Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), overseen by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, is renowned as 'the Cradle of Engineers'. Founded in 1920 in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, HIT maintains campuses in Weihai, Shandong province, and Shenzhen, Guangdong province. In 1951, it was designated as one of two national model universities for its adoption of advanced international higher education practices. In 1954, HIT was among the first six institutions selected for key national development. The university was included in the initial batch of institutions under the 'Project 211' in 1996 and became one of nine members of Project 985 in 1999, both major national efforts aimed at elevating top-tier universities. In 2000, HIT merged with Harbin University of Architecture, further strengthening its academic capabilities. It was designated a Class A university under the 2017 national 'Double First-Class' initiative. As of 2022, eight of its disciplines are included in the latest phase of the 'Double First-Class' development plan.
HIT maintains its longstanding motto: 'Being strict in qualifications for graduates; making every endeavor in educating students.' It has developed a unique approach to talent cultivation, emphasizing strong academic bases, practical experience, strict procedures, and an innovative spirit. Over the years, the university has produced many notable alumni, including 124 academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 173 university Party secretaries and presidents, 149 senior officials at or above the provincial or ministerial level, and 54 military generals. More than 1,000 aerospace and national defense chief designers have graduated from HIT, along with recipients of top national honors such as the Medal of the Republic, National Model Workers, and National Model Teachers. So far, HIT has educated nearly 400,000 high-level professionals.
In recent years, HIT has focused on developing four key talent groups: academic leaders, engineering experts, industry pioneers, and government administrators. The university is strengthening high-level planning and resource distribution within its holistic educational framework that integrates moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor education. It is also speeding up personalized training programs for top-tier innovative talents. HIT has established several prestigious, innovation-focused honors classes such as the Yongtan Class, Shanyi Class, Intelligent Robotics Class, and Artificial Intelligence Class, all mentored by distinguished scholars. These programs serve as flagship platforms for cultivating elite talent.
HIT has introduced various advanced talent development programs, including the Top Talent Innovation Class, the HIT-HKU Excellence Class (a joint program with the University of Hong Kong), the Strategic Class, and the Chief Designer Class. It also hosts some of China’s first specialized institutes, such as the School of Future Technology, the Elite Engineers School, and the School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. HIT students have ranked first in the Chinese University Student Competition Rankings (Undergraduate Category) for six straight years. Additionally, the Wentian Module Robotic Arm Team and the Lilac Micro-Nano Satellite Team, both led by HIT students, received the China Youth May Fourth Medal (Group Award).
HIT continues to uphold its rich spiritual heritage, known as the 'HIT Spirit', which reflects a strong sense of national duty, wholehearted dedication, a commitment to truth and scientific rigor, a collaborative and inclusive attitude, and a relentless pursuit of innovation and excellence. The university implements a talent strategy focused on stability, recruitment, development, and evaluation, creating a conducive environment where top talents are attracted by platforms, nurtured through opportunities, retained with benefits, and motivated by a strong community. This comprehensive approach has enabled HIT to establish a world-class faculty, including 23 full-time academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 434 appointments from national high-level talent programs, and 448 recipients of national youth talent honors.
HIT adopts a strategic approach to developing robust, refined, and distinctive academic disciplines. The university actively cultivates emerging and high-demand fields while refining its evaluation system to emphasize quality, uniqueness, and contribution. It has created a hierarchical, categorized disciplinary framework that highlights engineering as a core strength, maintains a strong foundation in the sciences, makes significant advances in life medical sciences, develops uniquely in the humanities and social sciences, promotes interdisciplinary research, and ensures coordinated growth across its three campuses. This comprehensive academic structure supports HIT’s aim of becoming a world-class university. Currently, HIT hosts nine first-level national key disciplines and six second-level national key disciplines. In the Ministry of Education’s third discipline evaluation round, 10 of HIT’s first-level disciplines ranked in the top five nationwide, with Mechanics taking the top spot. In the fourth round, HIT earned 17 A-level disciplines, ranking 6th nationwide in the excellence rate (the percentage of A-level disciplines out of all authorized disciplines), 8th in total A-level disciplines, and second nationally in A-level engineering disciplines.
HIT aligns its development with China’s major national strategies, building on its strengths in aerospace, national defense, and engineering innovation. As the first Chinese university to establish the School of Astronautics, HIT has achieved numerous pioneering feats, such as launching China’s first university-developed satellite, pioneering the country’s first space-to-ground laser communication, and creating the first computer capable of playing chess and conversing with humans. It also developed the first next-generation radar, arc and spot welding robots, and a student-designed, independently controlled nanosatellite. Additionally, HIT contributed key structural technologies to support the world’s largest radio telescope, FAST, and enabled the first on-orbit human-robot collaborative maintenance experiment with a space robotic arm onboard Tiangong-2. Other milestones include the first in-orbit application of a new magnetic focusing Hall-effect electric thruster and the world’s first controllable in-orbit deployment of a shape memory polymer-based solar array.
HIT technologies have been crucial in various national space missions. They supported Chang’e-5 in China’s first sample return from an extraterrestrial body, aided Chang’e-6 in collecting the first lunar samples from the moon’s far side, and advanced Tianwen-2, China’s next-generation asteroid mission. These technologies also contributed to designing the mobility system and deployment mechanism for the Zhurong rover, co-developed compact robotic arms for astronaut spacewalks that enabled full mission success, and facilitated the launch of 36 satellites.
Beyond aerospace, HIT conducted a pioneering containment structure test for the Hualong One nuclear reactor under extreme accident scenarios, filling a vital gap in global research. It also made a significant breakthrough by identifying the structure of the T-cell receptor-coreceptor complex, advancing cellular adaptive immunity. As the lead institution for China’s first national mega-science facility dedicated to space environment ground simulation – the first such facility in Northeast China and the aerospace sector – HIT has achieved world-class standards in key areas. The university contributed to 14 major national science and technology projects, including the Lunar Exploration Program, and was awarded China’s highest science and technology honor in 2018. Since 2021, HIT has led 11 national science and technology awards, ranking among China's top institutions, with four projects listed among the Top 10 Scientific and Technological Advances in Chinese Universities. Since 2012, it has received this recognition 11 times, the most for independent projects in the country. With a 69-year legacy supporting China’s aerospace progress, HIT has earned multiple awards, including the 'Outstanding Contribution Award for the China Manned Space Program (Collective)'.
Looking ahead to a new chapter, HIT remains dedicated to reaching its strategic objective of becoming a world-class university by 2035. Upholding its founding mission, the university will persist in striving for excellence, advancing innovative technologies of national significance, and cultivating outstanding talent to meet national demands.