China University of Petroleum (UPC) is a national key university directly affiliated to the Ministry of Education and a member of the “211 Project” and “985 innovation platform for preponderant discipline” universities. China University of Petroleum is a higher education institution co-constructed by the Ministry of Education, four leading petroleum and petrochemical companies (CNPC, SINOPEC, CNOOC, and CHEMCHINA) and the People’s Government of Shandong Province. Honored as “the cradle of scientific and technological talents for petroleum industry”, UPC is an important base of training high-level talents for petroleum and petrochemical industry and has already developed into a multi-disciplinary, well-rounded university focusing on petroleum and engineering.
The university has an excellent sports tradition. At the beginning of its establishment in 1953, it established a sports teaching and research office and a number of sports teams. In the 1960s, the sports team of UPC was famous among universities in Beijing because the football team beat the Beijing Sports Academy team, the women's basketball team was the top team in Beijing , and the track and field team once won the first place in the women's team event and the second place in men’s and women's team competitions. After the reform and opening up, under the care and support of the school leaders, the work of sports has developed rapidly. In 1981, the school sports committee was established to take charge of the school’s sports work comprehensively. In 1987, UPC was approved to be the first batch of pilot high level sports teams in universities across the country by the ministry of education. In 1992, the sports work was acquired by the Ministry of Education “National Excellent School for Physical Education Curriculum Evaluation”. In 1999, UPC was awarded as the “Advanced Unit for the Implementation of the School Physical Education Regulations in general institutes of higher education in Shandong Province” by the Education Bureau in Shandong Province. In 2000, it was awarded as one of the “outstanding institutions on implementing regulations in the school sports work” given by the ministry of Education.
At present, the Physical Education Department is directly affiliated to UPC with the independent organizational system and it is a secondary teaching unit with master degree in first-level discipline on physical education. It has an office, a first public teaching and research section, a second public teaching and research section, teaching and research section on competitive sports, a physical fitness testing center, a sports science research center, labor unions, league committees, a stadium management center and other institutions. The Physical Education Department has a team of highly qualified dynamic teachers with high moral integrity, excellent professionalism, good education background and high headships. There are 70 faculty members, including 61 full-time teachers, 5 professors, 1 specially-appointed professor and 26 associate professors. There are 6 master supervisors, 7 PhD students (including internal PhD students), 34 master degree holders, 2 national sports coaches, and 5 national referees. They mainly undertake public sports teaching for undergraduates and postgraduates of the whole university. They focus on team training, competitions, college student physique monitoring, physical education graduate training, sports scientific research, mass sports management and stadium management which have ensured the school's various sports activities launching smoothly.
In recent years, the Physical Education Department has been earnestly implementing the policy of popularizing and improving school sports. It has persisted in consolidating a foundation (group activities), highlighting two key points (public education and competitive sports), and exerting three roles (the educational role of construction in teachers’ morality ,the leading role of sports science research, and the supporting role of the construction of master's programs in physical education). The department basing on the theme of reform and development, with the center on the construction of disciplines, seeks breakthroughs in characteristic development, and pursues development of the upper reaches of the competition. The department strives to achieve leap-forward and sustainable development, so that public physical education teaching quality, competitive sports achievements, graduate training standards, group work development, sports scientific research work and stadium management and other sports work are listed in the forefront among colleges and universities in Shandong Province, and are in stable position to keep ahead of the ranks among colleges and universities across the country.
The public sports teaching aims at the undergraduate and graduate students of the whole university. It combines the physical and psychological characteristics of college students and implements the “three-autonomous” teaching model. It has opened more than twenty kinds of optional sports courses and integrated physical education theory and health knowledge into curriculum teaching. The improvement in quality of teaching enables students to master two or more sports skills and fitness methods during school teaching, also the students can scientifically perform sports activities and physical exercises, and form lifelong sports awareness. In 2007, the College Sports course was rated as a provincial-level exquisite course by the Department of Education of Shandong Province. In 2014, the National Quality Video Public Session “Physical Quality Code and Sports” was officially launched.
In 1987, the school piloted high-level sports teams. The key projects were volleyball, track, field, men's basketball, and table tennis. The men's volleyball team won the champion of the National Collegiate Games and won the national Xinghua Cup volleyball championship twice. In 1996 and 1998, they were promoted to the National A-level team twice. They won the championship of the Shandong Province University Student Games for four consecutive years. They were the volleyball champion of the first division of the volleyball league and the winner of the Shandong University Volleyball League Championship, and they also won the championship of the Northern Division of the National University Volleyball League twice and won the second place in the National Grand Final of the 2017 National College Student League. Men's beach volleyball team won the National University Student Beach Volleyball Championship nine times, and the third place in the Asian College Student Beach Volleyball Championship on behalf of the country. It participated in the 2013 World University Games on behalf of the country and won the third place. Since its establishment, women's beach volleyball team has won the National College Student Beach Volleyball Championship for eleven times, won the second place in National University Student Beach Volleyball Match three times, and won the third place in National College Student Beach Volleyball Competition four times. Ping Pong team won the second place in national runner-up table tennis championship three times, won the third place four times and won the group runner-up twice. In 2017, it won the National Students Games (College Students Group) mixed doubles for the third place. The results of other sports events are listed among the highest in colleges and universities in Shandong Province.
In 2006, a master's degree in sports education and training was conferred on secondary subjects, and postgraduates were enrolled in the following year. In 2011, it established a first-level discipline for the granting of a master's degree in sports studies, and it recruited graduate students in four directions including sports humanities sociology, sports human science, physical education and training, and national traditional sports. It has trained more than 60 postgraduates.
The Physical Education Department actively strengthened scientific research work, undertook 65 research projects, won 2 provincial and ministerial awards, received 25 bureau-level awards and 2 patents, and published more than 270 papers, of which 53 journal articles and 31 statistical sources were collected by CSSCI, 9 articles were collected by SCI, EI and ISTP. It published 16 monographs and textbooks, including 3 textbooks, 10 papers reported at international major academic conferences, and 5 of them participated in the 2008 World Olympic Science Conference. At present, the National Sports General Administration Sports Culture Research Base is in the process of declaration, which indicates that Sports in China University of Petroleum has entered a new stage of development and it is another milestone.
The sports work of China University of Petroleum continues to improve and grow in exploration. Adhering to the excellent sports tradition of China University of Petroleum, advancing with the times and promoting the sports culture of the University, it strives to cultivate high-quality talents with high qualified physical and mental health, and for the development in sports industry.
