Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics Outstanding International Student Scholarship

About the university

Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA), located in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, is a national public institution of higher education under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China. It is a high-level research university with distinctive features in aerospace and civil aviation. The university is a "Double First-Class" construction university, a key university under the "211 Project" and the "985 Project Advantage Discipline Innovation Platform." Founded in October 1952, NUAA is one of the first batch of aeronautical higher education institutions established by the People's Republic of China. In 1978, it was designated as a national key university by the State Council; in 1981, it became one of the first universities in China authorized to confer doctoral degrees; in 1996, it entered the national "211 Project" construction; in 2000, the Graduate School was established with approval from the Ministry of Education; in 2011, it became a key university under the "985 Project Advantage Discipline Innovation Platform"; and in 2017, it was included in the national "Double First-Class" construction sequence. In December 2012 and April 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Civil Aviation Administration of China signed agreements to jointly build NUAA. In 2018 and 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Education, and Jiangsu Province jointly issued documents to tripartitely build NUAA. As of November 2025, the university has three campuses—Minggugong, Jiangjunlu, and Tianmuhu—and an International Innovation Port, covering a total area of 3,404 mu (approximately 227 hectares) with a building area of 2.247 million square meters. It comprises 25 schools, 71 undergraduate programs, 32 first-level master's degree authorization points, 20 first-level doctoral degree authorization points, 5 professional doctoral degree authorization categories, 18 professional master's degree authorization categories, and 17 postdoctoral research stations. The university has 3,915 faculty and staff members and 36,610 students. In November 1951, the Aviation Industry Bureau of the Ministry of Heavy Industry ordered the establishment of the Nanjing School Construction Committee at the state-owned No. 511 Factory in Nanjing to begin preparatory work. The school site was chosen on the east side of Yudao Street, inside the East Chang'an Gate (now called "Donghua Gate") outside the Meridian Gate of Minggugong, with dormitories built on the west side of Yudao Street at the site of the Minggugong Sheji Altar. In June 1952, the school was named "Nanjing Aviation Industry College (abbreviated as 'Nanjing Aviation College')." The East China Military Region transferred 1,200 active-duty soldiers to the school for supplementary courses in preparation for the start of classes. On October 19 of the same year, President Deng Yongqing presided over the opening ceremony, with 973 first-year students, and classes officially began the next day (October 20). In May 1955, the Second Ministry of Machinery Industry suggested relocating Nanjing Aviation College to Xi'an and upgrading it to an aeronautical institute. The leadership of Nanjing Aviation College expressed difficulties, and it was later decided that the East China Aeronautical Institute (one of the predecessors of today's Northwestern Polytechnical University) would move west, while Nanjing Aviation College would remain in Nanjing for development. On April 28, 1956, Nanjing Aviation Industry College was upgraded to Nanjing Aeronautical Institute (abbreviated as 'Nanjing Aviation'), and it began admitting undergraduate students in some programs. In August of the same year, after the East China Aeronautical Institute moved away from Nanjing, its campus was allocated to Nanjing Aviation. From November 1956 to February 1957, Suzhou Aviation Industry College was merged into Nanjing Aviation in batches. In 1958, the Weigang campus of Nanjing Aviation was allocated to Nanjing Agricultural College (now Nanjing Agricultural University). In 1998, construction began on the Jiangjunlu Campus of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, which was officially put into use in 1999.