Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) was established in 1920 in Harbin, Heilongjiang, China. In 1954, HIT became one of China’s first six leading universities.
Presently HIT is a member of China’s top nine University Union (C9). It is a National Key University with science and engineering as its core and has developed with management, liberal arts, economy, lawand other disciplines. Renowned as “the cradle of engineers,” the university has many firsts. HIT established the first School of Astronautics in China. It was the first Chinese university to independently develop and enter small satellites (smallsats and microsats) into the moon’s orbit. HIT was also the first to achieve satellite ground laser communication link communications. Additionally, HIT developed the first computer to play chess and talk with people and it is the first university to produce arc- and spot welding robots. HIT was the first university to reveal the virulent factor of the HIV virus. It was also the first university to achieve a major breakthrough in supporting structure development for the largest radio telescopes. The first human–machine in orbit maintenance experiments on a space operator was also developed by HIT.
At HIT, there are 23 schools, 86 undergraduate programs, 9 National Key Disciplines, 7 National Key Labs, and 39 members of the prestigious Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering. Eleven disciplines of HIT are ranked among the top 1% on the Essential Science Indicators (ESI) lists. The material science and computer science of HIT in particular are ranked among the top 1‰, and engineering discipline ranked among the top 1‱. In 2020, HIT ranked 6th on the list of the best global universities for engineering announced by the U.S. News & World Report.
Since its beginning, HIT has always had a strong international environment. Now HIT has signed academic cooperation agreements with 278 universities in 39 countries. These collaborations include student and faculty exchange programs, joint academic conferences, and scientific research cooperation. Together with Weihai campus and Shenzhen campus, HIT forms the pattern of “One University, Three Campuses.” HIT is steadily moving towards the goal of becoming a world-class university.
