Recently, the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council issued the 2026 list of degree programs to be added or revoked by institutions with independent authority for degree authorization review. The interdisciplinary professional doctoral and master’s degree programs in Cultural Heritage (1451), proposedby Southeast University have been officially approved. It marks the first professional doctoral program in cultural heritage focusing on the conservation of immovable cultural relics among comprehensive universities under China’s former “Project 985” initiative nationwide. It is a major breakthrough in Southeast University’s disciplinary development. It also signalsthat the university has built a full high-level talent training system for cultural heritage, covering both master’s and doctoral programs.
The doctoral and master’s professional programs in Cultural Heritage at Southeast University feature three research tracks: Cultural Heritage Conservation Technology, Cultural Heritage Value Research, and Cultural Heritage Management and Utilization. Leveraging its strengths in integrating humanities and engineering, the university consolidates existing disciplinary strengths to address frontier practical needs, and connects industry and academia through joint research projects and integrated talent training systems. SEU aims to cultivate interdisciplinary cultural heritage professionals equipped with both humanistic literacy and technical expertise — interdisciplinary scientists, outstanding engineers, and professional managersfor cultural heritage conservation.
Southeast University has long stood as a leading base for talenttraining and disciplinary development in the conservation of immovable cultural relics in China.The discipline originated from the Department of Architecture of the former National Central University founded in 1927, which embarked on nearly a century of exploration into the conservation of China’s outstanding architectural culture from its inception. The university has built a top-tier disciplinary cluster supporting cultural heritage studies. The cluster draws support from its A+ disciplines— Architecture, Civil Engineering and Art Theory —China’sDouble First-Class disciplinesincluding Materials Science, Communication Engineering and Computer Science, together with distinctive disciplinessuch as Engineering Law and Cultural Tourism. A large number of advanced domestic and international cooperative institutions and research practice platforms are also in place, offering solid backing for the development of this interdisciplinary Cultural Heritage degree program.
Source: School of Architecture, SEU
Translated by: Melody Zhang
Edited by: Leah Li
