Beijing Institute of Technology

Yan'an Academy of Natural Sciences

Xu Teli, educationist and second president of BIT (1941-1943)

Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) has its origins in the Yan'an Research Academy of Natural Sciences (延安自然科学研究院), which was established in May 1939 in Yan'an, Shaanxi, in northwest China by the Chinese Communist Party, with the aim of training science and engineering professionals.[2] In January 1940 when China was undergoing the most difficult phase of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China reformed Yan'an Research Academy of Natural Sciences into Yan'an Academy of Natural Sciences (延安自然科学院). The major mission of the Academy was to assist the industrial development in Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region. As the first science and engineering university founded by Chinese Communist Party, Yan'an Academy of Natural Sciences opened on 1 September 1940. Li Fuchun, the secretary of the CPC Committee for Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region was appointed as the first president, and was succeeded by educationist Xu Teli.[4]

During the founding period, Yan'an Academy of Natural Sciences received great support from international organizations and individuals, including Rewi Alley.

In March 1943, Yan'an Academy of Natural Sciences was merged into the newly founded University of Yan'an (延安大学), and was named as School of Natural Sciences, University of Yan'an (延安大学自然科学院).

According to the situation of the war, University of Yan'an prepared to move the north and northeast of China by the end of 1945.[5]

In January 1946, the School of Natural Sciences moved to Zhangjiakou, but failed to continue its journey to the northeast of China due to the urgent situation of the war. The Central Bureau of Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region decided to settle the School at Zhangjiakou, and merged it with Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region College of Technology (晋察冀边区工科专门学校) to form Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region College (晋察冀边区工业专门学校).

At the end of the same year, Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region Institute moved to Bailing Village, Jianping County, Hebei, and merged with Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region Academy of Railway (晋察冀边区铁路学院) to form Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region College of Industry and Transportation (晋察冀工业交通学院), but remained respective identity. One year later, Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region Institute moved to Jingxing County, renamed as Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region Bureau of Industry College of Technology (晋察冀边区工业局工业学校). In August 1948, it was then merged with Institute of Technology, Northern University (北方大学工学院) to form Institute of Technology, North China University (华北大学工学院).[4][5]

Gate of Sino-French University

Gate of Institute of Technology, North China University in the 1950s, on the original site of Sino-French University

Just before the established of People's Republic of China, Institute of Technology, North China University made its final move to Beijing, and confirmed its academic focus to industrial development for the newly founded People's Republic of China. It was administrated by Ministry of Industry, and became the first university specialized in heavy industry related subjects since the foundation of the new China.

The home campus of Sino-French University (中法大学) and its Department of Mathematics, Department of Physics and Department of Chemistry were merged into Institute of Technology, North China University in October 1950, which effectively provided enough accommodations, laboratories, libraries, as well as many outstanding academics.[4][5]

On 1 January 1952, Institute of Technology, North China University was officially renamed as Beijing Institute of Technology (北京工业学院). On 8 March 1952, it was decided by Ministry of Heavy Industry that Beijing Institute of Technology would be developed as a higher educational institute specialized in national defense industry, and would be a major institute for training technical professionals in national defense. Ever since then, Beijing Institute of Technology started to establish a number of weaponry science and technology subjects, including China's first rocket and missile subject, with the help of many scientists such as Qian Xuesen.[6] In the meantime, several departments were terminated and others, including biology, mining, and aeronautics, were transferred to other universities, namely China Agricultural University (1947), Beijing Steel and Iron Institute (1952) and Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (1952), respectively. In 1959, Beijing Institute of Technology was singled out as one of 16 “national key universities” that were authorized to offer graduate degrees.

During the Cultural Revolution, most research at Beijing Institute of Technology came to a halt but quickly revived after 1976.[4][6]

In 1988, the institution changed its Chinese name from "Institute" to "University" (北京理工大学), while the English name remained unchanged. In 1991, BIT was chosen as one of the 14 national key universities to receive special supports from the Chinese government during the Eighth Five-Year Plan.

