Located in the historic city of Xi’an, cradle of Chinese civilization and terminus of the ancient Silk Road, Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU) is the only multidisciplinary and research-oriented in China that is simultaneously developing education and research programs in the fields of aeronautics, astronautics, and marine technology engineering. It is now affiliated to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). Since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), NPU has always been one of the nation’s key universities. In 1960 it was approved as a state key university by the State Council. It ranked among China’s top 15 universities in the state’s 7th and 8th Five-Year plans; and NPU is one of the first 22 universities to have established a graduate school.