Present Status of Development   

In 1952, NUAA’s College of Automation Engineering was founded in the initial stage of the establishment of the university, which grew out of two specialized subjects including Aviation Instrument Manufacturing and Aircraft Electrical Equipment’s Installation and Measurement. Generations of NUAAers, having endured extraordinary hardships and overcome unimaginable difficulties, gradually develop the college into a multidisciplinary teaching and scientific research group with widespread influence in several fields covering Automatic Control, Navigation Guidance, Electrical Engineering and Machinery, Measurement and Instrument, and so forth. In October, 2000, when the university launched new system reform characterized by University-College-Department, the College of Automation Engineering was set up.

Going through a journey of over 60 years with continuous construction and  development, today’s College of Automation Engineering is equipped with four departments, one institute and two research centres : the Department of Automatic Control, Electrical Engineering, Measurement Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, together with the Flight Control Research Institute， Electronics Technology Centre and Electrical Engineering Technology Centre. Up to now, the college owns 3 post-doctoral research stations, 3 first-level disciplines authorized to offer doctoral degree program, 5 first-level disciplines authorized to offer master degree, 2 fields authorized to offer doctor of engineering degree and another 2 to offer master of engineering degree. The college enjoys 3 Jiangsu provincial first-level key disciplines and 1 national bilingual demonstration course, and also equipped with 1 National and 1 Jiangsu Provincial Experimental Teaching Demonstration Centre, 1 National Teaching Group, 1 National Teaching Base, 2 Engineering Research Centres of MOE (Ministry of Education) , 3 Key Labs of MIIT (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology) , 3 Key Labs of Universities of Jiangsu Province. Those 3 first-level disciplines for doctor program involving Control Science and Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Instrumentation Science and Technology together have provided a strong support for disciplines in NUAA’s  College of Automation Engineering. Those 3 classic disciplines are key disciplines at the cutting edge of the global high-tech development as well, also entitled as Jiangsu Provincial First-Level Key Disciplines. Among the 3 disciplines, Control Science and Engineering together with Electrical Engineering are both listed in NUAA’s Peak Disciplines, also approved as Jiangsu Provincial Advantage Disciplines of “12th 5-Year Plan” and engaged in the first phase and second phase of NUAA’s Key Discipline Construction Project.

In recent years, adhering to the leadership of the Party, the College of Automation and Engineering has been concentrating on the talent-oriented goal of cultivating elites in engineering field with responsibility, creativity, global vision and humanity, who could truly contribute to the society. In this regard, the college deepens education and teaching reforms and endeavors to promote the new notion of education in three aspects: all-staff, all-round education, and education of entire process. Introduction and cultivation of leaders are put in the key place for the strategy of building teaching workforce, and our focus has been on three major things:  cultivating talents, building platforms and strengthening system. In terms of talent cultivation, in the past five years, the college has had 1 recipient of National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, 1 scholar chosen to be the leader in National Ten-Thousand Talents Program , 5 winners of National Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars, 1 scholar selected to be the leader in the Project for Youth Science and Technology Innovation , 1 Jiangsu Provincial Distinguished Professor, 5 recipients of Jiangsu Provincial Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars, 1 flexibly introduced Distinguished Professor. In terms of teaching, the past five years have witnessed considerable achievements made by the college successively, including 1 second prize of State-Level Teaching Award (Participation) , 1 first prize of Province-Level Teaching Award, 1 outstanding award, 1 second prize, and 2 third prizes of State-Level Teaching Contest, 1 State-Level Quality Resource- Sharing Course, and so forth. In terms of scientific research, the college has won 106 grants of Chinese National Natural Science Foundation, including 1 grant for Major Instrument Special Project of Biomedicine in 2018, 1 for the sub-item of Chinese National Natural Science Foundation Major Project in Electrical field in 2017, 1 for International Significant Cooperation Project in 2020, 1 for National Natural Science Foundation, 1 for Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars in 2018. Several projects were awarded, including 1 second prize of National Natural Science Award, 1 second prize of Natural Science Award of MOE, 2 second prizes and 1 third prize of National Defence Technological Invention Award, 4 second prizes and 1 third prize of National Defence Technological Progress Award. The college also have 2 key laboratories of MIIT and 1 innovation platform of Jiangsu province approved for establishment. Grants for scientific research have been rising up since 2016, having exceeded 100 million RMB in 2018, with a total of 414 million RMB in the past four years. In terms of students cultivation, since 2010, students of the college have earned more than 120 prizes in multi-disciplines and  extra-curricular academic technologies contests above the provincial level. The college has seen continuous emergence of excellent students and groups, including 10 advanced classes of Jiangsu province, 10 Triple-A students of Jiangsu province, 10 Excellent Student Leaders and 2 Excellent League members. In the past five years, there have been totally 3053 undergraduates, 1438 master degree candidates and 136 doctorate degree candidates graduated from the college. Till now, NUAA’s College of Automation and Engineering has sent over 900 graduates to national defence systems, with numerous students fully tapping their talents to safeguard the motherland and making accomplishments on the stage of Fortune Global 500 companies.

