Founded in 1956, the College of Basic Sciences of Shanxi Agricultural University (SXAU) has a history of 66 years. In 2001, College of Arts and Sciences was established, and in June 2020 it was renamed as the Department of Basic Sciences(DBS). Now it consists of four departments: Department of Mathematics, Department of Physics, Department of Chemistry, and Department of Foreign Languages. It includes six internal institutions—the General Office, the Youth League Committee, the Trade Union, the Scientific Research Affairs Office, the Teaching Affairs Office, and the Experimental Training Teaching Center.

Strong faculty and staff The Department of Basic Sciences now has 163 faculty and staff, including 69 teachers with deputy senior professional titles or above, 153 teachers with master’s degree or above, 3 doctoral supervisors, 27 master supervisors, and more than 20 teachers with overseas study experience. In the past five years, the faculty members have won more than 20 awards in various teaching contests: first place award and second place award in Shanxi Provincial College Curriculum Ideological and Political Teaching Design Contest, third place award in the Shanxi Provincial Final of First National College Teachers’ Teaching Innovation Contest, first place award and second place award in the Young Teachers’ Basic Teaching Skills Contest of SXAU, first place award and second place award in the Curriculum Ideological and Political Teaching Design Contest of SXAU, first place award and second place award in the Teachers’ Teaching Innovation Contest of SXAU. The English Language and Literature Teaching Team and the Bio-Chemistry Teaching Team have been granted the honor of “Huang Danian Style Teaching Team” of SXAU.

Fruitful teaching and scientific research accomplishments  In the past five years, the Department of Basic Sciences has focused on the improvement of teaching quality and scientific research output. 9 provincial high-quality shared courses and first rate courses in colleges and universities have been approved. And more than 120 provincial-level & school-level teaching and research projects have been undertaken, with over 20 textbooks and about 260 academic research papers published, including 70 SCI papers. The faculty members have won 3 first place awards and one second place award for teaching achievements in Shanxi Province. In terms of scientific research projects, 5 youth projects granted and supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), and 1 youth project by the Foundation of Social Science and Humanity of the Ministry of Education, have been accredited, as well as about 120 other projects at other levels. The number of research funds amounts to 10 million yuan. Moreover, The number of authorized invention patents, utility model patents and software copyrights totals more than 20. Professor Zhang Jintong as the third co-author won the second place of the National Science and Technology Progress Award for the research on Mechanisms of Shrub Forest Pest Occurrence and Ecological Control Technology.

Remarkable talent training achievements The Department of Basic Sciences now has three undergraduate majors: English, Information & Computing Science, and Applied Chemistry, as well as one master’s degree program in Biology. There are a total of 599 students, including 572 undergraduates and 27 postgraduate students. In recent years, in order to implement the fundamental mission of fostering virtue through education, it makes great efforts to strengthen the construction of disciplines, optimize training programs, and continuously improve the quality of talent training. The students of our department won 2nd prize in National College Student Chemistry Experiment Innovation Design Competition (Northwest Final), 1st prize in “FLTRP·ETIC Cup” English Public Speaking Contest (Shanxi Provincial Final), and 2nd prize in “Internet+” Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition (Shanxi Provincial Final), and etc. Besides, under the guidance of teachers of our department, students won fruitful achievements in national or provincial contests for college students, such as the Chinese Undergraduate Mathematical Contest in Modeling, the Chinese Mathematics Competition, the National English Writing/Reading Contest, English Interpretation Contest, and the English Vocabulary Contest. There’s a total of 14 prizes at the state level and 489 awards at the provincial level. Recently, the quality of education in our department is in a steady progress. For instance, the admission rate of postgraduate of 2021 undergraduates majoring in Applied Chemistry reached 40.5%, including 45.7% students being admitted to the leading domestic universities such as Nankai University, Tianjin University, and Jilin University.

Excellent teaching facilities and conditions In recent years, the Department of Basic Sciences attaches great importance to the construction of teaching facilities and the DBS culture as well as the improvement of office condition. It currently has 25 chemistry and physics laboratories for basic undergraduate courses and postgraduate studies, 11 English language laboratories as well as 1 professional laboratory for information & computing science, among which there are 2 provincial demonstration laboratories and 1 provincial comprehensive experimental center for agricultural chemistry. They play important roles in promoting college students’ study and the faculty members’ teaching and research.

Embarking on a new journey, under the guidance of Xi Jinping and the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the Department of Basic Sciences will remain true to its original aspirations, keep its mission firmly in mind, implement the fundamental mission of fostering virtue through education, deepen comprehensive education reform, constantly promote high-quality development, and contribute to the construction of SXAU as a first-rate, internationally influential, high-level research and application university with distinctive regional characteristics.