The university is also part of the 985 Project Innovation Platform for Advantageous Disciplines and is a national Double First-Class university focused on building world-class disciplines.
The College of Geological Engineering and Geomatics is a key college at Chang'an University. It comprises four major disciplinary clusters: Geological Engineering, Geophysics, Surveying Engineering, and Safety Engineering. The college has developed into a high-level institution characterized by a strong engineering focus, a balance between science and engineering, prominent disciplinary advantages, and distinctive specialties. It has been approved as the Western China Innovation and Introduction Base for Disciplines in Geological Hazards and Geological Engineering and serves as an International Cooperating Unit for the UNESCO Chair Project on Disaster Risk Reduction for Geological Environments. The college has become a vital base for cultivating high-level talent in geological engineering, geotechnical engineering, applied geophysics, surveying engineering, and safety engineering for western china and the nation. The primary discipline of Geological Resources and Geological Engineering is a Shaanxi Provincial Double First-Class discipline. Geological Engineering is a national key secondary discipline. Disciplines such as Earth Exploration and Information Technology, and Geodesy and Surveying Engineering are provincial/ministerial-level key disciplines.
The college currently hosts 3 first-level doctoral programs in Geological Resources and Geological Engineering, Surveying Science and Technology, and Geophysics; 1 professional doctoral degree program in Resources and Environment; 2 first-level master's programs in Safety Science and Engineering, and Remote Sensing Science and Technology; and 3 postdoctoral research stations. It offers 7 undergraduate programs. Among these, 5 programs (Geological Engineering, Remote Sensing Science and Technology, Exploration Technology and Engineering, Geophysics, Surveying Engineering) are selected as National First-Class Undergraduate Program Construction Sites. 1 program (Safety Engineering) is selected as a Shaanxi Provincial First-Class Undergraduate Program Construction Site. 1 program (Geospatial Information Engineering) was newly approved by the Ministry of Education in 2023. Five engineering programs (Geological Engineering, Remote Sensing Science and Technology, Exploration Technology and Engineering, Surveying Engineering, Safety Engineering) have passed the Ministry of Education's Engineering Education Professional Certification.
The college has received 3 National Higher Education Teaching Achievement Awards, undertaken 2 Ministry of Education New Engineering Research and Practice Projects, hosts 1 Ministry of Education Virtual Teaching and Research Office, and offers 4 National-level courses. It has been granted 6 Provincial Teaching Achievement Awards, boasts 4 Provincial Teaching Teams, 1 Provincial Teaching Master, and offers 22 Provincial-level courses, forming an innovative structure of leading masters - backbone support - young faculty succession.
The college possesses excellent platform conditions. In January 2025, the Loess Science National Key Laboratory, jointly established with the Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, was officially approved for construction. It hosts numerous provincial/ministerial-level key research platforms, including the Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Western Mineral Resources and Geological Engineering, the Ministry of Education Field Scientific Observation and Research Station of Water Cycle and Geological Environment in the Loess Plateau, the Offshore Oil & Gas Exploration Gravity and Magnetic Data Analysis Sub-center of the National Engineering Research Center for Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration, the Ministry of Natural Resources Key Laboratory of Ecological Geology and Disaster Prevention and Control, the Ministry of Natural Resources Key Laboratory of Mechanism and Prevention of Mine Geological Disasters, the Ministry of Natural Resources Shaanxi Xi'an Land Subsidence and Ground Fissures Field Scientific Observation and Research Station, the Ministry of Natural Resources Key Laboratory of Ground Fissure Geological Hazards, the Ministry of Natural Resources Open Research Laboratory of Geotechnical Engineering, the National Remote Sensing Center of China Department for Geological Hazard Research, the Chinese Geophysical Society Key Laboratory for Multi-parameter Simulation of Geophysical Fields, the Shaanxi Provincial Yellow River Science Research Institute, the Shaanxi Provincial University Key Laboratory of Mechanism and Risk Control of Geohazards, and the Shaanxi Provincial University Engineering Research Center for Intelligent BeiDou. It also maintains college-level laboratories such as Comprehensive Geophysics, Information, Surveying and Remote Sensing, and Safety Engineering laboratories.
