Faculty of Horticultural Science and Technology
The Faculty of Horticultural Science and Technology established in May 2012 according to the professional construction and development needs of the school. The faculty dates back to the Department of Horticulture of Suzhou Agricultural School of Jiangsu Province. The department was established in 1912. It is the cradle of cultivating horticultural talents in modern China and the birthplace of professional education in modern horticulture and landscape architecture in China. During the past 100 years, the department cultivated numerous pioneers in horticulture education and science and technology, such as Zhang Shouyu, Sun Benzhong, Hu Changzhi, and delivered thousands of outstanding graduates to the society.
The faculty has Horticultural Technology, Urban Horticulture, Tea Art and Tea Marketing, Leisure Agriculture, Modern Agriculture and other subjects. It has four professional teaching and research offices, namely, horticultural technology, modern agriculture, leisure agriculture, plant and plant protection. It also has one comprehensive office and one training center. There are two national germplasm gene banks currently in the faculty, namely, myricaceae germplasm gene bank and bulb flower germplasm gene bank, and there is one provincial-level research institution of Evergreen Fruit-tree Promotion Center, two research institutions, namely, Xiangcheng Campus and Dongshan Campus. There are totally 20 professional training rooms on campus and more than 30 training bases outside of school.
The faculty has a stable, vibrant and energetic team of full-time and part-time teachers, with 42 full-time professional teachers, including 8 professors, 12 assistant professors and 9 Doctors. Among the teachers, there are national model teachers, national famous agricultural vocational education teachers, national agricultural specialists, Jiangsu provincial "peak-talents" experts, provincial "333" project talents, provincial "young-and-excellent project" academic leaders, provincial "young-and-excellent project" backbone teachers. The faculty has also been awarded "Jiangsu Provincial Excellent Teaching Team", "Jiangsu Provincial Innovative Agricultural Industry Technology Team" and other titles. The faculty now has nearly 1500 students, including 80 students in the project of joint cultivation with Yangzhou University.
The faculty has it objects of promoting its advantages in servicing modern agriculture of Jiangsu Province with its distinctive ability in teaching, research, and social service. The Horticultural Technology Subject was awarded "Jiangsu Provincial Brand Subject in Colleges". In 2012, the Horticultural Technology Subject Groups and Modern Agriculture Subject Groups were determined as the key subject groups in colleges of Jiangsu provincial "12th 5-year plan". In 2015, the Horticultural Technology Subject was determined "the first phase project of Jiangsu provincial brand subject of colleges" by the Department of Education of Jiangsu Province. The Sightseeing Agriculture Subject was awarded the title of "Excellent New Subject" of Suzhou City. Many professional courses have been rated as national and provincial quality and excellent courses. Plant and Plant Physiology was rated national quality course, and Vegetable Production Technology was rated provincial excellent course. The science and technology service team of the provincial "Strengthening Agriculture and Enriching Farmers" project has been rated advanced unit for five consecutive years. It has won the agricultural promotion cooperation award of "Strengthening Agriculture and Enriching Farmers" project of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Since the "12th 5-year plan", the faculty has hosted more than 50 new research projects, including one National Natural Science Foundation project and two Jiangsu Provincial Natural Science Foundation projects. The teaching and scientific research have achieved great results. The teachers of the faculty have been editors and participated in the publish of more than 40 textbooks, with six national planned textbooks. The faculty has won one national teaching achievement and one Jiangsu provincial teaching achievement, and four national agricultural vocational education excellent teaching achievement awards. The scientific research results have won more than ten Jiangsu provincial and Suzhou municipal science and technology advancement awards, obtained 20 patents, formulated 15 industrial standards, and examined and approved 10 new varieties. In recent years, totally 15 projects have been listed in the national, provincial and municipal teaching reform projects.
The faculty has always attached great importance to foreign exchanges and cooperation, and has close scientific research cooperation relations with many teaching and research institutions, such as Nanjing Agricultural University, Yangzhou University and Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences. More than 10 teachers have been sent to the United States, Japan, Germany, France, the Netherlands and other countries to visit and study.
During the "13th 5-year plan" period, the faculty furthered its leading and exemplary role in the construction of horticulture brand subject, insisted on taking the cultivation of talents as the foundation, and taking the integration and development of the three industries as the object, and deepened the reform of education and integration of teaching and industry, comprehensively enhanced students' abilities in innovation, entrepreneurship and employment ability, trained a large number of high-quality and high-tech professionals, and made newer and greater contributions to the construction of our school and help it become a domestic first-class and international well-known vocational college.
