In 1940, the Communist Party of China founded the Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT, website), the country’s first science and engineering university, in Yan’an, Shaanxi province. Since the founding of the New China, BIT has been one of the key universities in the country and was among the first to enter the national “211 Project” and the “985 Project”, and to be designated as a “Top A World-class University”. 

BIT was originally founded in Yan’an in 1940 and moved to Beijing in 1949. In 1952, it was renamed Beijing Engineering College, becoming the first defense industry university in the People’s Republic of China. In 1988, the university was renamed the Beijing Institute of Technology. Today, it is affiliated with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

BIT is deeply rooted in Chinese history and culture. Its motto of “Take virtue as the principle, learn to be good at industry”, its spirit of “Unity, Diligence, Practicality, Innovation”, and its teaching style of “seeking truth from facts, not self-righteousness” have jointly formed the university’s temperament and core values.

BIT is currently comprised of 22 professional schools, nine colleges and eight new-type educational research institutions. Currently BIT has 9 academic discipline fields and 33 first-level disciplines, all of which are doctoral programs, and 15 professional degree categories, including six engineering doctoral categories.

Physics has been added to the list of “Double First-Class” construction disciplines. Emerging interdisciplinary subjects such as cyberspace security and integrated circuit science and engineering have entered the national first echelon. 

In the 2023 Soft Science Best Chinese Discipline Ranking by ShanghaiRanking, six disciplines at BIT entered the top tier in China, and 18 subjects entered the first-class tier in the country.