The college undertakes significant research projects, including National 973 Program Projects, National 863 Program Major Projects, National Key R&D Program Projects, National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Major Projects, NSFC Major Research Instrumentation Projects, NSFC Key Projects, NSFC Key International (Regional) Cooperative Research Projects, National Key Technologies R&D Program Projects, National Land Resource Survey Projects, National Western Traffic Construction Science and Technology Projects, Ministry of Education International Cooperation Programs, major engineering projects related to national hydropower, and research on energy and disaster geophysical exploration, urban geological hazard monitoring, etc.
The college has received numerous prestigious awards, including: Shaanxi Provincial Science and Technology Award First Prize (2010); Surveying and Mapping Science and Technology Progress Award First Prize (2011); National Science and Technology Progress Award Second Prize (2012); Shaanxi Provincial Science and Technology Award First Prize (2012); Satellite Navigation and Positioning Science and Technology Progress Award Second Prize (2015); Land and Resources Science and Technology Award First Prize (2016); Hunan Provincial Science and Technology Award First Prize (2017); Satellite Navigation and Positioning Science and Technology Progress Award Second Prize (2018); National Science and Technology Progress Award Second Prize (2018); Shaanxi Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award First Prize (2019); Shaanxi Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award First Prize (2020); China Society of Surveying and Mapping Surveying and Mapping Science and Technology Award First Prize (2022); The 3rd National Award for Innovation and Dedication (2023); and Natural Resources Science and Technology Award First Prize (2023).
Key major research projects undertaken include 3 NSFC Major Projects: Catastrophe Mechanism and Prevention of Major Engineering Projects in the Loess Plateau, Identification and Prediction of Major Disaster Risks along the Sichuan-Tibet Railway, and Geological and Surface Processes and Major Disaster Effects in the Yellow River Basin; 3 National Key R&D Program Projects: Real-time Monitoring, Early Warning, Technology and Equipment R&D for Giant Landslides, R&D of Technology and Equipment for Holographic Perception, Intelligent Control, and Safety Guidance of Traffic Networks under Large-scale Natural Disasters, and Technical System for Prevention and Control of Major Chain Disasters in Dense Infrastructure Areas of the Loess Plateau; 1 NSFC Major Research Instrumentation Project: UAV-based Precise Delivery-type BeiDou Intelligent Monitoring and Early Warning System for Landslide Hazards; 6 NSFC Key Projects; 1 NSFC Excellent Young Scientist Fund Project: Engineering Geology and Geohazards; 3 International Cooperation and Exchange Projects; 2 Funds for Overseas and Hong Kong/Macao Scholars Collaboration Research; along with 11 sub-projects under Major Programs and Key R&D Plans, and 20 specialized topics.
The college has 201 faculty and staff, including 161 full-time faculty members (44 Professors, 68 Associate Professors, 49 Lecturers). The faculty includes 1 full-time Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and 2 Adjunct Academicians. There are 11 national-level talent awardees and 15 provincial-level talent awardees. The college hosts 1 Academician Workstation and 4 provincial-level teaching teams. The current student body includes nearly 2,000 undergraduates and over 1,000 master's and doctoral students. The college has a remarkable record in talent cultivation, having trained over 30,000 outstanding graduates, making it one of the key bases for talent development in the geoscience field in China.
Guided by the mission to serve major national technological needs and lead international academic research, the college has formed prominent disciplinary advantages in areas such as basic geology and mineral resources in Western China, regional stability engineering geology and disaster dynamics, loess engineering and hazards, earth exploration and hazard monitoring/warning technology, and disaster prevention/mitigation for major engineering projects. This demonstrates its leading role in geological engineering, based in Western China, radiating nationwide. The college's research results have been widely applied, establishing systems for geological hazard identification, risk assessment, and early warning that serve major projects like the Yellow River Basin and the Sichuan-Tibet Railway corridor. It has tackled challenges like ground fissure disaster reduction for urban subways and high-speed railways, developing key technologies for ground fissure and land subsidence prevention applied in projects such as the Xi'an Metro, Datong-Xi'an High-Speed Railway, and the Nairobi-Malaba Railway in East Africa. In the new era, the college, rooted in the west, strives for technological advancement to serve the nation. It is strategically focused on areas like the Habitable Yellow River, Safe Sichuan-Tibet Corridor, Ecological Qinling Mountains, Mineral Exploration in Western China, and International Disaster Reduction, providing crucial support for the implementation of major national strategies and the construction of significant engineering projects.