The Department of Civil Engineering of Shanxi University was established in 1977, when the national college entrance examination system resumed. The department recruited the first batch of undergraduate students in 1985. Formerly known as Taiyuan Electric Power College and Engineering College of Shanxi University, the department was renamed as the Department of Civil Engineering of Shanxi University in June 2014.

The department currently has 53 faculty members, including 43 full-time teachers, 19 with senior titles and 25 staff with doctorates, as well as doctoral candidates.

It currently has two major disciplines -- civil engineering and architecture -- providing two undergraduate programs for civil engineering and architecture students. Its civil engineering major has a syllabus in constructional engineering and road and bridges. It currently has more than 1,000 students.

Under the civil engineering major, there are six course groups: foundation, structure, geotechnical and construction, road and bridge, building foundation design and architectural professional design.

It also has a building materials research institute, a structural simulation calculation institute and a civil engineering experimental training center, with independent office and teaching areas covering some 4,000 square meters.

The Department of Civil Engineering has a relatively advanced experimental training center. It consists of seven professional laboratories for material mechanics, building materials, soil mechanics, structures, engineering measurements, building physics and building environment -- as well as four training rooms for architectural design, architectural engineering construction simulations, architectural creativity and architectural constructions.

It mainly undertakes the experimental teaching tasks of the department and other related departments of the school, which can conduct more than 120 experimental projects.

The functions of the structural laboratory operate at the same leading levels of similar institutions in the province, with advanced loading equipment and measurement data acquisition systems, providing a corresponding scientific research platform for teachers and students. It can also conduct scientific research on large and medium-sized structures.

With a construction area of about 3,500 sq m, the center boasts 850 sets of instruments and equipment, and fixed assets valued at more than 20 million yuan ($2.86 million).

The department has pursued a stable scientific research direction and has an academic team with a focus on structural engineering, geotechnical engineering, building materials and building technology.

In recent years, it has completed more than 30 provincial, ministerial and horizontal scientific research projects, with funding of over 5 million yuan.

It also boasts more than 40 inventions and new patents and has published more than 90 papers in academic journals at home and abroad, including 15 articles in SCI and 13 in EI.

Every year, more than 20 teachers and students from the department participate in international high-level academic exchanges or studies abroad.

The Department of Civil Engineering has always put much focus on training innovative professionals. In recent years, students from the department have won more than 10 awards at national-level contests and also in provincial competitions.

Over the past four decades and more, the Department of Civil Engineering of Shanxi University has educated and trained more than 8,000 graduates. They mainly work in large-scale enterprises, design institutes, research institutes, universities, investment and consulting companies, in the areas of construction, power, metallurgy, the railways and more.

The department has cultivated a large number of outstanding engineering and technical personnel for the country’s construction industry, contributing significantly to Shanxi province’s and the country’s economic development.