The earliest predecessor of the school was the Shaanxi University Hall and the Capital University Hall Accelerated Science and Technology School in 1902. The school was first called Northwest University in 1912 and changed its name to National Northwest University in 1923. In 1937, the school formed the National Xi'an Temporary University with the National Peking University, Peking Normal University, Peiyang University College of Engineering, and Peking Research Institute, which moved west to Shaanxi. In 1938, National Xi'an Temporary University was changed to National Northwest Associated University. In 1939, it was renamed National Northwest University. After the war, the universities that had moved to the west moved back. In 1950, the school was renamed Northwest University. In 1988, Chinese University Ranking(CUAA), placed this university as NO.7 in the Science at that time. Today, Northwest University still keeps a leading position on the Chinese language, economic and so on fields.[3][4][5]