Qingdao University of Technology (QUT) is one of the earliest institutions dedicated to the cultivation of engineering management professionals. In 1983, the construction enterprise management specialty was established, and in 1986, the management engineering undergraduate major was established; in 1995, the management engineering major was renamed the construction management engineering major. In 1999, the construction management engineering was renamed the construction engineering management (CEM) according to relevant standards. In 2002, the international engineering project management undergraduate specialization was piloted. In 2009, CEM was approved as a Shandong Province Brand Major. In 2013, CEM was approved as a key major at Shandong famous universities; in 2017, CEM was approved as a Shandong Province High-Level Applied Core Major; in 2018, CEM was approved as a Shandong Province Education Service New and Old Kinetic Energy Conversion Major; in 2019, CEM was approved as a Shandong First-Class Undergraduate Major under development; in 2021, CEM was approved as a National First-Class Undergraduate Major under development.

The Historical Development of CEM

CEM trains students who can meet the needs of socialist modernization comprehensively from moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetical, and diligent perspectives. It cultivates students with international vision, innovation ability, professional ethics, and social responsibility to master civil engineering technology and construction engineering management knowledge like management, economics, law, and information technology so that they can engage in such industrial practices as project investment and financing, project decision-making, project planning, engineering consulting, engineering construction, engineering business, real estate development and management. About five years after graduation, students usually can obtain the professional qualifications of registered engineers such as registered construction engineers and registered consulting engineers, and play key roles in different teams using their solid domain knowledge, management skills, and leadership capabilities.

Based in Shandong, CEM at QUT serves the whole country. Relying on the provincial first-class discipline of civil engineering in QUT, CEM highlights its characteristics of “engineering + management”, and combines the advantages of the coastal location to establish “construction engineering”, “international engineering” and “port and waterway engineering” specializations. As of August 2022, CEM has cultivated more than 4,700 undergraduates for 32 years, and they have been highly praised by employers. Undergraduates are mainly engaged in disciplines of engineering planning, engineering surveying, engineering design, engineering construction, engineering operation and maintenance, engineering investment and financing, real estate, engineering cost management and consulting, construction engineering supervision at different enterprises, institutions, and government departments. Some of them also engage in education, training and scientific research in engineering management majors or related majors at colleges and universities. In recent years, the employment rate of CEM has stabilized above 95%, where civil servants account for about 2%, graduate schools account for about 20%, consulting companies account for about 10%, large state-owned construction engineering enterprises account for about 55%, and real estate development enterprises account for about 5%.