The Department of Physical Education (DPE) at Lanzhou Jiaotong University is the specific implementation unit for school sports work, primarily responsible for tasks including university-wide physical education teaching, sports training, group competitions, physical health testing, the cultivation of high-level athletes, and sports equipment services. Its predecessor was the Physical Education Teaching and Research Section established under the Basic Courses Department when the university was founded in 1958. In 1995, it became an independent department and was renamed the Department of Physical Education. It is a sports culture research base approved by the Sports Culture Development Research Center of the General Administration of Sport of China, the vice-chair unit of four branches of the Federation of University Sports of China, namely Table Tennis, Tennis, Orienteering, and Bridge, the chairman unit of the Steering Committee for the Teaching of Physical Education Courses and Textbook Development in Colleges and Universities of Gansu Province, and the vice-chair unit of the Gansu Provincial Sports Science Society.

The DPE currently has 44 faculty and staff members, including 1 professor, 13 associate professors, 1 international referee, and 12 national-level referees. It is organized with administrative offices, an academic and student affairs office, a sports training department, a public physical education teaching and research section, a physical health testing center, and other organizations. It offers a major in sports training at the undergraduate level and recruits high-level athletes in table tennis, track and field, and soccer nationwide.

The DPE has always adhered to the purpose of teaching and educating students, with cultivating talent as its foundation. Its primary tasks include enhancing students’ physical fitness, imparting sports skills, promoting physical and mental health, refining personal character, and improving students’ physical education literacy. It vigorously carries out physical education and cultivation work. It has won one first-prize and one second-prize award for teaching achievements at the provincial level, one provincial-level teaching team, and one provincial-level first-class course. It has presided over and completed one National Social Science Fund project, one Humanities and Social Sciences Fund project of the Ministry of Education, and six provincial-level research projects. In the past decade, it has won 8 national sports competition championships and 109 provincial sports competition championships. It has been awarded honors such as “Excellent School in Implementing the Regulations on School Physical Education among Ordinary Colleges and Universities Nationwide” by the Ministry of Education, “Advanced Unit in National Physical Fitness Research” by the Ministry of Education, “Advanced Collective in Railway Sports” by the former Ministry of Railways, and “Advanced Unit in National Disabled Sports” by the General Administration of Sport of China and the China Disabled Persons’ Federation.

Update to Dec., 2024