The College of Plant Science and Technology · BUA grew out of the Department of Agronomy and Department of Horticulture which were among the earliest departments of BUA upon its founding. In June 2002, following the overall deployment of BUA for education and teaching reform and specialty adjustment, the former Department of Agronomy (partially) and Department of Horticulture were merged to form the Department of Plant Science and Technology, with two specialties of plant production in Agronomy and Horticulture. On December 31, 2008, the Department of Plant Science and Technology was renamed the College of Plant Science and Technology.
Currently, there are two departments in the college, i.e., the Department of Agronomy and the Department of Horticulture, and two undergraduate specialties in Agronomy (crop genetics and breeding) and Horticulture. Among them, the specialty of Horticulture is a national characteristic specialty and an undergraduate comprehensive reform experimental specialty under the Ministry of Education, and the specialty of agronomy is a Beijing municipal characteristic specialty. The Experimental Teaching Center for Plant Production of the college has been rated as a national experimental teaching demonstration center. In addition, one Beijing municipal off-campus talent cultivation base and two BUA-level talent cultivation bases have settled here. At present, there are two Master’s degree programs in the first-level disciplines of Crop Science and Horticulture, which cover three Master’s degree programs in the second-level disciplines of Crop Genetics and Breeding, Fruit Science, and Vegetable Science. Among them, Fruit Science is a Beijing municipal key discipline and Crop Genetics and Breeding and Vegetable Science are BUA-level key disciplines. Besides, there are also two professional Master’s degree programs in Agronomy and Horticulture. Three research institutions, namely the Beijing Key Laboratory of New Technology in Agricultural Application, the Research Institute of Pomology, and the Institute of Crop Genetics and Breeding, have also been set up in the college.
There are advanced experimental instruments and equipment here, with a total value of over 88 million yuan. Besides the existing on-campus practical teaching bases covering an area of 300-mu, there are also a dozen of stable off-campus practical teaching bases, which can meet the demands of undergraduate and postgraduate students. And now more than 900 undergraduate students and nearly 300 postgraduate students are studying at the college.
There are 85 faculty members in total, including 52 doctoral degree holders, accounting for 61% of the faculty and 32 Master’s degree holders, which is 38% of the faculty. Among its 65 full-time faculty members, 50 of them hold the doctoral degree, possessing 76.9% of the full-time faculty and 15 own the Master’s degree, possessing the other 23.1% left. There are also 24 professors and 28 associate professors, 80% of them own senior professional titles. The college has 5 doctoral supervisors (joint recruitment), 49 Master’s supervisors, and also boasts three “Beijing Excellent Teachers” and one “Prominent Teachers of Beijing”.
In 2003, besides winning the Capital Labor Medal, the College of Plant Science and Technology was also conferred the title of Beijing Excellent Collective for Education Innovation by the Beijing Federation of Trade Unions. In 2008, the backbone course teaching team of the specialty of Horticulture won the title of “Beijing Excellent Teaching Team”. In 2005 and 2009, the Academic Innovation Team for High-quality Ecological Safety of Fruits and the Academic Innovation Team for Theory and Technology of Vegetable Safety Production were funded by the Academic Innovation Team for Strengthening Education with Talents at Higher Education Institutions in Beijing. Notably, we have four Beijing high-quality courses. We have also compiled and co-edited 18 “Textbooks for College Students in the 21st Century” and national-level planning textbooks, including four municipal excellent textbooks.
In the past three years, we have hosted or participated in over 120 national, provincial, and ministerial-level scientific research projects; won 21 national, provincial, and ministerial-level scientific research awards; bred over 30 new varieties; published six works and over 300 papers, including 55 papers indexed by SCI; obtained 47 national invention patents; and formulated ten national and local standards.
Since its establishment, the college has trained and delivered over 8,000 graduates for society, including approximately 2,700 secondary specialized students and junior college students, 4,700 undergraduate students, and 700 master degree candidates. Many of our graduates are at the forefront of the agricultural industry in the suburbs of Beijing, making positive contributions to agricultural development and economic construction in the capital. Over the years, with the joint efforts of all faculty and students, the college has achieved remarkable results in all kinds of work and continuously improved its teaching quality. Its graduates have received unanimous praise from employers.
