Introduction

Jingdezhen Ceramic University is the only university of higher learning specializing in ceramics in China.It is one of the 31 Chinese universities entitled to enroll art undergraduate students on its own initiative and one of the first 94 Chinese universities authorized to grant Chinese Government Scholarship to overseas students to pursue their Bachelor or Master’s degrees in China. It is supported by the National Basic Ability Construction Project of Western and Central China. It is included in the Excellent Engineer Education and Training Scheme initiated by the Ministry of Education. It is a model university for reform in innovation and entrepreneurship education initiated by the Ministry of Education. A university with typical experience in innovation and entrepreneurship and one of the first pilot universities for the transformation of development in Jiangxi. Over the past 100 years’development, it has become a worldly-renowned institution of ceramic talents cultivation, ceramic technology innovation and international exchange of ceramic culture and art.

The predecessor of JCU is China Ceramic School (then located in Po Yang, Jiangxi province) founded by Zhang Jian, Rui Cheng and Kang Da in 1910. From then on, the name and location of the school have changed many times. In 1912, it was renamed Jiangxi Provincial Raozhou Ceramic School. In 1915, it changed its name to Jiangxi Provincial No. 2 Type A Industrial School and set up its Jingdezhen branch the next year. In 1925, it changed its name to Jiangxi Provincial Kiln School and opened girl’s classes for the first time. In 1927, it was renamed Jiangxi Provincial Ceramic School and carried out a dual-track school-running system: the academic group and art group. In 1934, the school moved to Jiujiang, Jiangxi and changed its name to Jiangxi Provincial Jiujiang Ceramic Vocational School. From 1937 on, it has moved to different cities of Jiangxi to set up its campus: Jing’an (1937), Pingxiang (1938) and Jingdezhen (1944). In 1948, it was upgraded to be Jiangxi Provincial Ceramic College, having two sections namely the Section of Ceramic Engineering and the Section of Ceramic Art. From October 1944 to December 1950, led by headmaster Wang Fan who devoted himself to the school development and invited lots of talents to be the teaching staff, the college was rapidly developed into the first ceramic institution of higher learning in China. In 1952, the national colleges and departments were adjusted and so the Ceramic College was abolished. At the same time, Jingdezhen Ceramic Experimental Research Institute (now named China Institute of Light Industrial Ceramics) was established on the basis of the original school site, equipment and some teachers. In 1958, with the approval of Jiangxi Provincial People's Committee, Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute was established on the basis of Jingdezhen Ceramic Art and Craft School, Jingdezhen Ceramic Workers Technical School and the silicate specialty of Jiangxi Industrial Technical School. It had three departments namely the Department of Art, the Department of Engineering and the Department of technical students. The school was suspended during the Cultural Revolution and resumed in 1975 with the approval of the State Council. Then it was operated directly under the Ministry of Light Industry. There were three departments then namely the department of Ceramic Engineering, the Department of Ceramic Machinery and the Department of Ceramic Arts. Since the 1980s, it has opened up new disciplines such as management, science, literature and history. In 1984, it was approved as the second batch of master's degree awarding units nationwide and doctoral degrees in 2013. In 1998, it changed to be co-built by the central and local governments, mainly managed by Jiangxi Province. In 1999, China Institute of Light Industrial Ceramics merged into JCI. In 2016, it changed its Chinese name to be Jingdezhen Ceramic University.

Under the background of abolishing the imperial examinations and prospering the schools at the end of the Qing Dynasty, China Ceramic School co-sponsored by five provinces, under the leadership of a group of overseas returnees such as Zhang Hao, went through hardships and difficulties and finally managed to show its achievements. While developing with the process of China's ceramic industrialization for more than one hundred years, the school has changed its name ten times, its site four times and suspended four times. With all the hardships it has experienced, the school hasn’t changed its original goal. Rooted in the fertile soil of the ceramic industry, with the efforts of generations of JCU people, JCU has formed its own fine tradition and unique cultural character, with "to cultivate talents with theoretical and technical knowledge so as to improve the ceramic industry" as its school-running goal,“to cultivate top talents to serve in the ceramic industry”as its talents training target, "to cultivate talents combining art and technology and having interest in research" as its talents cultivation philosophy, "to revitalize China's ceramic industry, to carry forward Chinese ceramic culture" as its original mission, "Diligence and Prompt Action" as its school spirit and“sincerity, austerity, forgiveness and perseverance”as its school motto.

