Beijing Jiaotong University (BJTU), located at Xizhimenwai of Beijing, is a national key university of China, directly under the administration of the Ministry of Education. Her predecessor is Beijing Railway Management Training Institute and Beijing School of Posts and Telecommunications, set up by Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of Qing Dynasty. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China in October 1st 1949, BJTU was re-named as Northern Jiaotong University (NJTU) by the State Council. Chairman Mao Zedong appointed Academician Mao Yisheng, a nationally renowned expert in bridge engineering, as the first president of NJTU. 1981, BJTU became one of the first key universities authorized by the central government to confer master's and doctoral degrees, and subsequently to confer titles of associate professors, professors and Ph.D. advisors. In September 2003, the university restored the name Beijing Jiaotong University.