The construction of new engineering disciplines has put forward profound requirements for the transformation of engineering education and the reshaping of “new era” engineering talents in Chinese universities. As an important force serving national strategy and regional economy, the exploration of high-quality development paths for chemical engineering provincial universities has important theoretical and practical significance. This article focuses on the development challenges and opportunities faced by provincial universities in the chemical industry. By selecting two similar universities in the chemical industry as research objects, it deeply analyzes their successful experiences in strategic positioning, discipline ecology, talent mechanism, and other aspects. Based on this, focusing on the three directions of “people-oriented”, “reform planning”, and “discipline leadership”, a development path with universality and promotion value for similar universities is proposed, providing useful reference and action framework for chemical engineering provincial universities.