The College of Resources and Environment (Agricultural Environment and Resources Institute) is the second-level college of Shanxi Agricultural University (SXAU), as well asthesecond-level legal person pilotunderthe policies of ‘college-run university’ reform.Thehistory ofthe college can be traced back to the Soil and Agricultural Chemistry majorwhichwas established in the Department of Agriculture in Shanxi Agriculturalcollege in 1958 and the Soil and Fertilizer Institute in Shanxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences in 1959. In June 2020, a newcollege of Resources and Environment(Agricultural Environment and Resources Institute)was bornafter the combination and reform of SXAU and the Agricultural Sciences Academy in Shanxi Province.

Thecollege currently has a building of teaching and scientific research with a construction area of 7000 m2in Taigu campus and a building of scientific research and innovation with a construction area of 4500 m2in TaiyuanLongchengcampus. The total area of undergraduate experimental teaching laboratories is 4800 m2.The total value of our over 2500 instruments related to experimental teaching and scientific research is more than 63 million RMB. Also, thecollege has 165 faculty members, including 1 China International Eurasian Academician, 11 professors, 10 researchers, 35 associate professors, 27 associate researchers, 16 doctoral supervisors, 76 master supervisors, and 74 teachers with doctoral degrees. Now, thecollege has five teaching departments, six management departments and six internal institutions. Zhang Jiabao, an academicianwiththe Chinese Academy of Engineering, is the academic dean of thecollege. Chen Bin and Liu Fenwu are the currentsecretary of thepartycommittee and the dean of thecollege, respectively.

Thecollege has a doctoral degree authorization point for the first-level discipline of Agricultural Resources and Environment, a master’s degree authorization point for the first-level discipline of Public Administration (land resource management), and a professional master degree authorization point for Agricultural Resources Utilization and Plant Protection. A postdoctoral mobile station and an academician workstation are also available. Thecollege has five undergraduate majors currently: Agricultural Resources and Environment, Land Resources Management, Environmental Science, Geographic Information Science,and Land Remediation Engineering. Among them, Agricultural Resources and Environment isthenational first-class undergraduate specialtyconstruction point,thenational characteristic major, andtheprovincial brand major. Land resource management isthenational first-class undergraduatespecialty construction point,theprovincial brand major and the provincial characteristic specialty. At present, thecollege has a complete talent training system covering undergraduate, master, doctoral degree education and post-doctoral mobile stations. It is an interdisciplinary research and applied college integrating Agronomy, Science, Engineering,and ManagementScience.

Thecollege will adhere to the principle of cultivating people with morality andtakethe strengthen and promotion of agriculture asourresponsibility in order to achieve the goal of applied reserach. At present, 1432 undergraduate students and 252 doctoral students study here, and the average annual admission rate of postgraduate entrance examination is 40%. The students have achieved excellent results in various college student competitions, such as the national youth creation competition, the Chinese volunteer exchange service competition and the national college students’ professional skills competition of agricultural resources and environment. Thecollege has a national experimental teaching demonstration center for agricultural resources and environment, a virtual simulation experimental teaching demonstration center for ecological environment in Shanxi Province, an international science and technology cooperation base of the Ministry of Science and Technology, and a national and local joint engineering research center for degraded soil improvement and new fertilizer research. Also, a key laboratory of soil environment and nutrient resources in Shanxi Province and an engineering laboratory of high-efficient utilization of soil and fertilizer resources in Shanxi Province were taken.The above-mentioned teaching and scientific research platforms have improved the scientific research and social service strength of the college.

Focusing on the development goals of first-class colleges and first-class disciplines, thecollege will further optimize the direction and layout of disciplines, provide technical consulting services for agricultural production in Shanxi Province, and cultivatemoretalentswho know and love agriculture. We will strive to create a new chapter in the reform and development of thecollege, and contribute to the establishment of a high-level research and applied university with domestic first-class level, international influence and distinctive regional characteristics.