Harbin Institute of Technology Excellent International Freshman Scholarship

About the university

Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), abbreviated as HIT, is a national key university under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China. It is a centrally administered university and one of the first batch of universities selected for the national “985 Project,” “211 Project,” and “Double First-Class” Category A initiative. HIT is also a member of the Zhufeng Plan, Qiangji Plan, 101 Plan, Yingcai Plan, 2011 Plan, the C9 League, and the Excellence University Alliance. It is one of the first institutions authorized to independently grant degrees and hosts one of the first Future Technology Colleges and National Excellence Engineer Colleges. Known as the “Cradle of Engineers,” HIT was founded in 1920 as the Harbin Sino-Russian Industrial School. It underwent several name changes, including Sino-Russian Industrial University, Special District Industrial University, and Harbin Institute of Technology, before adopting its current name in 1938. In 1949, HIT began enrolling graduate students. In 1951, it was designated as one of two model universities in China for learning from foreign higher education systems. In 1970, a portion of its faculty and most equipment were relocated to Chongqing to form Chongqing Industrial University with the Second Department of the Harbin Military Engineering Institute, while the remaining part merged with Heilongjiang Institute of Technology and Harbin Institute of Electrical Engineering to form a new HIT. In 1973, the Chongqing branch returned, restoring the original HIT. In 2000, HIT merged with Harbin University of Architecture to form the current HIT. As of June 2025, HIT has three campuses in Harbin, Weihai, and Shenzhen, with 35 colleges and schools. As of December 2024, the campus covers an area of 4,017,500 square meters, with a building area of 2,518,400 square meters. It offers 124 undergraduate programs, 42 first-level master's degree authorization disciplines, 36 first-level doctoral degree authorization disciplines, and 27 postdoctoral research stations. The university has 4,835 faculty and staff members, with 15,094 undergraduate students, 16,019 master's students, and 9,435 doctoral students. HIT's establishment was directly linked to the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway by Tsarist Russia, with the aim of training engineering talents for the railway. The inaugural ceremony was held on October 17, 1920, with two departments—Railway Construction and Electrical Mechanical Engineering—and three classes totaling 103 students. The curriculum was credit-based, with a four-year duration, and instruction was entirely in Russian. In 1922, the school was renamed Sino-Russian Industrial University, extending the program to five years and renaming the departments to Railway Construction and Electromechanical Engineering. Graduates who passed the defense before the examination committee were awarded the title of engineer. In 1928, the school came under the leadership of the Special District of the Republic of China and was renamed Special District Industrial University. General Zhang Huanxiang, the chief executive of the Special District, served as chairman of the board, and Liu Zhe, the Minister of Education of the Northeast Government, became the first Chinese president. On October 20, 1928, the School of Law and Political Science and the School of Commerce were merged, and the institution was officially named Harbin Institute of Technology, jointly managed by China and the Soviet Union, with General Zhang Xueliang as chairman of the board. In spring 1931, HIT began enrolling graduate students. With the Japanese invasion of Northeast China, by 1935, the school was fully taken over by the Japanese, with instruction switched to Japanese and enrollment limited to Chinese and Japanese students. On January 1, 1936, it was renamed National Harbin Higher Industrial School. From January 1937 onward, the school operated entirely under the Japanese system, with Masao Suzuki as president. On January 1, 1938, the school was renamed Harbin Institute of Technology. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945, HIT was jointly managed by the Chinese and Soviet governments and led by the Chinese Changchun Railway. Its mission was to train engineering talents for the railway, with a five-year program taught entirely in Russian, offering departments such as Civil Engineering, Electrical Mechanical Engineering, Engineering Economics, Mining, Chemical Engineering, and Oriental Economics, along with a preparatory course.