the Steel Department of Gansu University of Technology was also merged into the institute. Starting from the suspension of college enrollment in 1966, the institute did not enroll students for five consecutive years. In 1969, Beijing Steel and Iron Institute was ordered to relocate to Yunnan and merge with Kunming Institute of Technology, but later the relocation was postponed, and the staff who had arrived returned to Beijing. In January 1970, the university was again placed under the leadership of Yunnan Province. In February 1971, the institute resumed enrollment. In the spring of 1971, according to the decision of the Provincial Revolutionary Committee, the Kunming Nonferrous Metallurgy Engineering School was placed under the leadership of the institute. In 1972, it was again placed under the leadership of the Metallurgical Department.