In the evolution of higher education from elite to mass and popularization, applied higher education has become the inevitable development direction and main construction subject of higher education system, and the goal is to build a first class applied university. The construction of a first class applied university is a pioneering and exploratory system project with inherent laws and types, such as educational philosophy, construction measures and management mechanism. Nanjing Institute of Technology, as the first pioneer of application oriented undergraduate talents in China and the president unit of the research society of application oriented undergraduate colleges and universities in China, has been firmly committed to application oriented school running, adhering to the cultivation of application oriented talent, and adhering to the school run road of integration of industry and education with school enterprise cooperation in the course of more than 20 years. It innovates the concept and ideas of building an applied university, explores the strategy and measures for building a special applied university, establishes a distinctive development feature for applied university, and forms a distinctive plan and NJIT model for building a first class applied university, which is highly praised by Vice Premier Sun Chunlan. Facing the future, the University will bear in mind the entrust, adhere to the new development thought of “one center, two cores and three main parts”, and speed up the building of a first class engineering applied university with distinctive characteristics that is leading in China and well known in the world.