In 1952, the Central Government of China sought to construct a new higher education system for the rapid development of economy, science and technology after
Chinese Civil War. Three technical institutes were planned to be established in
Wuhan, including Huazhong Institute of Technology (HIT, 华中工学院), South-Central China Institute of Power Engineering (中南动力学院) and South-Central China Institute of Water Conservancy and Electric Power (中南水利学院). In March 1953, the institute's charter was signed by the South-Central China Government under the approval of the Central Government of China. In the original planning, the land south of the Yujia Hill was chosen for the three campuses. Physicist
Zha Qian [
zh] was appointed as chair of the three-institute initiative. Economist
Zhang Peigang was appointed as chief in planning to lead the HIT initiative. In June 1953, the land south of the East Lake was chosen as the campus of South-Central China Institute of Water Conservancy and Electric Power. The same year, the South-Central China government decided not to establish an independent South-Central China Institute of Power Engineering. All the programs related to power engineering were administered by Huazhong Institute of Technology. The institute formally opened on October 15, 1953.
Early development (1954–1966)
All the programs and departments at HIT were organized and formed from the programs related to electrical engineering, power engineering, electricity and mechanical engineering in
Wuhan University,
Hunan University,
Guangxi University and
South China Institute of Technology. HIT's first classes were held in spaces at those institutions. There were eight undergraduate programs, 314 full-time faculty members and 2,639 undergraduate students at that time. The first president is physicist Qian Zha, Dean of School of Engineering of Wuhan University. The first provost is Gancai Liu.
In 1960, HIT was evaluated to be a national key university under the direct administration of the Ministry of Education of China.
Cultural Revolution (1966–1976)
In 1971, most of the Wuhan Mechanical Institute (武汉机械学院) was merged into the institute.
Six departments were established. There were 20 undergraduate programs, 1,097 faculty members. The number of undergraduate students reached to 6,087.
New mission, global view (1976–1988)
Graduate students began to be enrolled in 1978, and in 1984, the institute became one of 22 universities to be approved by the State Council to establish a
graduate school. By approval of the State Education Committee, the institute was renamed Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST, 华中理工大学) in 1988.
Leading the Reform in Tech-Schools (1988–2000)
With China's global strategy and the reform of the economy, HUST led a series of pivotal reforms among technical institutions in China. HUST is the first technical school to establish the Department of Journalism and Communication, the Department of Economics, and Department of Literature, and to host nationwide lectures in humanities.
Merger
On May 26, 2000, the former Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Tongji Medical University, Wuhan Urban Construction Institute (武汉城市建设学院), and Wuhan Science and Technology Vocational College (科技部干部管理学院) combined to form the new Huazhong University of Science and Technology (华中科技大学); the Chinese name was changed, but the English name remained the same.
Tongji Medical College
The history of
Tongji Medical College can be traced back to 1907 when Tongji German Medical School was founded by
Erich Paulun in
Shanghai. The name Tongji[3] suggests cooperating by riding the same boat. In 1927, with the development of the institution, it expanded to include engineering programs. After the establishment of National Tongji University in 1927, the Tongji Medical College was affiliated to the university as one of the schools. In 1950, the medical school was moved to Wuhan from Shanghai and merged with Wuhan University School of Medicine to become South-Central China Tongji Medical College. The college was later renamed as Wuhan College of Medicine in 1955, as Tongji Medical University in 1985, and as Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2000.
Yang Shuzi (1993–1997) Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zhou Ji (1997–2001) Member and former President of the Chinese Academy of Engineering
Fan Mingwu (2001–2005) Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, former President of China Institute of Atomic Energy
Li Peigen (2005–2014) Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering
Ding Lieyun (2014–2018) Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering
Li Yuanyuan (2018–2021) Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering
You Zheng (2021–present) Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering
Campus
Huazhong University of Science and Technology has two campuses: Main Campus at Wuchang and Tongji Medical Campus at Hankou. The area of single campus is more than 7000 mu. The campus reaches 72% green rate and thus is also known as "Forest University".
