National University of Defense Technology (NUDT) is a cradle of a new type of highly competent military personnel of the PLA, a training base for turning out senior commanders and an important base for scientific research on key national defense technologies and advanced weaponry and equipment.

　　NUDT, as a comprehensive military university under the direct leadership of the Chinese Central Military Commission, was founded in 1953 in Harbin of Heilongjiang Province and its original name is the PLA Military Academy of Engineering. In 1970 the principal part of the Academy was moved to Changsha, capital of Hunan Province in south China and was renamed National University of Defense Technology in 1978. Over the past 50 years, the Central Committee of the C.P.C and the Central Military Commission has shown warm concern for the growth and development of NUDT. Since its establishment, more than 100 leaders of the Party, the state and the army inspected or wrote inscriptions for NUDT.

　　For years, NUDT has been designated as a key investment and construction university by the state and the PLA. It is a university authorized by the State Council as the first batch of national key universities to have academic accreditation of offering master's and doctorial degree programs, and it is also the first batch of schools to be included into the state "Project 211" as national key development universities, and a key development university of the PLA during the 10th and 11th Five-Year Plan periods. The university comprises 10 colleges, such as the College of Aerospace and Materials, the College of Science, the College of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, the College of Electronic Science and Engineering, The College of Information system and Management, the College of Computer, the College Opto-Electronic Science and Engineering, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, The College of Basic Education for Commanding Officers and the College of Continuing Education. The specialties cover 10 major academic aspects such as sciences, engineering, military sciences, management, economics, philosophy, literature, pedagogy, science of law, and history. NUDT offers 27 undergraduate courses, 95 postgraduate courses and 51 doctorate programs and 11 mobile post-doctoral scientific research stations

　　Currently, the NUDT has one academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, five academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. 19 faculty members have been awarded the honorable title of state-level "Young and Middle-aged Specialists Who Have Made Outstanding Contributions, and 11 members won the Award for Important Contributions to PLA Specialized Technologies. By 2006, NUDT has 234 Ph.D. supervisors and 768 supervisors of postgraduate students. The university often sent its teachers and postgraduates abroad for study tours or international academic activities and has established academic exchange program with universities and institutes of over 20 countries and regions. In addition, it has also engaged foreign teachers for long-term teaching activities.

　　In line with the training objective of "being firm in ideal and faith, excellent in military quality, rich in science and technology, prominent in innovative capability, and proficient in physical and mental quality", NUDT has devoted its efforts to develop undergraduate and postgraduate education. In order to foster students' innovative capability, NUDT has carried out various competitions on extracurricular academic works. Since 2000, the students of this school have participated in International Mathematical Modeling, National Undergraduate Electronic Design Contest, Mechanics Contest and Mechanics Innovative Design Contest, etc. and has won 101 awards including one Special Prize, one 1st Award and 60 2nd Awards.

　　Since 1978, NUDT has accomplished over 4,000 research achievements such as Galaxy-Series supercomputers, maglev trains, humanoid robots and core routers, etc and over 1600 of them have been awarded Science and Technology Progress Prizes by the state, the PLA and ministries and commissions. Over the past five decades, NUDT has fostered more than 130,000 high-caliber personnel for the country and the PLA. According to the incomplete statistics, 36 graduates or faculty members of NUDT have been selected as academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering and nearly 300 graduates assumed the leading posts at provincial, ministerial and corps levels or above. NUDT has also delivered a large number of high-caliber personnel for China's manned spaceflight program, and 13 of the commanders-in-chiefs, deputy commanders-in-chiefs and chief designers of the seven systems of Shenzhou VI Aerospace Project are graduated from NUDT.