On October 15th, Shanghai Ranking Consultancy, a professional institution for higher education evaluation, released the “Best Chinese Subjects Ranking” in 2025. The Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering discipline at Yangtze university ranked 4th nationwide and was selected into “2025 Shanghai Ranking’s First-Class Disciplines in China”.
The indicator system of the Best Chinese Subjects Ranking includes five categories: Talent Cultivation, Platform and Projects, Achievements, Academic Papers, and High-end Talent. This system consists of 19 sub-indicators and over 200 observation variables reflecting the competitiveness of the disciplines. Soft Science designates disciplines in the top 3% (or top 2) as “China’s Top Disciplines,” those in the top 7% (or top 3) and top 12% (or top 4) as “China’s First-Class Disciplines.”
Since the university's “Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering” discipline was included in the provincial first-class discipline cultivation program in Hubei, the entire university has worked with full dedication to strengthen the development of the discipline, driving the comprehensive development of the university through breakthroughs in this field. Over the past two years, the university has appointed Academician Li Yang as the chief scientist of the discipline and attracted 24 national-level high-end talents, including national “Outstanding Young Scholars.”
Focusing on national energy security, the discipline relies on 41 national and provincial platforms, including the “Low Carbon Catalysis and CO2 Utilization” National Key Laboratory, the Unconventional Oil and Gas Collaborative Innovation Center jointly built with the provincial government, and the “Oil and Gas Resources and Exploration Technology” Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education. The discipline conducts innovative research on the theories, methods, technologies, and equipment involved in the exploration and development of oil and gas resources, contributing to the discovery of more than ten oil and gas fields, including the massive Mahu Oilfield in Xinjiang. It actively supports national strategies for deep-earth and deep-sea exploration, and the shale gas exploration and development technologies focus on the marine shale gas in southern China, leading the transformation of the energy structure along the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and playing an irreplaceable role in regional economic development.
The discipline has nurtured several academic talents, including four academicians and 18 national “Outstanding Young Scholars,” with prominent figures such as Deng Yunhua, Chief Geologist of CNOOC, among its alumni. Particularly in the field of petroleum logging, pioneered by our university, more than half of the senior executives and technical experts in this field have been trained at our institution.
It is reported that the university's first-class discipline construction will continue to focus on enhancing quality, strengthening distinctive features in advantageous fields, and contributing to national strategies. The goal is to build a high ground for talent aggregation, discipline branding, and strategic support, and to fully contribute to the university’s high-quality development.
