Located in Nanjing, Nanjing University of Science and Technology is one of the national key universities under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The university was derived from the Institute of Military Engineering of the PLA which was the highest institution of military technology in China was established in 1953. This institute was successively called Artillery Engineering Institute, Engineering Institute of Eastern China, and East China Institute of Technology. In 1993, the university was changed to its current name. The university has become a multi-disciplinary university incorporating science, engineering, liberal arts, economics, business, management, law, and education for coordinated development.

With Zijin Mountain to its north and the Ming Dynasty City Wall to its west, the university is integrated into the scenic area of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum. With an area of 3,117 mu (15 mu equals one hectare ) and a total value of fixed assets equaling 1,400,000,000 Yuan (RMB), the university has various forms of infrastructure including a complete logistics service system, 56 labs, various teaching, and research apparatuses and equipment valued at 499,000,000 Yuan (RMB), a library that contains 1,797,000 volumes of Chinese and foreign literature, 2 standard sports fields as well as an indoor gymnasium and the first student-run college TV station among its counterparts.

NUST is composed of 9 schools and 2 departments: School of Mechanical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, School of Electronic Engineering & Optoelectronic Technology, School of Information Science & Technology, School of Automation, School of Economics & Management, School of Power Engineering, School of Science, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Materials Science & Engineering, and Department of Foreign Languages. NUST also includes Graduate Schools, a Senior Vocational & Technical College, a School of Adult Education, a School of International Joint Education, Zijin College, and Taizhou College of Technology. NUST boasts 2 Level 1 national key disciplines, 4 Level 2 national key disciplines (national key disciplines covering 9 level-2 disciplines), 26 key disciplines at provincial and ministerial levels, 36 key brands and characteristic specialties at provincial and ministerial levels, 1 national key lab, 3 national engineering centers and 1 national center of quality inspection. It offers 12 postdoctoral programs, 40 doctoral programs covering 16 Level 1 discipline, 110 master’s programs covering 36 Level 1 discipline, and 57 undergraduate programs covering the 6 disciplines of technology, science, arts, economics, management, and law. In addition, the university has the right to grant degrees of MBA, MPA, and Engineering as well as the right to recruit international students and students from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. Currently, the university has 27,520 registered students, including 7,902 graduate students, 14,772 undergraduate students, and 323 foreign students.