After nearly a year's investigation and assessment, application submission, online voting, and review by the WEUN Secretariat, the WEUN Secretariat recently agreed the application of the University of Tulsa in the United States, the Industrial University of Tyumen in Russia and the Instituto Superior Técnico in Portugal to join the WEUN by a simple majority vote of Member Representatives to the Secretariat, marking that the three universities become full members of the WEUN. After the three universities joined the WEUN, the number of member universities increased from 28 to 31, and the number of member countries increased from 16 to 17.

This is the first time that the WEUN has recruited new members after its establishment, which shows WEUN's achievement and expanding international influence.

The Worldwide Energy University Network(WEUN) was established at a conference on the 22nd September 2018 in Beijing initiated by its founder China University of Petroleum-Beijing (CUPB). It is a non-legally binding voluntary membership organization of research universities, brought together by a shared strategic interest in research, innovation, education and internationalization in the field of energy.. Its  primary purpose is to create a worldwide platform for communication and collaboration among and between the WEUN member universities in research, innovation and education in the field of energy.

Since its establishment, WEUN has made the Constitution, selected the emblem from several original designs, and established the General Assembly, the Secretariat and WEUN Office in Karamay Campus of CUP. It has held 2 student exchange activities including international summer programme and international geology field school, set up the website in Chinese and English, and published 7 volumes of publications with a total of about 100 thousand words. In 2019, 14 member universities received the delegations of CUP, and 17 groups with about 62 person-times from member universities visited CUP, promoting more than 400 teachers' academic and scientific research cooperation and more than 60 undergraduate exchanges between CUP and other member universities, facilitating 7 international conferences held in CUP. At the the First Annual Conference on International Cultural and People-to-People Exchanges of China’s Higher Education (University Alliance), WEUN made experience sharing as an excellent example, which highly affirmed the work of WEUN.

In the future, WEUN will be driven by resources, learning and competition. It will continue to develop with the three primary goals of solving scientific research problems, cultivating global energy leaders and building an international network. It will strive to build a brand in deciplines in the field of energy, educate high-quality international talents, and establish high-level international joint laboratories (or research centers).