First, there is not much comparability. Southwest Petroleum University is a pure engineering university, somewhat similar to Nanjing University of Technology in Jiangsu Province. Nantong University is a local comprehensive university merged from School of Medicine of Nantong Institute of Technology, which is somewhat similar to xihua university in Sichuan Province.

Second, Southwest Petroleum University is much better if it must be compared. To put it simply, Southwest Petroleum has four national key disciplines and 1 national key laboratories, dozens of provincial and ministerial key disciplines and key laboratories, and Nantong University has zero key disciplines and key laboratories. In other words, several disciplines of the former are the top level in the country, while none of the latter is the first in the country.

Third, the advantage of Nantong University is its good geographical location. Close to Shanghai, the campus is large, the environment is good and there are many local jobs. Southwest Petroleum is an engineering university, mostly male, located in the suburb of Chengdu, with a high employment rate of graduates, but many of them have to go to various places, including remote oilfield enterprises in the northeast and northwest.