Fast Ce3+-activated borogermanate scintillating glasses with the density of 5.58-5.67g/cm(3) were synthesized by melt quenching method in air atmosphere for the first time. The optical transmittance and X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy results confirm that Ce4+ ions can be effectively reduced to Ce3+ ions by adding 0.31mol% Si3N4 as a strong reducing agent during glass synthesis. The luminescence behavior under both ultraviolet and X-ray excitations indicate that the proposed Ce3+-activated borogermanate scintillating glasses have a broad emission band centered at 430nm and a decay time of less than 25ns. This will be of great interest in high-energy physics and nuclear physics engineering.