School profile:JCU is located in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, a famous historical and cultural city known as "porcelain capital for thousands of years". It has three campuses (Xinchang, Taoyansuo and Xianghu) covering over 2000 acres with school building covering nearly 700, 000 square meters. Now it consists of 11 teaching schools, including School of Material Science and Engineering, School of Ceramics and Fine Arts, School of Design and Art and School of Art and Archaeology. In addition , it has Graduate School, International School, School of Entrepreneurship, School of Adult Education and one independent college ___ College of Technology and Art, JCU. In total, now it has over 20,000 students (including those of the independent college), among whom there are more than 1400 master and doctoral students. It also has enrolled overseas students from more than 25 countries and regions worldwide including France, South-Korea and Japan. It has formed a complete talents training system of "undergraduates - postgraduates- doctoral students". At present, JCU has two teachers awarded the title National Young and Mid-aged Expert with Outstanding Contributions, five recipients of the National Outstanding Youth Fund, five national candidates for the "New Century Hundreds of Millions of Talents Project", one global scientist with high times citation, 26 experts enjoying the Special Government Allowances of the State Council, and four candidates for the "New Century Excellent Talents Support Program" of the Ministry of Education. It also has a member of the 7th Subject Consultative Group (design discipline) of the Academic Degree Committee under the State Council, a member of Teaching Steering Committee of the Ministry of Education. It also has many national famous teachers, Masters of Chinese arts and crafts, 25 Masters of China Ceramic Arts and more than 200 provincial experts of different disciplines.

Disciplines and Specialties:The university offers 57 undergraduate programs, 3 doctoral programs in first-level disciplines, 13 master's programs in first-level disciplines and 8 professional master's degree programs, covering 10 disciplines such as engineering, art, management, literature, science and history. JCU pays attention to the integration of art, industry and business, highlights its superiority in the field of “ design art and ceramic engineering” and builds up three discipline groups namely “design art and ceramic culture, ceramic material engineering and mechanical electronics , ceramic economy and management”. With these discipline groups, JCU strives to cultivate top talents in the whole industrial chain from ceramic material, design, manufacture to management. Among the disciplines, "the Science of Design", "Materials Science and Engineering" and "the Science of Fine Arts" were selected into the list of provincial first-class discipline construction (" the Science of Design " became the first leading discipline of Jiangxi University Discipline Alliance); Six majors, such as Inorganic Nonmetallic Materials Engineering and Ceramic Art Design, have been approved as national first-class undergraduate major construction sites. Thirteen majors such as "Powder Material Science and Engineering" and "Product Design" were selected into the list of provincial first-class majors. In the fourth round of national discipline evaluation, the disciplines of "the Science of Design" and "the Science of Fine Arts" both received "B+" (ranking the 10th in China and the 1st in Jiangxi Province), and the disciplines of "Material science and Engineering" received "C+" (ranking the 69th in China and the 2nd in Jiangxi Province). The comprehensive score ranked the 4th in Jiangxi Province.

Education and Teaching:JCU has one national experimental teaching demonstration center, one state-level talents -training mode innovation pilot zone, three state-level characteristic majors, three state-level pilot majors of "excellent engineer education and training scheme", one state-level "professional comprehensive reform pilot project", one state-level teaching team, one state-level video open class, one state-level high-quality textbook, four state-level engineering practice education center, one national continuing education base for professional and technical personnel, one research and training base for the inheritors of China's intangible cultural heritage. In the long-term school-running practice, the school has formed a five-in-one talents training mode featuring "study, major, employment, career and entrepreneurship", built an innovation and entrepreneurship education system featuring the interaction between the first, second and third classes, and created a unique educational atmosphere featuring the integration of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship into one. In 2018, JCU’s program entitled “ the Art and Design Talents Training Mode featuring ‘Integration of Three Innovations and Integration of Art, industry and Business’ ” was awarded the second prize of National Teaching Achievement Award, which once again highlights JCU's characteristics in education, teaching and talents training. In recent years, JCU’s students have won one gold award, two silver awards, eight bronze awards, and the best Creative award and the best Popularity Award in the National "Internet +" College Students Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition. The initial employment rate of its graduates is fairly high. Its rate of self-employment is so high that it has ranked the first among universities in the province for six consecutive years. It has been awarded as the excellent unit and the advanced unit for the employment.

Scientific research:JCU has been dedicated to the innovation research in ceramic material, manufacture, craftsmanship and equipment technology. It has 31 provincial and ministerial scientific research centers such as National Engineering Research Center for Domestic and Building Ceramics (the first one in Jiangxi) and National New Ceramic Material Engineering and Research Center and China Institute of Light Industrial Ceramics. It also has other institutions such as National Center for Quality Inspection of Ceramic Products, National Centre of Standardization of Domestic Ceramics, China Information Center of Ceramic Intellectual Property. Besides, it has a provincial academician workstation. In recent years, it has established two top academic platforms: Advanced Research Institute of Ceramic Culture and Research Institute of the development of Chinese Ceramics. All these research and information centers form a compete supportive system serving for and leading the development of Chinese ceramic industry. JCU has undertaken more than 500 programs including major national science and technology projects and fund programs covering natural science, social science and art. It has won the second prize of National Science and Technology Progress Award. The scholars of JCU have drafted and revised more than 130 national and industrial standards, promoting the transformation and upgrading of the ceramic industry. JCU has established long-term strategic partnership with major ceramic production regions, local governments, enterprises and research institutes. Owing to those efforts, more than 300 scientific research achievements have been industrialized. Among them, “the environment-friendly ceramic water permeable brick” program breaks the technical monopoly of foreign countries and is now being applied in provinces such as Jiangxi, Guangdong, Shandong and Guangxi, making contributions to China’s construction of sponge city. The“high-performance ceramic membrane for water purification”program won the gold medal inthe National Scientist Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition (the only gold medal won by Jiangxi scientists). The program entitled “Prediction of protein structure and function type based on sequence information” won the second prize of the Natural Science Award of Jiangxi Province. (the first prize being vacant) Some academic journals such as China Ceramics,Journal of Ceramics,China Ceramic Industryissued by JCU are well-known in the ceramic circle at home and abroad.