In December 1995, BIT was ratified by the Chinese government as one of the 15 first-tier "Project 211" universities. In 1996, BIT became one of the first 32 Chinese universities to officially run graduate schools. In the same year, BIT was designated as one of the 27 national key universities during the Ninth Five-Year Plan. In 1999, BIT's undergraduate education was evaluated as "Excellent" in the assessment organized by the Chinese Ministry of Education.

In 2000, BIT was the 10th university to be admitted into "Project 985", which aimed to promote the development and reputation of the Chinese higher education system by founding world-class universities in the 21st century through prioritized supports from both national and local government funding. In the same year, BIT was also designated as one of the top 22 universities in the "21st Century Education Promotion" plan during the Tenth Five-Year Plan.

BIT used to be administered by the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense. Since 2008, it is administered by the newly founded Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

In November 2010, along with 8 other Project 985 universities, BIT officially formed Excellence League, an alliance of 10 Chinese universities with strong background in engineering.

BIT is traditionally strong in national defense and military technologies research, especially radars, missiles, and armored combat vehicles, but it also maintained outstanding research strength in electrical engineering, automation, photonics, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, computer science, industrial design and many other science and engineering subjects.[6]

As of 2015, BIT has established cooperation with more than 200 universities from 58 countries, and implemented student exchange programs with more than 40 universities in the world, including Technical University of Munich, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Tokyo Institute of Technology, University of California and The Australian National University.[7]

BIT's main campus is located in Zhuongguancun area of northwest of Beijing, which is known as an area with high concentration of universities, research institutions, high-tech companies, as well as knowledge and information industries, namely the Silicon Valley of China. BIT is adjacent to National Library of China, Zhongguancun Science Park, and many other universities such as Renmin University, China Agricultural University, Beijing Foreign Studies University and Minzu University of China.

Zhongguangcun campus has an area of 920,700 square meters, including a floor space of 724,000 square meters.[8] It is the oldest and the used to be the only campus of BIT. Since the opening of Liangxiang campus in 2007, Zhongguancun campus is mainly used to host higher year undergraduate students and postgraduate students.[9]

Gate of the Liangxiang northern campus.

Since 2007, lower year undergraduate students are hosted in Liangxiang campus, which is based in Liangxiang University Town, Fangshan District, southwest suburb of Beijing.[10]

Xishan Laboratory Research Center is located in northwest of Beijing.[11]

BIT Fangshan campus was co-founded by BIT and Fangshan District government, and is located in Yancun County, Fangshan District, southwest suburb of Beijing.

Founded in 1984, Qinhuangdao campus offers one-year pre-university program for ethnic minority students whose first language is not Mandarin. In addition to host students who will apply to BIT, Qinhuangdao campus also accepts pre-university ethnic minority students who will apply to Beihang University, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin Engineering University and Northwestern Polytechnical University.[12]

The Zhuhai campus is based at Zhuhai, Guangdong province in south China. The speciality of Zhuhai campus lies in providing continuing education, distance learning courses, and special courses related to local economy and industry. It is home to many research institutions co-founded by BIT and local government, including a graduate school and a science park. BITZH- CUHK Optomechatronic Engineering Joint Research Center and BITZH- HKPU City and Public Security Joint Research Center are also located in Zhuhai campus.[13]

• Student demographics (as of the year 2010)[14]
  • Total Full-time students: 23,003
  • Undergraduates: 14,010
  • Master students: 5,504
  • Doctoral students: 2,701
  • International students: 426
• Faculty and staff demographics (as of the year 2010)
  • Total: more than 3,442
  • Faculty: 1,953
  • Fellows of Chinese Academy of Sciences or Chinese Academy of Engineering: 13
  • Chang Jiang Scholars: 22
  • Professors (including researchers and professorial senior engineers): 376
  • Associate professors (including associate researchers and senior engineers): 906
  • National experts with outstanding contributions: 18
  • Outstanding junior scientists: 13
  • Recipients of special subsidies from the central government: 251
  • BIT also appointed 174 visiting professors, 38 advisory professors and 6 honorary professors in China, as well as 45 international visiting professors and 12 honorary international professors.

