Harbin Engineering University

Harbin Engineering University was founded in 1953 as the People's Liberation Army Military Engineering Institute and is China's leading institution for shipbuilding, marine engineering and nuclear engineering, part of Project 211 and the Double First-Class Initiative. It is one of the Seven Sons of National Defence, administered under China's defence industry ministry, and that affiliation restricts which programmes international students may enter. The position should be confirmed in writing before applying. Its three headline fields are shipbuilding, ocean engineering and nuclear engineering. Kazakhstan is landlocked, so the marine disciplines have limited application at home, but nuclear engineering is a different matter: Kazakhstan is the world's largest uranium producer and has committed to building nuclear power generation. Harbin has the lowest living costs of any major Chinese university city at CNY 20,000 to CNY 38,000 a year, and the coldest winters.