History
Southeast University established one of the earliest biomedical engineering(BME) programs and academic disciplinesin China. In September 1984, Academician WEI Yu founded the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Instruments, which was renamed the Department of Biological Science and Medical Engineering in August 1994. In August 2006, the School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering was established. In 1993, the first doctoral program in Bioelectronics in China was approved. In 1997, BME became a national first-level discipline doctoral program. In 2002, it was designated as a National Key Discipline, and in 2017, it was selected for the national “Double First-Class” initiative. In 1998, a postdoctoral research station was approved, which was rated as a National Excellent Postdoctoral Research Station twice consecutively in 2005 and 2010. In the national discipline evaluations of BME in 2007 and 2012, it ranked first, and received an A+ rating in the 2017 evaluation.
General Overview
After more than forty years of development, the school has established a comprehensive system for high-level talent cultivation and scientific research. The school currently consists of four departments, namely, Department of Biomedical Engineering,Department of Bioinformatics, Department of Brain and Learning Sciences, and Department of Intelligent Medical Engineering. It houses one National Key Discipline and “Double First-Class” discipline, one postdoctoral research station and the specially-appointed professor post of “Changjiang Scholars Program”. The school also hosts one State Key Laboratory, one National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center, one Overseas Expertise Introduction Center for Discipline Innovation (“111 Center”), one National Engineering Practice Education Center, one Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education, as well as one provincial key laboratory and two provincial-level industrial technology research institutes. The school currently has 1,277 enrolled students, including 363 undergraduates, 437 master’s students, 477 doctoral students, and 68 postdoctoral fellows.
Faculty
The school has built a disciplinary team primarily composed of outstanding young and mid-career Ph.D. holders. It currently boasts one National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Innovative Research Group. There are nearly 120 full-time faculty members, including 2 academicians, 4 Changjiang Distinguished Professors, 6 recipients of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, and 1 Jiangsu Province Distinguished Professor. The faculty includes 56 full professors and 54 associate professors; 80 doctoral supervisors (also master’s supervisors) and 113 master’s supervisors. Over 90% of the faculty have overseas study or research experience. Several professors hold key positions in national academic organizations or expert panels, such as the Information and Electronics Engineering Division of the Chinese Academy of Engineeringand expert groups under the National High-tech R&D Program of China (863 Program).
Disciplines and Programs
Under the first-level discipline of BME, the school offers a self-established secondary discipline of Neural Information Engineering, along with key development directions such as Learning Sciences, Biological Information Technology, Medical Imaging and Medical Electronics, Biomedical Nanotechnology, and Biomedical Materials. It offers three undergraduate programs: Biomedical Engineering, Bioinformatics, and Intelligent Medical Engineering. In addition, it offers a combined bachelor’s master’s program in Biomedical Engineering (a seven year continuous program).
BME is an emerging, frontier discipline involving information science, biomedicine, chemistry, physics, materials science, and many other fields. It applies the theories, methods, and technologies of electronic information engineering and biomedical materials engineering to solve biomedical problems, and researches and develops novel biomedical materials, devices, and medical instruments for disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation.
Talent Cultivation
The school actively pursues teaching reform in “BME Talent Cultivation Based on Neuroeducation”, exploring exemplary talent training models. It has evolved from a purely engineering focus to a dual-degree program integrating medicine and engineering, and then to a seven-year combined bachelor’s master’s program, forming a comprehensive talent cultivation system. It is the only institution approved by the Ministry of Education to implement the seven-year continuous program in this discipline, and is also a National Experimental Zone for Talent Cultivation Model Innovation and a National Characteristic Specialty Construction Site, as well as a Jiangsu Provincial Brand Program. The school successfully established a National BME Teaching Demonstration Center and the BGI-SEU National Engineering Practice Education Center. It has built a multidisciplinary, targeted, and shared experimental teaching platform for undergraduates and graduates, emphasizing close integration of in-class and extracurricular activities. The school offers national bilingual high-quality courses and model teachers. Over the past five years, it has produced more than 200 doctoral graduates and over 600 master’s graduates. Among the doctoral graduates, a total of six have won the National Excellent Doctoral Dissertation Award.
Scientific Research
The school currently hosts the State Key Laboratory of Digital Medical Engineering, the 111 Center for Organ-on-a-Chip, the Key Laboratory of Child Development and Learning Science (Ministry of Education), the Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Biomaterials and Devices, the Southeast University-Allen Joint Research Center, as well as laboratories for Medical Electronics, Biomedical Signal and Image Processing, Biomechanics, and Biointerfaces. It also operates high technology transfer and application centers such as the Southeast University Suzhou Institute of Medical Device Industrial Technology, the Institute of Biomedical Materials and Devicesin JITRI, the Suzhou Key Laboratory of Biomedical Materials and Technology, the Suzhou Key Laboratory of Environment and Bio safety, and the Wuxi Key Laboratory of Biochips.
In the past five years, the school has led and undertaken nearly 200 national and provincial/ministerial research projects, including key projects of the National Key R&D Program, receiving over RMB 320 million in research funding, and more than 200 industry funded projects totaling over RMB 60 million. It has published nearly 2,000 SCI indexed papers and been granted nearly 200 patents. The school has received 15 national or provincial/ministerial natural science or technology advancement awards.
International Exchange
The school engages in extensive international academic exchange and cooperation, establishing long term and stable research and talent cultivation partnerships with internationally renowned universities and research institutions such as the University of Birmingham (UK), the University of Michigan (USA), the Allen Institute for Brain Science (USA), RWTH Aachen University (Germany), Ulm University (Germany), Monash University (Australia), as well as institutions in Japan, France, and other countries. In particular, the double master’s degree program and student exchange program with RWTH Aachen University and Ulm University have a solid foundation. The school has co founded the SEU-Allen Joint Research Center with the Allen Institute for Brain Science. It has hosted numerous international conferences, sent many faculty members and students abroad for visits, studies, or joint training, and has welcomed international students from Germany, France, and other countries to pursue degrees in the discipline. Several professors have been appointed as adjunct professors at renowned universities in Australia, Japan, the UK, and other countries.
