In 1908, Tang Wenzhi, the then president of the Shanghai Higher Industrial School (now Jiaotong University) under the Ministry of Posts and Communications, adjusted the departmental structure. We have successively added railway and electrical engineering majors with a three-year education system, marking the beginning of higher education in electrical engineering in China. This is the earliest electrical engineering major. With the development of electricity and the need for social division of labor, Jiaotong University changed its Electrical Engineering Department to Electrical Machinery Department in 1913. In 1917, the Electrical Machinery Department began to establish wireless switches. In 1928, it was changed to the School of Electrical Engineering, and in 1937, it was changed to a department, divided into “Power Gate” and “Telecommunications Gate”, namely “Strong Electric” and “Weak Electric”.
In 1912, Tongji Medical and Engineering School (now Tongji University) established the Department of Electrical Engineering, which has now developed into the Department of Electrical Engineering of the School of Electronic and Information Engineering at Tongji University; In 1920, the Public Industrial Specialized School (now Zhejiang University) established the Department of Electrical Engineering, which has now developed into the School of Electrical Engineering at Zhejiang University; In 1923, the Department of Electrical Engineering was established at Central University (now Southeast University); In 1932, Tsinghua University established the Department of Electrical Engineering, which has now developed into the Department of Electrical Engineering and Applied Electronic Technology; In 1933, the Department of Electrical Engineering was established at Beiyang University (now Tianjin University), which has now developed into the School of Electrical and Automation Engineering at Tianjin University.

In 1952, China underwent a large-scale departmental adjustment, leading to the emergence of a group of multidisciplinary universities with engineering as the main focus, as well as a group of mechanical and electrical colleges. These colleges basically established departments of electrical engineering or power engineering.
In 1977, after the restoration of the college entrance examination system, most universities gradually changed their “Department of Electrical Engineering” or “Department of Electric Power Engineering” to “Department of Electrical Engineering”. After the 1990s, it was gradually renamed as the School of Electrical Engineering.
In 1993, in the catalog of undergraduate majors in ordinary higher education institutions issued by the Ministry of Education, electrical related majors in the engineering category were divided into two branches: electrical engineering and electronics and information. Electrical engineering includes five majors: motor and electrical appliances and their control, power system and its automation, high voltage and insulation technology, industrial automation, and electrical technology.
In 1998, the Ministry of Education issued the “Catalogue of Undergraduate Majors in Ordinary Higher Education Institutions (1998)”, which merged electrical engineering and electronics and information into electrical information. The original 19 majors were merged into 7. Among them, the majors of motor and electrical appliances and their control, power system and its automation, high voltage and insulation technology, and electrical technology in the original electrical engineering category have been merged into the majors of electrical engineering and its automation.
In 2012, the Ministry of Education issued the “Catalogue of Undergraduate Majors in Ordinary Higher Education Institutions (2012)”, which merged the original Electrical Engineering and Automation major with the Electrical Engineering and Automation, Electrical Information Engineering, Power Engineering and Management, Electrical Technology Education, and Intelligent Electrical Machinery and Electrical Appliances special majors to form the Electrical Engineering and Automation major.