The School of Resources and Environment traces its origins to the Department of Chemical Engineering of Jiangxi Institute of Technology, founded in 1958. In 1999, the Department of Chemical Engineering merged with the Department of Environmental Engineering to establish the School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering. In 2003, it was renamed the School of Environmental Science and Engineering, offering five undergraduate majors: Chemical Engineering and Technology, Pharmaceutical Engineering, Process Equipment and Control Engineering, Measurement and Control Technology and Instrumentation, and Environmental Engineering. In 2008, it reverted to the name School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, with two new majors: Safety Engineering and Environmental Science added to its portfolio. In 2014, the major of Resources Recycling Science and Engineering was introduced, and the school was renamed the School of Resources, Environment and Chemical Engineering. In September 2020, the major of Water Supply and Drainage Science and Engineering was transferred to the school. In January 2022, the Department of Chemical Engineering was separated from the school, which was subsequently renamed the School of Resources and Environment.

Responding to major national strategic demands such as ecological civilization construction, peaking carbon dioxide emissions and achieving carbon neutrality, and the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the school targets the cutting-edge of resources and environmental disciplines, focuses on the Poyang Lake Basin, and has built a talent cultivation system, a discipline construction system, a scientific research system and a social service system in the field of resources and environment that are compatible with the world-class double first-class discipline of Basin Carbon Neutrality. At present, the school offers three undergraduate majors: Environmental Engineering, Process Equipment and Control Engineering, and Water Supply and Drainage Science and Engineering, as well as a minor major in Carbon Neutrality Technology. Among them, Environmental Engineering and Process Equipment and Control Engineering are national first-class undergraduate program construction majors. The school is authorized to confer master's degrees in two first-level disciplines: Environmental Science and Engineering, and Power Engineering and Engineering Thermophysics, a master's degree in the second-level discipline of Municipal Engineering, a doctoral degree in the first-level discipline of Environmental Science and Engineering, and hosts a postdoctoral research station for Environmental Science and Engineering. The school currently has 124 faculty members, including 86 full-time teachers, 17 professors and 46 associate senior professionals. There are 1,205 students enrolled, including 471 full-time doctoral and master's students and 734 undergraduate students.

The school attaches great importance to the development of scientific research and scientific and technological service capabilities. It is home to a number of provincial and ministerial-level research platforms, including the Key Laboratory of Poyang Lake Environment and Resource Utilization of the Ministry of Education, the Engineering Research Center of Basin Carbon Neutrality of the Ministry of Education, and the Jiangxi Institute of Ecological Civilization. Seven research institutes have been established, covering fields such as Water Environmental Protection and Pollution Control, and Water Supply and Drainage Safety Assurance and Intelligent Technology, forming a sound platform system for scientific research and scientific and technological services.

In the past five years, the school has presided over and undertaken 47 projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (7 general programs, 10 youth programs, and 30 regional programs), 5 sub-projects of the National Key R&D Program, 2 sub-tasks of the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences for Key Core Technology Tackling under national ministries and commissions, and more than 400 various local projects. It has received 3 instructions from provincial-level leaders, been approved to establish 1 research and demonstration expert service base of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and 1 scientific research platform of the Ministry of Education. The school has published more than 450 SCI papers, including those in Science, sub-journals of Nature, and PNAS, been granted 102 patents, and compiled more than 20 national-level monographs.

It has won 2 Second Prizes of the Natural Science Award of Jiangxi Province and 1 Second Prize of the Science and Technology Progress Award of Jiangxi Province. The school has been approved for 1 provincial-level high-level undergraduate teaching team construction project, 1 pilot construction project of the Ministry of Education Virtual Teaching and Research Office, 1 project of the Ministry of Education for Research and Practice of Emerging Engineering Education, and 1 project of Industry-University-Research Cooperation for Talent Cultivation of the Ministry of Education. It has received 1 provincial-level teaching achievement award, and undertaken 11 provincial-level teaching reform projects (including 1 provincial key teaching reform project). The school has been approved for 1 provincial-level curriculum ideological and political construction project, 1 high-quality online course during the epidemic prevention period of the provincial education system, 1 national first-class undergraduate course, 1 provincial first-class undergraduate course, and 1 provincial first-class undergraduate course of school-enterprise cooperation.

Faculty members have won 2 third prizes in the National Teachers' Teaching Innovation Competition (Industry-Education Integration Track), 1 third prize in the National Teachers' Digital Intelligence Empowered Education Innovation Competition, 1 special prize, 1 first prize and 1 second prize in the Provincial Teachers' Teaching Innovation Competition. In addition, 1 faculty member has been honored as a Provincial Gold Medal Professor and 1 as a Provincial Famous Teacher. Students have won 127 national awards in various discipline competitions (35 national first prizes, 53 national second prizes, and 43 national third prizes), including 1 second prize in the National College Students' Energy Conservation, Emission Reduction Social Practice and Science & Technology Competition, and 1 national second prize in the "Ranking and Bidding" Challenge for Chinese Youth Scientific and Technological Innovation.

Entering the new era, the School of Resources and Environment, Nanchang University will seize opportunities and highlight its distinctive features. Adhering to the school-running philosophy of "Seeking support through service and promoting development through contribution", and striving for the goal of "Building a distinctive school and a beautiful School of Resources and Environment", the school will actively promote the school culture of "Self-confidence and self-improvement, striving for progress, taking responsibility and dedication, sharing weal and woe". With a global vision, it will align with national strategies and serve Jiangxi Province, striving to build the School of Resources and Environment into an influential institution in the field of basin carbon neutrality.

(All statistical data are as of January 2026)