Founded in 1953, China University of Petroleum (UPC) is a national key university directly affiliated to the Ministry of Education and a member of the national “211 Project”, “innovation platform for preponderant discipline” and “Double First-Rate” universities. The University is co-founded by the Ministry of Education,Shandong Province, and five national energy enterprise groups (CNPC, SINOPEC, CNOOC, CHINA SHENHUA and YANCHANG PETROLEUM). Honored as the cradle of petroleum science, technology and management talents, UPC is a renowned base for the training of cutting-edge talents in petroleum and petrochemical industries.

The university has two campuses and one park in Shandong. The university now has two campuses in Qingdao, which enjoys a high reputation as “the sailing city” and “city by the sea” with its charming scenery. Tangdao Bay, the main campus, is facing the Tangdao Bay and backed by the Little Pearl Hill with picturesque scenery. One park is located at the heart of Dongying city, the central city on the Yellow River delta and nationally known as China’s “oil city”.

Over the last six decades, UPC has developed into a multi-disciplinary and well-rounded institution specialized in petroleum and petrochemical engineering. With over 70 national and provincial key laboratories and research centers including the National Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil and the National Engineering Laboratory of Marine Geophysical Exploration and Equipment, UPC is a leading-edge theoretical and applied research base of petroleum and petrochemical industries. It plays a significant role inmorethan 10 research areas globally.

The University attaches great attention to the industrialization of science and research findings. It founded a National University Science and Technology Park and also owns the Shandong-UPC Science and Technology Group Corporation Limited and the Shandong-UPC Shenghua Chemical Corporation Limited. Both are national high-tech corporations and major research and test bases of petroleum and petrochemical industries. Between 2010 and 2014, UPC conducted 7287 research projects, attracting grants of CNY 2.8 billion.

UPC has 5 national "111 Project" innovation and intelligence bases, 10 international joint research centers including the Advanced Petroleum Technology International Training and Consulting Center and the Sino-Saudi Oil Refining Technology Cooperation and Research Center, and 7 Qingdao international science and technology cooperation bases. It annually hosts over 20 international academic conferences and seminars, invites over 500 overseas well-known experts and scholars to give lectures or make research collaboration.The university has about 100 renowned experts and elites acting as part-time professors, honorary professors and visiting professors.

UPC actively carries out international academic and cultural exchanges with more than 200 higher education and research institutions from 45 countries including the United States, Canada, Australia, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, etc. It is part of the Belt and Road university alliance and promotes substantive cooperation and exchange with allied universities also from the Sino-Europe Engineering Education Platform, the Association of Sino-Russian Technical Universities, the Sino-ASEAN Education and Training Alliance, and the Northeast Asian University Alliance in the Yellow Sea region, etc. More than 500 of its faculty and staff members go abroad for academic exchanges and research while over 1,000 students study abroad with the support of China Scholarship Council or under the inter-school exchange programs.