In 1940, the Communist Party of China founded the Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT), the country's first science and engineering university, in Yan'an, Shaanxi province. Since the founding of the New China, BIT has been one of the key universities in the country and was among the first to enter the national "211 Project" and the "985 Project", and to be designated as a "Top A World-class University". BIT was originally founded in Yan'an in 1940, and moved to Beijing in 1949. In 1952, it was renamed Beijing Engineering College, becoming the first defense industry university in the People's Republic of China.