The College of Life Science was founded in 2003 with regard to the “211” project of NEFU in the cultivation of talents in Biology and the construction of training bases for talents. It offers two undergraduate programs: Biological Science as a Heilongjiang provincial key program and Biotechnology as a national featured program. It hosts a State Training Base for Research and Teaching Talents (Biology) and a State Training Base for Talents in Life Science and Technology. Presently, there are over 840 students, including over 580 undergraduate students, and 260 graduate students and Ph.D. candidates.

The College of Life Science at present has a provincial First Level key discipline for Biology, a First Level Doctoral program for Biology and a Post-Doctoral research station for Biology. It also has Secondary Level Master and Doctoral programs for Genetics, Developmental Biology, Microbiology, Cell Biology, Botany (a national key discipline) as well as Forest Bioengineering and Plant Nutrition. The College of Life Science has a Heilongjiang Provincial Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center of Biology, which offers excellent experimental trainings for undergraduate students. It hosts 7 laboratories for undergraduate teaching and 1 integrated laboratory of Biology for research and teaching and all the laboratories are equipped with first-rate instruments and equipment that are valued at over RMB 20 million to provide systematic and high-quality experimental trainings for biological education and research. In addition, the College of Life Science has established research institutes and centers, including Daqing Biotechnology Research Institute of NEFU (a Heilongjiang provincial key lab) and the Flower Biotechnology Institute.

The College of Life Science has a reasonably structured high quality team. Among 68 faculty and staff members, there are 60 academic faculty members working in teaching and research, including 14 professors and 26 associate professors. Among the full-time teachers, 49 have Ph.D. degrees, 10 have Master’s degrees and 33 have graduated from other key universities, and 26% are with overseas study experiences. In addition, some world renowned scholars and entrepreneurs are invited to work here as Guest Professors.

The College of Life Science has undertaken a great number of research projects at all levels. By the year of 2013, there were 11 projects from the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China, with a total research funding of RMB 11.35 million. In the past three years, faculty members have published 240 original academic papers, including 60 SCI-cited papers and 32 EI-cited papers and 20 books and monographs. By 2016, the College of Life Science has won 44 awards at all levels for scientific research achievements, including 1 at the state level, 23 at provincial and ministerial levels and 10 at department and bureau levels. It also won 13 patents, including 7 Invention Patents, 3 Utility Model Patents, 1 Design Patent and 2 Software Rights.

The College of Life Science, with its great emphases in scientific research, innovative talents cultivation, discipline construction and optimization of faculty team, is now striding towards a high level open research-oriented college with a characteristic Forest Biology, focused research in basic medical sciences and basic biology, an efficient mode of cultivating innovative talents and prominent achievements in scientific research.