Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics was founded in October 1952 and was one of the first aviation colleges established by the People's Republic of China. It was included in the national "211 Project" in 1996; A graduate school was established in 2000 with the approval of the Ministry of Education; In 2011, it became a key construction university of the "985 Project Advantage Discipline Innovation Platform"; In 2017, it was included in the national "Double First-Class" construction sequence. Currently, three disciplines - aerospace Science and Technology, Mechanics, and Control Science and Engineering - have been selected for the second round of "First-Class" construction list. The university is now affiliated with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. In December 2012 and April 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Civil Aviation Administration of China successively signed agreements to jointly build Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics; In 2018 and 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Education and Jiangsu Province signed two agreements to jointly build Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics has basically formed a research-oriented university discipline system with a focus on engineering, a combination of science and engineering, and coordinated development of multiple disciplines including engineering, management, science, economics, literature, law, philosophy and education, featuring aviation, aerospace and civil aviation. The university now has 23 colleges; There are 231 research institutions; There are 67 undergraduate programs, 32 master's first-level discipline points, 20 doctoral first-level discipline points, 4 doctoral professional degree categories, 16 master's professional degree categories, and 17 postdoctoral research stations. There are two first-level national key disciplines, namely aerospace Science and Technology and mechanics, nine second-level national key disciplines, two national key (cultivated) disciplines, ten national defense characteristic disciplines, and several key disciplines of Jiangsu Province.
Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics attaches great importance to international cooperation and exchange, and has established cooperative relations with more than 300 renowned universities, research institutions and enterprises around the world. The university has been vigorously promoting open education, actively carrying out collaborative innovation, and has established a number of research bases for industry-university-research cooperation. Extensive international exchanges and cooperation have been carried out, and long-term and stable cooperative relations have been established with more than 300 renowned foreign universities and a number of internationally renowned research institutions, forming a new pattern of open education that "serves aerospace and civil aviation, serves Jiangsu, faces the whole country, faces the world". There are currently over 1,300 international students from more than 90 countries, ranking among the top in Jiangsu Province. In 2009, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics was approved by the Ministry of Education to join the list of institutions of higher learning that accept Chinese government scholarships.
