Introduction

    School of Materials and Energy, Guangdong University of Technology, is a key discipline construction under the Phase III of Guangdong's "211 Project". With a history of 48 years in education, it has established a comprehensive talent cultivation system encompassing undergraduate, master, doctor, and postdoc programs.

    The School comprises six departments (Metallic Materials Engineering, Materials Forming and Control Engineering, Polymer Materials and Engineering, Energy Engineering, Renewable Energy Materials and Devices, Renewable Energy Science and Engineering), one research institute (Low-Carbon Metallurgical Engineering Innovation Research Institute), as well as experimental centers and administrative offices. A capable teaching and research team comprises a total of 155 faculty members, including 120 full-time teachers, 26 professors, and 60 associate professors. Among them, there are 31 doctor supervisors and 117 master supervisors. A total of 118 teachers hold doctor’s degrees, accounting for 98.3% of the full-time teaching staff.

    The School possesses a post-doctor research station in Materials Science and Engineering, as well as the authority to evaluate professors in the discipline of Materials Science and Engineering. It offers two first-level doctor programs (Materials Science and Engineering, Power Engineering and Engineering Thermophysics) and four second-level doctor programs (Materials Science, Materials Processing Engineering, Energy Materials and Engineering, Polymer Materials and Engineering). Additionally, it provides two first-tier master programs (Materials Science and Engineering, Power Engineering and Engineering Thermophysics) and two master programs in engineering (Materials Engineering, Power Engineering).

    The School currently offers six undergraduate majors, including Metallic Materials Engineering, Materials Forming and Control Engineering, Polymer Materials and Engineering, Energy and Power Engineering, New Energy Materials and Devices, and New Energy Science and Engineering. Among them, Materials Forming and Control Engineering, Polymer Materials and Engineering, Metallic Materials Engineering, and Energy and Power Engineering have been selected for the construction of national-level first-class undergraduate majors. The School offers "Innovative Classes in Materials", "Excellent Engineer Classes", and "3+1" school-enterprise joint training classes. The School possesses dozens of high-end instruments and equipment, including transmission electron microscopes, field emission scanning electron microscopes, Raman spectrometers, in-situ analytical X-ray diffraction, etc. These are uniformly managed and shared among users.

    The School adheres to the educational philosophy of "growing together with the rise of Guangdong and contributing to Guangdong's economy." It insists on integrating talent cultivation and scientific research with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, local economy, and social development in Guangdong Province, pursuing a path of industry-academia-research collaboration. It has developed distinctive research characteristics in research areas such as the physics and chemistry of low-dimensional materials, energy material devices and systems, functional polymer materials and their applications, and new technologies for material forming and processing. In the past five years, the School established good cooperative relationships with enterprises in the Pearl River Delta region, and its research achievements have been widely applied by these enterprises.

    The School adheres to the principle of fostering virtue through education and strives to cultivate high-quality, innovative, and interdisciplinary talents for the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. It emphasizes the enhancement of undergraduate students' entrepreneurial and innovative abilities, the improvement of graduate students' research competencies, and the cultivation of their comprehensive qualities. Students are actively encouraged to engage in scientific and technological innovation activities. In recent years, the School has achieved remarkable results in innovation and entrepreneurship education for students, winning over 200 provincial and above-level awards.

    School values international cooperation and exchanges. Over the years, it has established cooperative and exchange relationships with numerous universities and research institutions in countries and regions such as the United States, Canada, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, and Thailand. In recent years, the School has hosted multiple international and national academic conferences, undertaken more than ten international cooperation projects, and dispatched dozens of teachers to study abroad.