Located in Xi'an, Shaanxi, Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU) is a multi-disciplinary, research-oriented and open-ended national key university in China that cultivates talents in aeronautics, astronautics and marine technology engineering. Affiliated with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China, it is a national "First-Class" university (A class). In 1960, it was designated as a national key university by the State Council, and listed as one of the 15 key universities in China by the State Council in the 7th and 8th Five-Year Plan, and also one of the first universities to enter the "Project 211" in 1995 and the "Project 985" in 2001. Moreover, it is a member of the "Outstanding University Alliance" program and is honored as a National Civilized Unit, a National Civilized Campus, a Model University for Graduate Employment, a National Model School for National Unity and Progress, a National Advanced Grassroots Party Organization for Creating Excellence, etc.. NPU adheres to the motto "Loyalty, Integrity, Courage and Perseverance" while carrying forward the spirit of " Strong Preparation, Diligent Effort, Practical Attitude, and Creative Innovation". NPU has put its roots down in the west and dedicated itself to national defense by determining the school philosophy of "Five as" (students as the root, education as the foundation, scholars as the key, scholarism as the soul, and responsibility as the priority), to root in the west and dedicate to national defense. It has written several “firsts” into the history of the PRC. Now NPU will continue to pioneer new pathways into the future in the process of building a world first-class university and world first-class disciplines

NPU has abundant resources and its disciplinary features are distinctive. NPU has more than 34,000 students and over 4,300 faculties. Covering an area of over 3,100,000m², NPU has 27 academic schools, including School of Aeronautics, School of Astronautics, School of Marine Science and Technology, International College, Honors College and Queen Mary University of London Engineering School, NPU. It offers 74 undergraduate programs, 37 master degree authorization first-level disciplines, 23 doctorate authorization first-level disciplines. Among them, 5 subject clusters of chemistry, engineering, materials science, physics and computer science entered the top 1% of Essential Science Indicators (ESI) international discipline rankings; the materials science discipline entered the world's top 1‰. Therefore, a discipline system has been established for the compatible development of subject clusters led by aeronautics, astronautics, and marine technology with 3M (materials, mechanical engineering, mechanics) and 3C (computer, communications, control) along with subject clusters in other sciences, humanities and social science. This system has laid a sound foundation for NPU to build first-class disciplines.

NPU persists in attaching equal importance to guiding, cultivating and building intellectual achievement. NPU adheres to the "trinity" concept of cultivating talents by shaping values, cultivating abilities and imparting knowledge, and strives to cultivate leading talents with national sentiments, pursuing excellence and bright future. Throughout history, the first doctor of engineering in six disciplines, including casting, aerospace manufacturing engineering, flight mechanics, aero-engine, water weapon, and rocket engine, was trained by NPU. According to incomplete statistics, among more than 200,000 alumni trained by NPU for the development of national defense science and technology and national economic construction, there are 48 leaders at or above the provincial and ministerial level and 65 generals, 48 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering, as well as six of the Ten Outstanding Young Chinese. In the field of aeronautics, more than half of the major model chief engineers and deputy chief engineers are alumni of NPU. The 60th anniversary of the founding of China's aviation industry honored 10 "Special Gold Award for Serving the Nation in Aviation", and 6 NPU alumni won this award. 23 of winners of 14 sessions of Aerospace Laurel Award from 2005 to the present have studied and worked at NPU. In the field of astronautics, from Zhang Qingwei and Lei Fanpei, who were among the "three young marshals of aerospace" in the early years, to Wu Weiren, the chief designer of China's lunar exploration project, etc., a large number of outstanding alumni of NPU have served as leading party and government cadres and deputy chief engineers of group companies, institutes and enterprises, and have made outstanding contributions to the rapid development of China's aerospace industry; there are also a large number of outstanding alumni in the maritime field who are active in important management positions and core technology positions in the shipbuilding industry and water armament industry, and the list of outstanding people is endless. A great number of NPU students have become industry elites and pillars of the country, forming a unique "NPU phenomenon" in talent training.

