School of Aeronautics, known as “the cradle of China’s chief aircraft designers”, has been devoted to train talents of aerospace and implement fundamental research and encourage exploration on new interdisciplinary directions since 1933 (the year that the history of NPU can be traced back to). School of Aeronautics consists of four departments that are Department of Aircraft Design Engineering, Department of Integrated Technology and Control Engineering, Department of Fluid Mechanics, and Department of Aeronautical Structure Engineering. Institute of Extreme Mechanics founded in 2019 is also a part of School of Aeronautics. Along with nearly 90 years of development, School of Aeronautics has built a highly qualified faculty team. By January 2022, there are 251 full time staffs (62 professors, 87 associate professors, 8 lecturers, 28 experimental technicians, 35 research scientists, 13 post-doc researchers, and 18 administrative staffs), including 5 National Academicians, 9 National High-level Talents, and 13 National Youth Talents; there are 2600+ students studying at the School including 1000+ undergraduates, 1500+ postgraduates and 150+ international students.

School of Aeronautics takes educating students as the most essential duty, exalting the spirit of shaping values, developing capabilities and imparting knowledge and making full efforts to train leading talents who strive for excellence with passionate commitment to aeronautics. School of Aeronautics offers 2 disciplines (Aerospace Science and Technology; Mechanics) comprised of 12 research directions for postgraduates, and 3 majors and one innovative and reforming program that is Huang YuShan Class for undergraduates, as shown in Table 1. It offers four English majors for international students, as shown in Table 2. Aerospace Science and Technology discipline is ranked top 2 in Shanghai Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2020 and rated as A+ in the fourth discipline evaluation of conducted by the Ministry of Education of P.R. China.

Table 1 Programs of School of Aeronautics

Table 2 Majors for International Students

School of Aeronautics lays stress on academic research with a strong sense of responsibility to serve the “Four Orientations”. Adhering to the “Four Orientations” and focusing on the advances of aerospace technologies and national strategic needs in science and technology development, School of Aeronautics attaches equal importance to leading-edge fundamental research and to national key programs and tackles key technology problems. Research teams composed of the faculty and graduate students play an irreplaceable role in research and development of the majority of China’s key aircraft models and exert a profound effect on the aeronautical industry of China. School of Aeronautics hosts two national key labs, one key discipline lab, and four provincial key labs to provide the best research facilities in areas such as aircraft design, fluid dynamics, solid mechanics and etc. During the 13th five-year plan period (2016-2020), School of Aeronautics received research funding of 788 million RMB including 113 projects of National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), and funding of School of Aeronautics in 2021 is over 300 million RMB.

School of Aeronautics upholds international collaboration in various ways such as students exchange, scholar exchange, collaborative research, international conference, and etc. During the 13th five-year plan period, School of Aeronautics enrolled 190 international students for degree programs, 25 students for 3-24 month visits, and 108 students for short visits; the School sent 106 students overseas for 3-24 month visits and 493 students overseas for international conferences, inter-university exchange programs, and summer/winter schools. The School signed cooperation agreements with seven universities and institutions and has partnership with over 40 well-known universities all over the world. There are two national-level Overseas Expertise Introduction Centers for Discipline Innovation (111 centers), one national-level Joint International Research Lab and three joint research labs in our school. Based on these international platforms, joint research and academic exchange have been widely carried out. During the 13th five-year plan period, our school held 14 international conferences and received visits of about 80 outstanding overseas scholars on average per year from well-known universities of U.S, U.K, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore, etc, and about 100 school staffs per year went overseas for academic exchange and collaboration.

During the 14th five-year plan period (2021-2025), School of Aeronautics will follow the national strategic orientations, rely on its abundant research platforms and international collaboration platforms, take opportunities of joint training projects of China Scholarship Council (CSC) and NPU, adjust international collaboration strategy, and explore new ways to expand internationalized talent training, improve the quality of education for international students, and implement collaborative research. At the same time, School of Aeronautics will actively take part in holding high-level academic conferences and organizing exchange events for international students to deepen its internationalization and enhance its international reputation.