The School of Life Sciences (School of Ocean Sciences) of Nantong University currently has 82 faculty members, of whom 66 are full-time teachers. Among the full-time teachers, there are 13 professors and 32 associated professors, with a doctorate rate of 86%. At present, there are 825 undergraduates and 35 postgraduates.

The school has departments of bioscience, biotechnology, bioengineering, marine technology and an experimental center. The school has four majors- Bioscience (Normal), Biotechnology, Bioengineering and Marine Technology, of which the Bioscience Major is characteristic and brand major of Jiangsu Province. The Biotechnology Major has three programs-Applied Biotechnology, Medical Biotechnology and Medical Experimental Zoology. The school has a key experimental platform of the Ministry of Agriculture, a central - local experimental platform, a provincial teaching demonstration center with experimental housing covering an area of 1870 square meters. The school has high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), fluorescence quantitative PCR, gel image analysis system (Bio-Rad), freezing microtome, chromatography system, automatic fermenter, upright-inverted fluorescence microscope and genetic analysis system and other instruments and equipment for teachers to provide a platform for scientific research and teaching experiments.

In recent years, the school has undertaken 55 national, provincial and municipal scientific research projects, and currently presides over 9 natural science foundation projects, and has obtained 12 invention patents. Teachers have published 204 papers in domestic and international academic journals, among which 63 papers were included in SCI and 2 monographs and textbooks were published. The course of Cell Biology won the second prize of Excellent Course Construction of Jiangsu Province. University Botanical Garden is recognized as “Jiangsu Province Science Popularization Education Base”. The school has won 2 provincial and municipal scientific research awards and has been awarded the honorary title of “Advanced Collective of Scientific Research Work” by Nantong University for many times. 

The School has adhered to the motto spirit of “Bridging China and the West， Striving for the Best”, strengthened the ideal and belief education, attached great importance to the construction of study style, and the cultivation of practical ability. The school has established 22 teaching practice bases and employment practice bases, including Jiangsu Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Tianmu Mount Nature Reserve Administration Bureau, Shanghai SLAC Laboratory Animal Co. Ltd., Suzhou Experimental Animal Center and Biomics Biotech Co. Ltd., and has cultivated a number of students with high comprehensive quality. In the past five years, the school has won 9 national students’ practical and innovative projects and 8 provincial projects. The school has attached importance to the professional skills of normal students, won the national teacher skills contest special prize. The employment rate of students has reached over 95% and the graduation rate has exceeded 35%.