Founded on October 25, 1952, Beihang University (hereinafter referred to as Beihang), or Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (BUAA), is a merger of eight aeronautics departments of Tsinghua University, Peiyang University (now known as Tianjin University), Xiamen University, Sichuan University, Yunnan University, Northwestern Institute of Engineering (now known as Northwestern Polytechnical University), School of Engineering of North China University (now known as Beijing Institute of Technology), and Southwest Industrial College (now known as Chongqing University). It was previously called Beijing Institute of Aeronautics, and changed to its current name in April, 1988.