NPU focuses on attracting and training, and has strong faculty. NPU adheres to the strategy of "strengthening the university with talents", insists on the first standard of teachers' morality and style, and builds a high-level faculty to adapt to the development of world-class universities. NPU promotes the personnel system reform with the tenure-track system as a breakthrough to mobilize and stimulate the vitality of the team. It sets up a special talent zone to attract and nurture platforms and bring together high-end talents. NPU carries out the “Aoxiang Qualified Personnel Project” to help young teachers become outstanding academic leaders. This involves constructing support systems for their personal and professional development, and building a talent team with reasonable hierarchy. NPU optimizes and improves the talent evaluation system, highlights the character, ability and performance orientation, and gradually establishes an assessment and evaluation mechanism by category, level, position and discipline. It creates quality basic education, creates a proper development environment, and solves the worries for talents. NPU has gathered a high-quality teaching team with more than 300 national high-level talents as the backbone, with moderate scale, reasonable structure, excellent quality and distinctive features. NPU now has 33 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) or the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), 41 scholars of the Changjiang Scholars Program, 25 leaders of the Ten Thousand Talents Program, 23 winners of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, 5 winners of National Distinguished Teacher awards, 27 national teams, and 21 postdoctoral moving stations.

NPU has strengthened educational research and made remarkable achievements in teaching. NPU has won many awards in the National Teaching Achievement Award, which is selected every four years and represents the highest honor of education and teaching in China: in 2014, NPU won two first-class and four second-class national teaching achievement awards; in 2018, NPU won two first-class and four second-class national teaching achievement awards as the first completing unit, and one first-class and one second-class award as a participating completing unit. NPU has 4 national experimental teaching demonstration centers, 2 national virtual simulation experiment teaching demonstration centers and 3 state talents training demonstration bases. NPU is the only initiative unit in Asia, and is the Asia regional coordination unit of QB50 (EU Atmospheric Sounding Program). NPU promotes innovation and entrepreneurship education, and is awarded the first batch of national demonstration colleges and universities for deepening innovation and entrepreneurship education reform and national colleges and universities for deepening innovation and entrepreneurship education reform with typical experience, and Flying Creators Space was selected as a national specialized maker space. Since the 13th Five-Year Plan, NPU students have won a total of more than 2,500 awards in many domestic and international competitions. In 2016, Aoxiang Series Micro-satellites won the national championship of the second China "Internet Plus" Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition. In 2018, NPU won one Gold Award, two Silver Awards and three Bronze Awards in the "China College Students' Entrepreneurship Competition”, and one Gold Award in the MBA Special Competition (the only university in western China to win this award), and won the "School-level Excellent Organization Award" in the competition. In 2019, NPU won one Grand Prize and one Special First Prize in "the Challenge Cup" National University Student Extracurricular Academic Science and Technology Work Competition (the only university in Shaanxi to win this award), and one National Grand Prize in the National Undergraduate Engineering Training Integration Ability Competition. In 2020, NPU won the "Best Creative Project" in the National Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Annual Conference. At the same time, it has been ranked among the top in many competitions such as the China Robot Competition, the National University Students Intelligent Car Race, the China Collegiate Computing Contest and the China Graduate AI Innovation Competition.

NPU strengthens scientific research and innovation with outstanding scientific and technological contributions. NPU brings into full play its expertise in aeronautics, astronautics, and marine technology engineering, while focusing on national strategic needs and cutting-edge technology at a global level and made a great contribution to the development of China's national development and national economic construction. In Chinese history NPU was the birthplace of the first SUAV, ground-effect vehicle, 50kg class AUV on-board spacecraft computer. NPU has 8 State Key Laboratory, 2 National Engineering Research Centers, 4 National International Cooperation Bases, 1 National Defense Science and Technology Innovation Center, 5 National Local Joint Innovation Platforms and 137 scientific research platforms at ministerial and provincial levels. NPU is one of the two universities that contributed to China's first manned space flight, and has participated in the demonstration and scientific research of 10 national major special projects, such as large aircraft, manned space flight and lunar exploration. NPU pioneered the development of UAVs in China, realized the first complete UAV system and the first UAV production line exported overseas. What's more, it has the only state key laboratory of UAV special technology and the national engineering center of UAV system in China, and is currently preparing to build the first professional UAV testing center in China, also has independent unrestricted high local airspace, and comprehensively promotes the scientific research and industrial development of UAVs. In the parade of the 60th anniversary of the National Day, the whole UAV squad was developed and produced by NPU; in the parade of the 90th anniversary of the founding of the army, its UAVs were included in the parade for the second time with the whole squad to accept the inspection of the Party and the people; in the parade of the 70th anniversary of the National Day, its UAVs flew through Tiananmen Square again to accept the inspection. Since the 13th Five-Year Plan, NPU has won 20 national awards and 58 first-class prizes at provincial and ministerial levels, and the total amount of research funding has exceeded 17 billion yuan, ranking the top among universities in China.