Wuhan National Laboratories for Opto-electronics (WNLO), one of the five national laboratories in China
National major science and technology infrastructure
Wuhan National High Magnetic Field Center, one of Top 4 magnetic field centers in the world, Top 1 in Asia.
Precision gravity measurement research facility, known as "World Gravity Center" by the international physics circle, measuring the most accurate gravitational constant in 2018.
National Innovation Institute
National Innovation Institute of Digital Design and Manufacturing
State Key Laboratory
State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology
State Key Laboratory of Coal Combustion
State Key Laboratory of Materials Processing and Die & Mould Technology
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Electromagnetic Engineering and Technology (AEET)
National Engineering (Technology) Research Center
National Engineering Research Center for Laser Processing
National Engineering Research Center for Digital Manufacturing Equipment
National Engineering Technology Research Center for Enterprise Information Technology (CAD) Application Support Software (Wuhan)
National NC System Engineering Research Center
National Anti-counterfeiting Engineering Technology Research Center
National Nanomedical Engineering Technology Research Center
National Engineering Laboratory
National Engineering Laboratory of Next Generation Internet Access System
National Professional Laboratory
National Professional Laboratory of New Motor
National Professional Laboratory of External Storage Systems
Essential Science Indicators(ESI)
In ESI ranking in January 2021, Huazhong University of Science and Technology is ranked in 183rd in the world, and 9th among all the
Double First-Class Construction in China. The numbers of top 1‰ and 1% disciplines of HUST in the world are 4 and 16 respectively.
Top 1‰ disciplines include Engineering, Computer Science, Materials Science and Clinic Medicine. Top 1% disciplines include Engineering, Computer Science, Materials Science, Clinic Medicine, Chemistry, Pharmacology & Toxicology, Biology & Biochemistry, Physics, Neuroscience & Behavior, Social Sciences, Molecular Biology & Genetics, Mathematics, Environment/Ecology, Agricultural Sciences, Botany and Zoology.
There are four libraries at HUST: the Old Library, the Shaw Library (New Library), the Medical Library and the Architecture Library. The Old Library and the Shaw Library are located in the center of main campus. The Old Library was designed and constructed in Soviet Union style in the 1950s. It plays a major role in book circulation and conference hosting. It also provides classrooms for audio-video teaching program and some group-study programs. The first floor of the east wing is the Center for Reader's Services, which is a branch of University Bookstore System. The Shaw Library was donated by Sir
Run Run Shaw and built in the 1990s. It has more than 30 reading rooms, including Chinese/English social sciences reading rooms, Chinese/English natural sciences reading rooms, Chinese/English archive reading rooms and electronic journal reading rooms. It also houses a multi-media center and a major branch of Center for Computing & Networking. Medical Library is located in Tongji Medical Campus in Hankou. It provides the same services to the medical students as the libraries in main campus. The Architecture Library is on the east side of the main campus. It accommodates books and journals in architecture and urban planning. The University Libraries have a total collection of 3.49 million volumes.
Student life
Student demographics
Undergraduate students: 36,275
Graduate & professional students: 20,044
International students: 4,100
Athletics
HUST men's basketball team won the national championship (
CUBA) in 2004. HUST men's team also won fourth place in CUBA 1999. HUST women's basketball team lost the national champion title and won the second places in WCUBA 2005 and 2006, respectively.
Notable alumni
Politicians
Lou Qinjian, HUST Class 1981,
CPC Secretary of
Jiangsu Province, former Governor of
Shaanxi Province and Vice Minister of Information Industry
Qian Xinzhong, Tongji Class 1928, Minister of Health, China (1965–1973, 1979–1983)
Liu Sifeng, the Marie-Curie Fellow (UK),
IEEE Fellow and the renowned expert of grey systems. He was one of the 10 shortlisted promising scientists in the MSCA (EU-funded Marie Curie Actions) 2017 Prizes.