在中国学航空航天工程

Where to study

Beihang University (formerly Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics) is the country's first aeronautical university and the strongest in flight vehicle design, aero engines, flight control and avionics. Harbin Institute of Technology contributes the mechanics, materials and space mechanisms. Northwestern Polytechnical University is the strongest for aircraft structures, materials and underwater vehicles, with alumni who designed the J-20, Y-20 and AG600. Beijing Institute of Technology covers aerospace propulsion and control.

Tsinghua and Shanghai Jiao Tong also have aeronautics groups, and Zhejiang has strong drone and control research.

Practical considerations for international applicants

Aerospace is a sensitive field. Some research groups and laboratories restrict participation by nationality, particularly work connected to national defence programmes. In practice this means international students are most likely to be accepted into fundamental aerodynamics, materials, computational methods, control theory and unmanned systems rather than anything classified.

Ask directly and early. Supervisors will tell you honestly which projects they can accept a foreign national onto, and it is better to know before you apply than after you arrive.

Career paths

Alumni of these schools lead COMAC (the C919 narrowbody programme), AVIC, and China's major commercial drone manufacturers including DJI. For international graduates, the most realistic paths are with Chinese aerospace firms' international divisions, with airlines and MRO operators, or in the civil aviation and UAV sectors in your home country where Chinese equipment is increasingly common.