NPU accelerates the transformation of goals into achievement and enhances its ability to serve the society. While encouraging people to concentrate on studying and researching, teaching and educating, NPU also take the strategic needs of the country as its traction and integrates the development of politics-industry-university-research. Focusing on the major national strategic deployment, NPU aims at the development opportunities such as the West Development of China, the new chapter of catching up and surpassing in the new era of Shaanxi, the integrated development of the regional integrative in the Yangtze River Delta, and the construction of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, etc. By developing deep cooperation with local government, it has initiated the establishment of Shaanxi Province Aerospace and Astronautics Propulsion Research Institute, Shaanxi Networks Innovation Institute, Institute of Flexible Electronics and other innovative institutions, promoted the construction of "Soar Town" and the innovation zone around NPU, and promoted the construction of off-site innovation institutions in Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Qingdao, Ningbo and Taicang. NPU actively promotes the transformation of scientific and technological achievements and is approved as one in the first batch of bases for transformation of scientific and technological achievements and technology transfer in higher education. Relying on the innovative achievements of advantageous disciplines to cultivate a number of high-tech enterprises such as Xi'an Bright, GMCC in ceramic composite materials, additive manufacturing (3D printing), high-end equipment manufacturing, intelligent underwater vehicles and other fields to achieve fruitful results, become the backbone of the local economic transformation and upgrading and the source of innovation in regional economic development, and gradually formed a proven transformation of scientific and technological achievements and industrialization of "NPU Model".

NPU promotes global cooperation and enhances its international presence. NPU insists on serving the urgent needs of national strategies and the construction of "first-rate universities and disciplines", and has built an international cooperation network of world-class universities, focusing on Europe, expanding Russia and Ukraine, and radiating globally. NPU has established close cooperation with more than 300 overseas universities, enterprises and research institutes, and the number of cooperation universities in the TOP 200 of the world university ranking has reached 58. It has been ranked significantly higher in the four major university rankings in the world, including QS, THE, U.S. News and ARWU. In 2014, with China’s President Xi Jinping and the Prime Minister of Belgium as witness, NPU and VUB signed a cooperative agreement; in 2016, the Joint Educational Institution called 'Queen Mary University of London Engineering School, NPU' , was authorized by the Ministry of Education, and became the first Chinese-foreign cooperative educational institution in northwestern China, and the qualification of China-foreign cooperative school at master's level was approved in 2020. NPU has 13 national international cooperation platforms, including 8 national bases for discipline innovation in higher education, 4 national bases for international science and technology cooperation and 1 national model base for attracting intelligence and talent, as well as 61 university-level joint research institutions at home and abroad. About 180 internationally renowned experts and scholars, including Nobel Prize winners, have been awarded honorary professorships by the NPU. 11 foreign experts have been awarded the "National Friendship Award", ranking among the top universities in China and the first in the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and universities in Shaanxi. NPU has initiated the establishment of multilateral international exchange and cooperation platforms such as "The Belt and Road" Aerospace Innovation Alliance, Sino-Australia Engineering Universities Consortium and "The Belt and Road" Cultural Heritage International Cooperation Alliance. NPU has been actively expanding cooperation with international organizations, such as setting up an aerospace innovation talent training base in cooperation with the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization and the "The Belt and Road" Engineering Education and Training Center in cooperation with the FEIAP.

On the long march towards establishing a world first-class university and world first-class disciplines, NPU is drawing on its deep moral, intellectual and spiritual roots so that it can serve the major strategic needs of the country and foster China’s modernization and construction while promoting world scientific and technological progress. NPU will stick to this mission as it continues to reform and innovate, build its strength and strive for excellence. NPU thus aims to keep pushing back the frontiers of knowledge, opening new vistas of intellectual inquiry and turning inspiration into reality as it builds a world-class university with a global reputation in the field of aeronautics, astronautics, and marine technology engineering.

(Data as of March 17, 2021)