In 1920, the Harbin Institute of Technology was originally established as the Harbin Sino-Russian School for Industry to educate railway engineers.[5]
In 1931, postgraduate students were enrolled from the spring of 1931.
In 1935, during the Japanese invasion of China, the university fell under Japanese control.
On January 1, 1938, the name Harbin Institute of Technology was reinstated, which it has retained until the present.
In 1945, after the Japanese defeated in World War II and evacuated, HIT was headed by the Zhongchang Railway Bureau and jointly managed by China and the Soviet Union.
In 1949, Harbin Institute of technology recruited graduate students from all over the country. It is one of the earliest institutions to train postgraduates in China.
In 1951, HIT was approved by the central government to become one of the two institutions of higher learning to learn advanced techniques from the USSR. HIT enjoyed a reputation as the 'Cradle for Engineers'.
In 1984, HIT became one of 15 national major investment universities of China. In 1984, HIT became one of the first 22 universities to establish a graduate school.
In 1998, HIT was among the first 9 universities to be invited to join theProject 985 Club (a Chinese higher education system that provides funding priority to 39 leading research comprehensive universities).
In 2000, Harbin Institute of Technology merged with Harbin University of Architecture, one of the famous eight old schools in China with the same roots, and formed a new Harbin Institute of Technology.
In 2012, HIT was listed in theUniversities and Colleges Innovation Promotion Plan (高等学校创新能力提升计划), the most recent national advanced innovation alliance.
In 2013, the results of the third round of discipline assessment were announced. The school has 16 first-level disciplines ranked in the top five in the country, and 25 disciplines rank among the top ten in the country; among them, the first-level discipline of mechanics ranks first in the nation.
In 2017, HIT was ranked as Class A (top tier) university in theDouble First-Class Construction, the most recent elite Chinese universities program.[3]
The campus, along with the picturesque scenery and mild climate, adjoins the sea (Golden Beach) and is surrounded by mountains. It is ranked in the best 50 universities in satisfaction degree in China.[7] It now covers totally 1,560,000 square metres (16,800,000 sq ft), with a construction area of 383,000 m2 (4,120,000 sq ft).
HIT, Weihai now has 10 schools and 1 department, 10,466 undergraduate students, 542 master students, 110 Ph.D. candidates, 89 international students, and 861 staff members, including 97 professors and 219 associate professors. HIT, Weihai provides 37 bachelor programs and shares HIT's 22 master programs and 18 doctoral programs, with the same HIT educational standards. Complementing to the Harbin campus, HIT, Weihai has developed with the characteristic disciplines such asMarine Science andOcean Engineering,Automotive Engineering, and the highlights in the domains of Advanced Manufacturing,Information Technology andElectric Engineering,Computer Science andSoftware Engineering,Material Science and Engineering.[8]
The Harbin campus of HIT offers 86 undergraduate degrees across its eighteen schools along with 41 master programs, 29 doctoral programs and 24 post-doctoral research programs.[9][10][11]
School of Architecture
School of Astronautics
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
School of Civil Engineering
School of Computer Science and Technology
School of Economy and Management
School of Electrical Engineering and Automation
School of Electronics and Information Engineering
School of Energy Science and Engineering
School of Power Engineering and Engineering Thermophysics
As of 2019, there were 15,675 undergraduate students, 6,518 doctoral students and 9,680 master graduate students at the Harbin campus, including 1,984 international students from 128 countries and regions.[12]
Nationally, HIT is consistently ranked among China's top-10 research comprehensive universities and ranked No.1 inNortheast China region,[24] which includes the province ofLiaoning,Jilin, andHeilongjiang with a combination of more than 100 million population.[25]
HIT was ranked the best in Northeast China, 9th in China and 145th worldwide in 2024 in terms of aggregate performance from the three most widely observed university rankings (THE+ARWU+QS) as reported by theAggregate Ranking of Top Universities.[26]
Internationally, HIT is regarded as one of the most reputableChinese universities by theTimes Higher Education World Reputation Rankings where it ranked 101th globally.[31] HIT graduates are highly desired worldwide, with its Graduate Employability rankings placed at # 143 globally in the 2021 Global Employability University Ranking by Times Higher Education.[32]
Regarding scientific research output, theNature Index 2025 ranked HIT the No.27 university in the Asia Pacific region, and 46th in the world among the global universities.[33] The 2024CWTS Leiden Ranking ranked HIT 14th in the world by total publications and 27th in the world based on the number of their scientific publications belonging to the top 1% in their fields for the time period 2019–2022.[34]
Research at Harbin Institute of Technology spans a broad range of topics with a strong focus on engineering sciences.[35] HIT has been ranked in the top 10 Best Global Universities for Engineering by theU.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities Ranking since the ranking’s inception in 2014 by theUS News & World Reports.[35][36] As of 2024, it is ranked 3rd globally in Engineering.[37]
Its faculty and students have invented many 'firsts' in China: the firstanalog computer in 1957, the first digital computer in 1958, the first intelligentchess computer, the first arc weldingrobot, the first world-class new systemradar, the firstICCMOS chip with its own copyright, the first superway, computer real-time3D image creation system, and the first high-performance computer controlledfiber twister.[39][40] HIT undertakes research covered byofficial secrets (e.g. inspace science anddefense-related technologies).[41][42] It made the largest contribution to the success of theShenzhou series spacecraft andKuaizhou series spacecraft.[43][44] One minor planet (#55838) is named after the Harbin Institute of Technology and nicknamed "Hagongda Star" by theInternational Astronomical Union for HIT's achievements in science and engineering.[45][46]
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