Art creation:JCU adheres to the belief of cultural self-confidence and consciousness, performs the mission of telling China story and spreading Chinese voice, and vigorously implements the project of popularizing Chinese ceramic culture. JCU boasts of a large number of ceramic artists, educators and leading figures in the ceramic field. These artists have initiated and developed the artistic techniques of“modern folk blue and white”,“ceramic decoration”and“modern ceramic painting”, thus promoting the individuality, diversity and internationalization of modern Chinese ceramics. JCU has undertaken and completed many major national cultural research and publishing projects, including “Traditional Jingdezhen Ceramic Craftsmanship” and “Photocopying Catalogue of Ancient Chinese Ceramics and Ceramic Documents”. The program "Research on the Development of Chinese Ceramic Art (1949-2019)" was approved by the 2019 National Social Science Foundation of Art as a major project (a total of 27 major projects nationwide). It has designed national gift porcelain for foreign statesmen such as Queen Elizabeth, Churchill and Truman. It also has designed the "7501" porcelain for Chairman MAO, porcelain for Great Hall of the People and gift porcelain for historic events such as Beijing Olympic Games, Shanghai International Expo, APEC meeting in Beijing. More than 300 pieces of JCU artists’ works have been collected by famous museums and galleries in the world and over 200 have won awards in important competitions.

Foreign exchanges:As one of the universities in Jiangxi province with a long history, profound industrial background and distinctive discipline features, JCU once participated in the "21st Century Chinese University Exhibition" organized by the Ministry of Education in Russia as one of the representatives of 60 most distinctive universities in China (the only one in Jiangxi province). JCU has consciously undertaken the task of spreading traditional Chinese culture and has established friendly relationships by exchanging students and teachers with more than 30 universities in the US, the UK, France, Japan, Korea and so on. Besides, it keeps on good terms with IAC . Through such cooperation programs, JCU has helped spreading the Chinese ceramic culture and art to every corner of the globe. On behalf of China, JCU has held high-level exhibitions for teachers and students in Louver, France, Cambridge University Museum, Greek Museum of Asian Art, the Grand Palais, France and the headquarters of UN in New York. It has hosted more than 20 international seminars (forums) on ceramic engineering, ceramic art, ceramic culture and ceramic education. In 1958, JCU began to enroll overseas students, and has cultivated more than 3,000 overseas students from more than 20 countries and regions on various continents. The “JCU-WVU international ceramic artists workshop” is known as a model and new climax of exchanges between Chinese and American people by200 years of U.S.-China Relationspublished by the Department of State of U.S.

Talent cultivation:JCU always adheres to the school-running mission of "promoting Chinese ceramics culture, revitalizing China's ceramic industry" , persists in the school-running philosophy of “famous city running distinguished university, talent cultivation maintaining distinguished university, discipline and specialty establishing distinguished university, scientific research and international exchanges supporting distinguished university”. In response to the needs of the country's economic and social development, JCU has cultivated more than 100,000 ceramic professionals for the society. Take Foshan city as an example, there are over 10,000 JCU graduates working there in the field of building ceramics, making great contribution to the building ceramics industry. Possessing hands-on skills and being willing to innovate, JCU graduates are welcomed by employers. It also has cultivated groups of famous ceramic artists, designers, leading scientists and entrepreneurs who have created a lot of top brands like KEDA GROUP , ARROW, KITO GROUP, GANI MARBLE TILES, OCEANO and DOWSTONE to name just a few. The profound influence that JCU graduates have brought to the ceramic field in the past, at present and will bring in the future creates a unique phenomenon “the JCU phenomenon”. Owing to such great influence, JCU is renowned as the Ceramic West Point in the world. In recent years, students have won more than 500 national awards, including over 30 important awards such as the first prize of the National Mathematical Modeling Contest for Graduate Students, the Gold Medal of the National Mechanical Design Contest for College Students, the Gold Medal of the National Tax Law Knowledge Contest. A new era, a new journey. Guided by Xi Jinping thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, JCU will adhere to the principle of "ceramic university serving ceramics" and actively integrate into the national " Belt and Road" strategy, the National Central Rising strategy, the Inland Jiangxi Open Economic Pilot Zone and the construction of Jingdezhen National Ceramic Culture Inheritance and Innovation Pilot Zone. Comprehensively focusing on high-level undergraduate education and the construction of first-class disciplines and specialties, JCU will forge ahead towards the goal of building a world-class university with distinctive features. (data up to June 2020)