Huazhong University of Science and Technology

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

• Zha Qian: (1953–1979)
• Zhu Jiusi: (1979–1984)
• Huang Shuhuai (1984–1993)
• 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–present) Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering

1037 Luoyu Road, Wuchang, Wuhan

13 Hangkong Road, Hankou, Wuhan

• School of Physics
• School of Artificial Intelligence & Automation
• Department of Electronic Sci. & Tech.
• Department of Electronics & Information Engr.
• Department of Mathematics
• School of Architecture & Urban Planning
• School of Chemistry & Chemical Engr.
• School of Computer Sciences & Engr.
• School of Civil & Hydraulic Engineering.
• School of Cyber Sciences & Engr.
• School of Electrical & Electronic Engr.
• School of Energy & Power Engineering
• School of Environmental Science & Engr.
• School of Life Sciences & Technology
• School of Materials Science & Engr.
• School of Mechanical Science & Engr.
• School of Naval Architecture & Ocean Engr.
• School of Aerospace Engineering
• School of Optical & Electronic Information
• School of Software Engineering
• School of Transportation Sci. & Engr.

• Department of Chinese Literature
• Department of Philosophy
• Department of Political Science
• Department of Sociology
• School of Economics
• School of Education
• School of Foreign Language
• School of Humanities & Social Sciences
• School of International Education
• School of Journalism & Communication
• School of Law
• School of Management
• School of Public Administration

• Department of Forensic Medicine
• Basic Medical School
• School of Clinical Medicine I
• School of Clinical Medicine II
• School of Drug & Health Administration
• School of Nursing
• School of Pharmacy
• School of Public Health

• Faculty: 3,448
• Staff (main campus): 7,659
• Staff (hospitals): 5,259
• Distinguished Youth Scholars awarded by National Science Fund: 69
• Chang Jiang Scholars (Distinguished Professors): 65
• Members of Chinese Academy of Sciences: 12
• Members of Chinese Academy of Engineering: 17

• Wuhan National Laboratories for Opto-electronics (WNLO), one of the five national laboratories in China

• 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 of Digital Design and Manufacturing

• 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 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 of Next Generation Internet Access System

• National Professional Laboratory of New Motor
• National Professional Laboratory of External Storage Systems

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 Universities 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.

Undergraduate|Graduate[4]
Engineering: #6 | #3; Medicine: #2 | #2; Management: #10 | #15; Science: #16 | #17;
Economics: #20 |-; Literature: #36 |-;
Natural Sciences (Engineering, Medicine, Science overall): #7 | #6;
Social Sciences (History, Management, Economics overall): #17 | #18

Mechanical Engineering: #1; Electrical Engineering: #2; Optical Engineering: #1;
Public Health: #1; Public Administration: #4; Biomedical Engineering: #5;
Control Engineering: #5 ; Power Engineering: #6; Computer Science: #9;
Electronics: #9;

Preventive Medicine Epidemiology: #5; Environmental Health: #1; Nutrition: #5; Gynecology: #2; Toxicology: #6;

Computer Science System Structure: #3; Software: #12 ;

Journalism & Communication Journalism: #3; Communication: #7;

Others Statistics: #6; Quantitative Economics: #3;

Old library in the main campus

New library, main campus

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.

Undergraduate students: 36,275
Graduate & professional students: 20,044
International students: 4,100

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.

• 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)
• Xie Fuzhan, HUST Class 1980, President of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the former Governor of Henan Province, China.
• Zhou Ji, HUST Class 1980, President, China Academy of Engineering (2010–2018), Minister of Education, China (2003–2009), Mayor of Wuhan (2001–2002)
• Wang Cheng, HUST Class 1981, President, Hohai University.

• Li Ting, HUST Class 2006, tennis player, Gold Medal Winner at the 2004 Summer Olympics in women's doubles.
• Li Na, HUST Class 2005, tennis player, Winner of Australian Open (2014) and French Open (2011), highest world ranking for Singles: No. 2.

• Gong Hongjia, HUST Class 1982, billionaire businessman, 137th in 2018 Forbes World billionaires list in 2018[29]
• Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer and deputy board chairperson of Huawei.
• Zhang Xiaolong, HUST Class 1991, Senior Vice President of Tencent, creator of WeChat.

On the HUST campus on a winter day

• Deng Julong, the founder of Grey system theory.
• 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.
• Chunying Chen, Chinese chemist and professor of chemistry at the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology
• Gang Chen, professor at MIT and elected member of the National Academy of Engineering (2010)
• Lihong V. Wang, professor at Caltech and elected member of the National Academy of Engineering (2018)
• Alan Luo, professor at Ohio State University and elected member of the National Academy of Engineering (2023)
• Frank Hu, professor at Harvard and elected member of the National Academy of Medicine(2015)

• Bei Shizhang, elected in 1955, Tongji Med BS (1921).
• Liang Boqiang, elected in 1955, Pathologist, Tongji Med BS (1922).
• Qiu Fazu, elected in 1993, Senior Member of CAS, Tongji Med BS (1936).
• Wu Mengchao, elected in 1991, 2005 National Supreme Science and Technology Awardee, Tongji Med BS (1949).
• Yang Shuzi, elected in 1991, HUST BS (1956).
• Fang Fuquan (方复全), elected in 2017, Vice President of Capital Normal University, HUST BS (1986).

• Zhou Ji, elected in 1999, President of Chinese Academy of Engineering, foreign member of National Academy of Engineering (US), HUST MS (1980).
• Hou Yunde, National Supreme Science and Technology Awardee (2018), Vice president of Chinese Academy of Engineering, HUST Tongji Med BS (1955).
• Li Dequn (李德群), elected in 2015, HUST MS (1980).
• Ma Ding (马丁), elected in 2017, HUST Tongji Med BS (1982), MS (1986), Ph.D. (1990).
• Luo Xiwen (罗锡文), elected in 2009, Vice president of South China Agricultural University, HUST BS (1969).
• You Zheng (尤政), elected in 2013, Vice president of Tsinghua University, HUST BS (1985), MS (1987), Ph.D. (1990).
• Wu Weiren (吴伟仁), elected in 2015, Chief Designer of Lunar Exploration Engineering, HUST Ph.D. (2004).
• Zou Xuexiao (邹学校), elected in 2017, President of Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, HUST Ph.D. (2002).