Beijing Institute of Technology was founded in Yan'an in 1940. BIT is a national key university, an open, international and research-oriented university of science, engineering and humanities with science and engineering as the focus. It is one of the first universities to run a graduate school and receive privileged fund from the central government in "the 7th, 8th and 9th Five Year Plan." BIT is also one of the national "Project 211" universities receiving preferential support from the state.