Discipline of environment at Nankai University was initially founded in 1973, and department of environmental science, the earliest among comprehensive universities in China, was founded in 1983. Over time, disciplines of environmental planning, management, and engineering came into being and college of environmental science and engineering was for the first time established in 1998 in China.

As the origin of the discipline of environment at Nankai University endowed with high standards, direction of environmental chemistry was allowed to confer master’s degree in 1981 and doctor’s degree in 1986, which was among the earliest. Highlighted with multidisciplinary platform, the discipline of environmental science was chosen as a key discipline in Tianjin in 1993. As the first batch, we became master’s/doctor’s degree conferring unit and owned postdoctoral research center for first-level discipline of environmental science and engineering in 2000. Our discipline of environmental science was chosen as one of the four national key disciplines in in 2001. In 2006, environmental science and engineering was rated as first-level key discipline of high education in Tianjin. In 2011, for the first time in China, we were allowed to confer doctor’s degree on the first-level discipline of ecology. In 2012, ecology was rated as the first-level key discipline of high education in Tianjin. On evaluation of degree conferring units in 2017, the first-level discipline of environmental science and engineering was rated as A- and ecology as B+.

Confronted with major demand on environmental protection and sustainable development in China, we have always been aiming at the international forefront in the field of environment. We stick to the education mode of interdisciplinary communication among science, engineering, and philosophy, and joint power from home and oversea, follow the concepts of uprightness, openness, innovation, and ambition, and strive for the world-first-class discipline.