BIT has 16 national key disciplines, 25 ministry-level key disciplines. BIT offers bachelor's degrees in 60 majors, Master's degrees in 144 majors, and Doctorate degrees in 62 majors. It also has 17 post-doctorate stations.[8]

BIT's traditional research strength lies in electrical engineering and information engineering, automation, photonics, mechanical Engineering, vehicle engineering, aerospace engineering, and chemical engineering. Some of its emerging research areas are also developing fast in recent years, including Computer Science, Industrial Design, and Higher education research.

BIT has five national key laboratories (research centers), six national defense key laboratories (research centers), two MOST key laboratories (research centers) and four Beijing municipal key laboratories (research centers).[8] It also has a national key science park. The annual research expenditure in 2004 was more than 620 million RMB.

Historically, BIT was widely considered by Chinese education officials to be among the top 20 universities in China. In recent national level evaluations, BIT was among the first 15 universities to be designated into the "Project 211". It is also the 10th university to be designated into the prestigious "Project 985". BIT ranks top 300 in the QS World University Rankings(2014), 29th in QS Asian University Rankings (2014), 39th in the BRICS University Rankings(2014) and 17th in Chinese University Rankings(2014). BIT's Engineering and Technology ranks in the top 5 among Chinese universities. According to the China Discipline Ranking conducted by a research center affiliated with the China Ministry of Education, BIT ranks among top 10 nationally in the following ten disciplines:[20][21]

• Information Engineering: ranked 5th.
• Optical Engineering: ranked 5th.
• Aerospace Science and Engineering: ranked 5th.
• Mechanical Engineering: ranked 7th.
• Metallurgical Engineering: ranked 7th.
• Transportation and Traffic Engineering: ranked 9th.
• Instrument Sciences and Technology: ranked 10th.
• Automation Science and Engineering: ranked 10th.
• Chemical Engineering: ranked 10th.

Note: According to the ranking's classification of academic disciplines, BIT was evaluated in about 20 disciplines.

Established in 1940, the BIT library now consists of one main library and four branch libraries. Nine new branch libraries are in construction or planning.

The renovation of the main library was completed in 2006. The state-of-the-art building has an area of 25,509 square meters and is covered by wireless network. It now has a total collection of more than 3 million items, including 1.13 million electronic items.[22]

The BIT Press was established in 1985 and has published more than 3,000 books.[23] Most of the books published by BIT press are in the area of natural science and technology. The current director for the press is Yang Zhijian.

All undergraduate and postgraduate students at BIT are guaranteed university accommodation. Allocation is normally on the basis of students' major, year and class etc. First and second year undergraduate students are based at Liangxiang campus. Higher year undergraduate students and postgraduate students are based at Zhongguancun campus. Both campuses also provide staff accommodation.

• Li Peng, former Premier and Chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) of China
• Liu Zhenqi, Chinese Air Force general (shang jiang)
• Ni Zhifu, former Vice Chairman of the National People's Congress
• Ye Xuanping, Vice-President of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Former Governor of Guangdong
• Zeng Qinghong, former Vice-President of China
• Zou Jiahua, former Vice-Premier of the China

• Wang Xiaomo, Winner of The State Preeminent Science and Technology Award of China, and also the only one attended college after 1949 among all winners till 2014, Father of Chinese Airborne early warning and control system.
• Duo Yingxian, Chinese "Kalashnikov" in assault rifle design.
• Huang Chunping, Director of Rocket System for the Shenzhou 5 Spacecarft.
• Mao Erke, Scientist of Radar signal processing.
• Peng Shilu, "Father of Chinese Nuclear Submarine".
• Wang Yue, Scientist in information system, information security and radar.
• Xie Guangxuan, Chief Designer of the Long March Rocket 3.
• Xu Gengguang, Scientist in bombing and explosives.
• Yang Dongping, Education reformer and TV producer.
• Zhou Liwei, Scientist in optical electronics.