Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics was founded in October 1952 as one of the first aviation higher education institutions independently established by the People’s Republic of China. The State Council designated it a national key university in 1978 and approved it among the first doctoral degree-awarding universities in 1981. It joined the national “211 Project” in 1996, established a graduate school with Ministry of Education approval in 2000, became a “985 Project Innovation Platform for Advantageous Disciplines” priority development university in 2011 and joined national “Double First-Class” development in 2017. Aeronautical and astronautical science and technology, mechanics, and control science and engineering are included in the second-round first-class discipline development list. It is administered by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. In December 2012 and April 2021, that ministry and the Civil Aviation Administration of China signed agreements to jointly develop it. In 2018 and 2023, the ministries of Industry and Information Technology and Education and Jiangsu Province signed two successive tripartite joint development agreements.

It is now a research university centered on engineering, combining science and engineering and coordinated development in engineering, science, economics, management and literature, distinguished by aeronautics, astronautics and civil aviation. During the 11th Five-Year Plan, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology named it an “Exceptionally Outstanding University” under its Educational Standards Improvement Project. It has 23 schools and 231 research institutions; 12 national research platforms, including the State Key Laboratory of Mechanics and Control of Aerospace Structures and State Key Laboratory of Helicopter Dynamics; 3 national innovation centers; 1 jointly developed provincial-ministerial collaborative innovation center; 1 joint national-local engineering research center; 2 national engineering foundation course teaching bases; 1 national top-student training base for basic disciplines; and 4 national experimental teaching demonstration centers. It has 67 undergraduate programs, 32 first-level master’s authorizations, 20 first-level doctoral authorizations, 4 professional doctoral categories, 16 professional master’s categories and 17 postdoctoral research stations. It has 2 national key first-level disciplines, aeronautical and astronautical science and technology and mechanics; 9 national key second-level disciplines; 2 national key disciplines under cultivation; and 10 distinctive national defense disciplines.

Its research capabilities continue to grow. Since its founding, it has received 1917 scientific achievement awards at ministerial or provincial level and above, including 84 national awards. Its research platforms include the 12 national platforms mentioned above, 1 provincial-ministerial collaborative innovation center, 1 joint national-local engineering research center and 44 ministerial or provincial platforms. It has contributed numerous firsts to the republic, including China’s first large unmanned target aircraft, unmanned nuclear-test sampling aircraft, high-altitude unmanned aircraft, unmanned helicopter and micro air vehicle. Its independently developed Tianxun-1 microsatellite was successfully launched. Influential basic research includes the generalized vortex theory of helicopters, nonlinear dynamics theory for vibration control systems, and aircraft manufacturing coordination accuracy and tolerance allocation theory. In defense technology, it has participated in preliminary research, technical development and experimental research for nearly all major Chinese aircraft models. Many technologies have been successfully used in space programs such as the Chang’e series, contributing to aviation and aerospace. For the national economy, it addresses major strategies, promotes government-industry-education-research cooperation and commercialization, and is developing a distinctive low-altitude ecosystem integrating “government, terminals, networks, cloud and applications.” It has a commercialization model combining an International Innovation Port, university-local research institutes, joint laboratories and technology transfer institutions. It is a National Technology Transfer Demonstration Institution, National Intellectual Property Demonstration University and University Scientific Achievement Commercialization and Technology Transfer Base, strongly supporting economic and social development.

The university promotes open education and collaborative innovation and has established industry-education-research cooperation bases. It has long-term stable partnerships with over three hundred renowned overseas universities and research institutions, forming an open model of “serving aeronautics, astronautics and civil aviation, serving Jiangsu, and reaching China and the world.” It has over 1300 international students from more than 90 countries, among the leading scales in Jiangsu. In 2009, the Ministry of Education approved it as a host institution for Chinese Government Scholarship students.