Through unremitting efforts and substantial support of all students and faculty members，taking the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China as the guiding principle, led by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, NUAA’s College of Automation and Engineering focuses on the target for the university’s future development, and keeps close to the development strategies of enhancing unique characteristics, strengthening school with talents, advocating innovation-driven development, opening up deeply and leading with culture. Facing the new status of development, bearing in mind the target of “Double Tops” construction, all college staff work hard in a joint effort to fully implement a series of reform measures, forging ahead to build the world-class College of Automation and Engineering with distinctive features of Aeronautics and Astronautics!

Glorious History

The primary foundation of the College of Automation and Engineering is composed of  two specialized subjects:  Aviation Instrument Manufacturing ( the forth specialized subject) and Aircraft Electrical Equipment’s Installation and Measurement (the fifth specialized subject）.

On April 8, 1956, Nanjing College of Aeronautics Industry was decided to renamed Nanjing Aeronautics Institute. On December 21, the college system was removed and the fourth specialized subject turned into Aviation Special Department ( the forth department) with two majors of 5-year system，including Aviation Instrument Actuator and Aircraft Electrical Equipment. On February 15, 1957, the forth department opened 6 staff rooms, which were for Automatic Control, Instrument, Instrument and Electrical Process (Non-Traditional Process), Aviation Electrical Engineering, Radio and Electrical Engineering, respectively. In August, 1959, the college determined to separate some members from the forth department to set up Department of Automatic Control (the fifth department) with 2 majors of 5-year system including Aircraft Autopilot and Rocket Navigation Radio Remote Control Measurement. Also, there were 6 staff rooms opened up for Principles of Automatic Control (501) , Principles of Computer (502) , Manufacturing Process (503) , Navigation Control (504) , Airborne Computer (505) and Aircraft Autopilot (506) . From July 25 to August 4 in 1960, 11 majors were added: Aviation Special Department (the forth department)  established 3 majors including Aviation Instrument and Sensor (401 staff room) , Aviation Electric Machinery and Equipment (402 staff room) and Gyro Instrument and Inertial Navigation (403 staff room). Department of Automatic Control (the fifth department) established 3 majors including Automatic Control System, Aviation Actuator and Resolver. On December, 26, 1962, Department of Automatic Control (the fifth department) and Department of Radio( the first department) merged into Department of Automatic Control and Radio( the first Department) . In 1963, authorized by COSTIND (Commission on Science，Technology，and Industry for National Defense) , it was altered to be  Department of Aviation Radio (the first department) and Aviation Special Department and Department of Automatic Control (the forth department). On September 16, 1965, COSTIND approved the application of construction system of the whole college and departments, and had Department of Radio and Aviation Special Department and Department of Automatic Control merge into Department of Aviation Instrument Special Radio Equipment (the forth department). In June,1966, Cultural Revolution began and soon Department of Radio was separated from the forth department as an independent department.