The discipline of food science at Jiangnan University (JU) derived from the Department of Food Technology, Nanjing Institute of Technology founded in 1952. With the unremitting efforts made by generations of faculties, the Discipline of JU, compared with its counterparts in China, has gradually risen to fame, boasting the longest history, the soundest research foundation, and the broadest coverage of academic areas. In 2007, the School of Food Science and Technology, JU, developed the Discipline into national first-level key discipline, the only one in China’s food industry. Furthermore, in September 2017, the discipline of food science and engineering was listed in the national construction plan of world-class universities and first-class disciplines, which is known as “Double First-Class” initiative. Besides, the undergraduate program of food science and engineering was IFT-approved with International Food Science Certification issued in 2011 and 2016 respectively. According to the latest ESI, JU’s discipline of agriculture science, 86% of which is contributed by the discipline of food science, is ranked in the top 0.12‰ worldwide.

The teaching faculty comprises 274 full-time teachers, including 81 professors ,79 associate professors and 113 lectures. More than 95% of full-time professors have Ph. D. degree. Over 3200 students enroll in the School, including 1420 undergraduates, 1248 master students, and 566 doctoral candidates.

The School enjoys powerful systematic support from well-equipped scientific research platforms, five of which are national-level platforms, such as China’s only State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Food Processing National Engineering Laboratory and National Engineering Research Center of Functional Food. The School has also developed stable and long-term partnership with more than 50 institutions of higher learning and scientific research from about 30 regions and countries, such as the USA, Japan, France, and Canada.

No less than 180 famous food companies in China joined the Board of Directors chaired by the School, creating favorable conditions for undergraduate education, scientific research, student internship and job hunting. Furthermore, he School has developed regular collaboration for coordinating supply and demand of college graduates with over 200 top-brand food enterprises at home and abroad, e.g., Mondelēz, PepsiCo, P&G, Danone, National Adhesives, Nestlé, Cargill, COFCO,  and Yihai Kerry.

The faculty as well as the students will take initiatives to meet challenges in pursuit of diligence, innovation, pioneering, and win-win. Armed with a new vision and full confidence, they aspire to shoulder the heavy responsibility of revitalizing China’s food industry.