Qingdao University of Science and Technology is one of the nine Provincial Key Universities of Shandong (). It was ranked 45th among engineering universities on the Mainland in 2013. In 2011, it was included in the first national Excellence Plan for Engineering Education (). The three campuses together cover an area of 700,000 m2. The total value of fixed assets is estimated at 2,200 billion yuan. Spread over five branches, the foundation of the University Library dates back to 1950. It now covers a building area of around 50,000m2 and contains over 2.4 million volumes, including digital ones.