About School of Architecture & Design

School of Architecture & Design at Nanchang University, set up in January, 2022, derives from School of Civil Engineering and School of Art and Design.

The school currently consists of a basic research division and four teaching departments, namely Department of Architecture, Department of Industrial Design, Department of Art Design and Department of Urban & Rural Planning. It offers six undergraduate programs in Architecture, Urban& Rural Planning, Environmental Design, Industrial Design, Product Design and Visual Communication Design. Among them, Architecture and Environmental Design are selected as "First-class Undergraduate Construction Program" by the Ministry of Education of China. Architecture and Industrial Design are rated as key supporting discipline and five-star programs of Jiangxi Province. Also, Urban& Rural Planning, Industrial Design and Product Design are ranked among first-class undergraduate construction programs of Jiangxi Province. In addition, the school has 2 master programs of first level discipline in Architecture and Design, and 2 professional master degree programs in Fine Arts and Industrial Design Engineering.

The school is composed of 138 faculty members, including 111 full-time teachers, among them 18 professors, 51 associate professors, 2 doctoral supervisors and over 50 master supervisors. Their composition is well structured, and they come from a broad spectrum with young scholars and doctoral candidates as the mainstay. In addition to this, there are 1 member of Teaching Advisory Board Committee of Industrial Design discipline under the Ministry of Education, 1 member of Science and Technology Commission of Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, a review expert of Key Project of China’s Ministry of Science and Technology during the 13th Five-Year Plan Period, and nearly twenty members of state or provincial level top scholars and intellectuals. Furthermore, the school has set up the first “Famous Counselor Studio” in Nanchang University, forming a team of high-quality and professional counselors featuring strong political loyalty, high caliber, good conduct and fine work style, who can shoulder the responsibility of nurturing ethical values and cultivating talents.

In recent years, the school has made great achievements in teaching. Three teachers are awarded top lecturers on ideological and political course by the Ministry of Education and 2 are awarded national excellent innovation & entrepreneurship mentors. The faculty of the school has won 13 provincial teaching achievement awards, 2 first prizes and 1 second prize of outstanding textbooks, and 1 second prize in the excellent multimedia teaching courseware contest, etc. A number of courses have been awarded, including 1 national curriculum ideology and politics demonstration course, 2 MOOC courses, 2 national digital courses, 2 courses of Education Sharing Program of Jiangxi Higher Education Institute, 1 provincial excellent resource-sharing course, 1 provincial virtual simulation experimental teaching project, 7 provincial first-class undergraduate courses, 2 courses on Jiangxi Learning Platform. They have published over 40 textbooks and more than 20 high-level papers on educational reform. In terms of teaching team-building, they have been rated as the curriculum ideological and political teaching team by the Ministry of Education and the Jiangxi high-level undergraduate teaching team. What’s more, the school has signed cooperation agreements with a number of governments and enterprises, held various themed lectures, seminars and competitions, and established exceeding 40 teaching practice bases for undergraduates and postgraduates.

Over the past five years, the school boasts great results in scientific research. The faculty has published more than 200 academic papers on top and influential journals and over 30 monographs (with 65 published on CSSCI journals, more than 60 on Chinese Core Journals, 2 completely reprinted by the Cultural Innovation Industry of China Social Science Excellence, 38 recorded in EI, and 9 recorded in ISTP.) They has presided over the completion of 7 state-level projects sponsored by National Social Science Fund of China, National Natural Science Fund of China and the Ministry of Education. Also, there are over 150 projects under the provincial government-sponsored research funds and non-government funds. Up to now, exceeding 35 million Yuan has been transferred into the research account of the school. With these resources, the school has won 7 awards, including Jiangxi Social Science Outstanding Achievement Award and Jiangxi Education Science Outstanding Achievement Award.

The school actively enhances the integration between science and education, industry and education, focusing on the national strategic needs, the construction of Jiangxi’s urban systems and the improvement of urban functions in the new era. Built on four scientific research platforms, including the Urban-Rural Planning & Design Institute, the Rural Construction Research Institute, the Industrial Design Research Institute (provincial industrial design center), and the Brand Design Research Institute, the school vigorously upholds a new concept of cross-disciplinary education and builds a new collaborative development model with discipline groups. At present, the school has a number of strong interdisciplinary research teams, covering urban and rural planning, smart city, sustainable architecture, urban design, urban renewal, rural construction, traditional village conservation, landscape architecture planning and design, smart lighting, smart healthcare, information products, brand planning and so on.

In recent years, teachers and students of the school have participated in and hit high achievements in various discipline competitions at home and abroad. For instance, they won the gold award and championship in China International College Students’ “Internet+” Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition. They won plenty of awards in international design competitions such as Red Dot Design Award, IF Design Award, International Design Excellence Award and World University Students’ Bridge Design Competition. Moreover, they also achieved remarkable outcomes in China Interior Design Awards, National Excellent Urban and Rural Planning Award, NCDA Awards, China Creative Packaging Design Award, National College Student Art Competition to Architecture and Environmental Design Majors, Cross-Strait Entity Construction Competition for College Students, National Innovation Experience Competition for College Students, Jiangxi Excellent Urban and Rural Planning Design Award, Jiangxi Excellent Survey and Design Award, Jiangxi Star Design Award and other 100 awards inside and out of the province.

With new composition, new outlook, new position and new dedication, the School of Architecture & Design is experiencing a flourishing period and holds a promising future. The teachers and students of the school will work hand in hand to add more dynamics, contribute efforts to establishing a world-class university with Jiangxi and Chinese characteristics, and make steady strides toward the road of “pursuing architectural dreams and shaping the future of design”. (Data by May 31, 2023)