Huaiyin Institute of Technology, based in northern Jiangsu's Huaian city, will be renamed as Huaian University, as the Ministry of Education announced on January 4.

The Ministry of Education plans to approve the establishment of 15 institutions. Among them, 7 colleges will be renamed as universities.

Founded in 1958 as a polytechnic college in Huaian, hometown of Premier Zhou Enlai, Huaiyin Institute of Technology is an application-oriented university with engineering as its main discipline. Currently five disciplines — Engineering, Environment and Ecology, Chemistry, Biology and Biochemistry, and Materials Science, are ranked in the top 1% by ESI (Essential Science Indicators).