China University of Mining and Technology (CUMT) is one of the key national universities under the direct administration of the China’s Ministry of Education. It is also one of the universities which host a graduate school with the approval of the Ministry of Education, and one of that in the national "211 project”, a government program designed to support and improve top-level institutions of higher learning in China.
CUMT grew out of Jiaozuo School of Railroad and Mines, which was established in 1909 and was later expanded and renamed Jiaozuo Institute of Technology. In 1950, Jiaozuo Institute of Technology moved to Tianjin and was renamed the China Institute of Mining and Technology (CIMT). It became the first higher learning institution in the field of mining in China.
In 1952, during a national readjustment of higher learning institutions, the mining engineering departments of Tsinghua University and the now-defunct Beiyang and Tangshan Railroad Universities were merged into CIMT. In 1953, the Institute moved to Beijing and was renamed Beijing Institute of Mining and Technology (BIMT), where it became one of the eight most renowned institutes in Beijing. In 1960, BIMT was rated a key university in the nation. During the period of the Cultural Revolution, it moved to Sichuan Province and was renamed the Sichuan Institute of Mining and Technology. In 1978, with the approval of the State Council, a new campus was established in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, with the school name restored to CIMT, and was rated by the government as one of China’s 88 key state universities.
In 1988, the institution was formally renamed the China University of Mining and Technology (CUMT), and in 1997, a second campus in Beijing was established with the approval of the Ministry of Education.
