As the first higher-learning institution for the iron and steel industry established in the People's Republic of China, the University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB) — formerly the Beijing Institute of Iron and Steel Technology — carries forward the legacy of the mining and metallurgy disciplines of six leading universities. USTB has been chosen as one of the first universities to participate in several national high-level initiatives, including the “211 Project” and “985 Platform for National Advanced Disciplines Innovation”. In 2017 USTB was chosen to be part of the national “Double First-class Initiative” to build four first-class disciplines. Over more than seven decades, it has grown into a national key university directly under the Ministry of Education, primarily focused on engineering while spanning engineering, science, management, the humanities, economics, law, agriculture, and interdisciplinary fields. USTB is widely known as the "Cradle of the Steel Industry".
The School of Economics and Management (SEM) traces its origins to the Department of Metallurgical Economics and Enterprise Organization, established in 1954 at the Beijing Institute of Iron and Steel Technology, making it one of the earliest units in China's engineering universities to offer industrial enterprise management education. The Department of Management Science was founded in 1981, and in 1993 the department was elevated to the School of Management, renamed the School of Economics and Management in 2006. The School earned AMBA, AACSB, and EQUIS accreditation in 2013, 2018, and 2024 respectively, becoming the 14th business school in Mainland China and the 4th in Beijing to earn"Triple Crown" accreditation. It offers three first-level disciplines — Management Science and Engineering, Business Administration, and Applied Economics — the first of which is a key discipline of Beijing. It hosts doctoral programs and postdoctoral stations in Management Science and Engineering and Business Administration, master's programs in all 3 disciplines, and 5 professional degree programs: MBA, MEM, MPAcc, MDE, and MF.
Committed to educating talent for the Party and the nation, the School cultivates professionals who combine social responsibility, an innovative spirit, and international competitiveness for the digital and intelligent era. Of its 7 undergraduate programs, 5 — Information Management and Information Systems, Business Administration, International Economics and Trade, Big Data Management and Application, and Accounting — are national first-class undergraduate program development sites. Notably, Big Data Management and Application is offered by only 2 universities nationwide. Financial Engineering is a Beijing municipal first-class program, and Information Management and Information Systems is a distinctive program of Beijing. In 2025, the School launched a Digital Economy program and an interdisciplinary "Business Administration + Artificial Intelligence" dual-degree program.
The School keeps reforming its teaching content, curriculum systems, and faculty development. It is home to 5 national first-class undergraduate courses, 1 national quality course, 1 national bilingual demonstration course, and 7 nationally planned textbooks, and has received 9 Beijing municipal teaching awards. Over 45 years, it has educated more than 20,000 graduates, many of whom have become leaders in politics, economics, science and technology, and education. It currently enrolls over 1,200 undergraduates, more than 1,100 graduate students, and over 300 international students.
Committed to building strength through talent, the School has assembled a distinguished faculty. It comprises seven departments: Information Systems and Data Science, Management Science, Engineering Management and Technical Economics, Business Administration, Finance and Accounting, Applied Economics, and Financial Engineering. Among its 170 faculty and staff are 119 full-time faculty — 32 professors and 54 associate professors — of whom 96% hold doctoral degrees, over 80% have studied or exchanged abroad, and 20% hold overseas degrees. Sixteen faculty members hold national or provincial/ministerial talent titles, including a recipient of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars and a recipient of the National Major Talent Program. Nearly ten distinguished scholars and business leaders from home and abroad serve as adjunct professors, bringing industry and enterprises fully into talent cultivation. The School is equipped with an open information resource center, an advanced experimental information center, multifunctional lecture halls, dedicated classrooms, and case discussion rooms.
The School integrates interdisciplinary resources to pursue innovative research on frontier issues in economics and management and on questions of national strategic importance. Since the start of the "14th Five-Year Plan", it has undertaken 463 research projects and secured 76 grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and the National Social Science Fund, including its first major project (sub-project) from the NSFC's Department of Management Sciences and four flagship projects. Faculty have published 983 SCI/SSCI-indexed papers, with publications in English-language A1 journals growing substantially. Eleven policy advisory reports have been adopted by the Ministry of Education and higher authorities, several of which received instructions from national leaders. The School has won 10 provincial/ministerial research awards and operates 3 provincial/ministerial-level research bases, among them the Beijing Urban Governance Innovation Center, approved in 2024 as one of the first six such centers in Beijing.
The School also integrates social service into regional economic development, leveraging its strengths in economics and management and the university's industrial expertise. Focusing on energy, metallurgy, intelligent manufacturing, green and low-carbon development, and the digital economy, it advances collaboration among government, industry, academia, research, and application. It has partnered with major enterprises and government institutions including Sinopec, HBIS Group, BBMG, and BAIC Group, delivering customized training to more than 3,000 participants. As one of the first universities in China to admit international students, the School has a long history of international education, beginning joint graduate training with McMaster University in Canada in the 1980s. Since 2002, its EMBA program in cooperation with the University of Texas at Arlington has earned widespread acclaim. In recent years, it has signed cooperation agreements with the University of Cambridge's Energy Policy Research Group, launched a "3+1+1" joint program with the National University of Singapore, a "4+1" master's program with the University of Leeds, and a dual doctoral program with the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, while partnering with ESCP Business School, Ural Federal University, and Politecnico di Milano. These efforts have made the School's international education more open and diverse.
Carrying forward the university's tradition of "rigorous scholarship and respect for practice", the School will uphold its vision of becoming a distinctive first-class school of economics and management and the principle of "consolidating foundations, promoting interdisciplinary development, and pursuing breakthroughs". It will strive to build first-class disciplines, assemble first-class faculty, cultivate first-class talent, produce first-class results, and deliver first-class services — contributing the wisdom and strength of USTB's SEM to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
