The school was founded on 1920. 195 1 was identified as one of the two model universities in China to learn from foreign higher education. 1954 ranks among the first batch of six key universities in China (the only one outside Beijing), and it is the first science and engineering university in New China to directly award graduates the title of engineer and three-year graduate students.
1996 entered the first batch of key construction universities in the national "2 1 1 project". 1999 was identified as one of the first nine universities in the "985 Project". In 2000, it merged with Harbin Jianzhu University with the same roots to form a new Harbin Institute of Technology. 20 17 was selected into the list of "double first-class" universities in China.