Beihang University (BUAA; formerly as Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction.

The school was founded as Beijing Aeronautics College (北京航空学院) in 1952 by the merger of the aerospace engineering departments from eight elite universities at that time, including Peiyang University, Tsinghua University, Xiamen University, Sichuan University, and Chongqing University. In April 1988, the school was renamed Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. BUAA is dubbed one of the Seven Sons of National Defence.

Beihang University has 1 national laboratory, 9 national key laboratories (including 4 defense technology key laboratories), 6 national engineering centers and 3 Beijing Advanced Innovation Centers. The university has more than 40 research achievements that are the first in China and has won three top national science and technology awards more than 70 times.

As the first aerospace higher education institution in New China and the cradle of Red Aeronautical Engineers, Beihang University has been a key national higher education institution since its establishment. Beihang University is one of the first batch of national key universities (1959), among the first batch of 211 project universities (1997) and the first batch of world-class academic construction universities (Class A) (2017), which ranks seventh to has taken the tenth place. It is the key institution of higher education in the five-year plan. This university is a member of the 985 project university. Also selected for Project Everest, Project 211, Project 111, and Outstanding Engineering Education.

The aviation departments of the eight universities that participated in the founding of the Beijing Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics were: Tsinghua University, Peiyang University, Northwestern Polytechnic College (today's Northwestern Polytechnic University), Xiamen University, and the Faculty of North China University. Engineering (today's Beijing Institute of Technology), the aviation departments of Southwest Industrial College (now Chongqing University), Sichuan University and Yunnan University.

The aviation departments of China's higher education institutions developed relatively late and are weak in strength. Although Feng Ru built the first Chinese airplane in 1909, five years after the Wright brothers, China's aviation industry failed to develop due to old thinking and turmoil. Until the September 18 incident and the January 28 Songo War of Resistance, which faced the painful lesson of national subjugation, the Chinese people gradually realized the importance of aviation technology, and the concept of "air rescue of the nation" was born. With this concept in mind, they traveled to Europe and America to learn aviation knowledge from the oceans, and after returning to China, by overcoming many problems and establishing aviation departments, they tried to cultivate Chinese aviation technology talents. The first major of aeronautical engineering in China was the Department of Aeronautical Engineering, which was established by Tsinghua University in the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering in 1934.

But due to the outbreak of the Japanese War and other reasons in the mid-1940s, there was only Tsinghua University, Peiyang University, and a few universities such as Jiaotong University, Zhejiang University, and Xiamen University established aerospace engineering departments. With the country's emphasis and need for the aviation industry after the establishment of the People's Republic of China and with the help of adjustment of colleges and universities across the country since 1951 under the leadership of the government of the People's Republic of China, colleges and aviation departments across the country began to transfer to several colleges.

In March 1951, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party made initial adjustments to the main aeronautical engineering departments and subjects of domestic universities: the aeronautical departments of Tsinghua University, Peiyang University, Northwestern Engineering Institute, and Xiamen University were merged to form a faculty. Aeronautical Engineering, Tsinghua University; Department of Aeronautical Engineering of Yunnan University This group was merged into the Department of Aeronautics of Sichuan University; The Aeronautics Department of the former Central Industrial College (then renamed Southwest Industrial College) and the Aeronautics Department of North China University merged to form the Aeronautics Department of Beijing Institute of Technology. On December 10 of the same year, Premier Zhou Enlai convened a meeting to discuss a plan to transition the aviation industry from maintenance to production. Vice Premier Li Fuchun suggested that "building an aviation university is urgent." Premier Zhou Enlai agreed and gave the order. "I will follow your suggestions."^{[citation needed]}