The School of Information Science and Engineering at East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST) was established in 1997, with its earliest origins dating back to 1958. At that time, the former East China Institute of Chemical Technology created China’s first undergraduate program in Automatic Control for Chemical Engineering. In 1962, the university began enrolling graduate students in Automatic Control, followed by the admission of graduate students in Chemical Automation in 1965. In 1981, Industrial Automation became one of China’s first disciplines authorized to grant doctoral and master’s degrees, and in 1985, the institution became a long-standing member of the Academic Degree Evaluation Committee of the State Council for the discipline of Automatic Control. The School now comprises three departments—the Department of Automation, the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and the Department of Electronic and Communication Engineering—as well as three research institutes, including the Institute of Automation, the Institute of Computer Technology, and the Institute of Integrated Circuit Design, in addition to an Information Technology Experimental Teaching Center.
The School currently employs 226 faculty and staff members, including 41 professors and 74 associate professors. It is home to one Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, one IEEE Fellow, 13 national-level distinguished experts, and 15 national-level young scholars, and hosts one Ministry of Education Huang Danian Teacher Team and one Ministry of Science and Technology Key Innovation Team. More than 80 faculty members have been selected into various provincial and ministerial talent programs. The School offers two postdoctoral research stations in Control Science and Engineering and Computer Science and Technology; two first-level doctoral programs in the same fields; one doctoral professional degree category in Electronic Information; and three first-level master’s degree programs in Control Science and Engineering, Computer Science and Technology, and Information and Communication Engineering. It also offers a professional master’s degree category in Electronic Information, covering four authorized professional directions: Control Engineering, Computer Technology, Next-Generation Electronic Information Technology (including quantum technologies), and Software Engineering. At the undergraduate level, the School hosts seven bachelor’s degree programs—Automation, Electrical Engineering and Automation, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics Engineering, Information Engineering, Computer Science and Technology, and Software Engineering—as well as one double-degree program in Computer Science and Finance. The School also houses two national research platforms—the National Innovation Center for Process Manufacturing Intelligent Control Technology and the State Key Laboratory of Industrial Control Technology—and nine provincial and ministerial research centers, including the Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Smart Manufacturing for Energy and Chemical Processes.
With a strong emphasis on cultivating innovative and high-quality talent, the School continuously reforms its curriculum system and training models. It integrates cutting-edge theoretical developments with practical research experience from major scientific projects, and ensures that experienced and research-active faculty members teach core courses and share the latest advances in the field of information science and technology with students. The School has received 24 national and municipal teaching achievement awards, including a National Teaching Achievement First Prize. It currently offers 11 national-level high-quality courses, including national first-class undergraduate courses and Ministry of Education model course for curriculum ideology and politics, and 53 Shanghai municipal-level quality and key courses, along with nine award-winning textbooks. Through extensive industry-university-research collaboration, the School has established internship and training bases with nearly 50 enterprises and institutions. Students have achieved outstanding results in major competitions, such as the China International College Students’ Innovation Competition, the Challenge Cup, the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest, the World Robotics Competition, and the SODA Cup Data Innovation Contest. More than 1,000 students graduate from the School each year, consistently maintaining high employment rates and strong competitiveness among employers.
The School maintains a close alignment with national strategic needs and global research frontiers. Focusing on initiatives such as high-quality manufacturing development and the Next-Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan, and leveraging the opportunities of the “Double First-Class” initiative and discipline-featured development programs, the School continues to strengthen its disciplinary foundations. It consolidates the leading domestic and international position of Control Science and Engineering while ing the coordinated development of Computer Science and Technology as well as Electronic and Communication Engineering. Control Science and Engineering has developed four strongly interconnected disciplinary directions: full-process operational optimization and virtual manufacturing; intelligent sensing and networked collaborative control; scheduling optimization and intelligent decision-making; and safety and environmental footprint monitoring and traceability diagnostics. These areas provide foundational theories and key technologies for intelligent manufacturing in the process industry and have established a distinctive advantage in petrochemical automation. Computer Science and Technology focuses on artificial intelligence and machine learning, trustworthy software and systems, big data analytics and applications, and large-scale parallel and evolutionary computing, with research achievements widely applied in fields such as biomedicine and modern logistics, producing significant societal and economic impact. Electronic and Communication Engineering has established research strengths in deep learning–based intelligent audio–video analysis and understanding, low-power IoT and communication technologies, high-performance parallel embedded systems, and integrated circuit design and optimization.
Over the past five years, the School has undertaken more than 50 major national or provincial research projects, including the National Natural Science Foundation Basic Science Center project titled “Intelligent Optimization and Control Mechanisms for Material Transformation and Manufacturing Processes,” with total research funding exceeding 500 million RMB. The School publishes over 40 highly cited papers annually, and its research achievements include six National Science and Technology Progress Second Prizes, 17 provincial or ministerial first prizes, 64 additional provincial or ministerial awards, and five China Patent Awards for Excellence.
Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the School will continue to implement the Party’s educational principles, deepen reform and innovation, strengthen faculty development, and uphold moral education as its fundamental mission. It will further enhance its disciplinary platforms, e long-term integration of industry, academia, research, and application, and continuously improve its educational quality, research capacity, and disciplinary strength. With “Double First-Class” development as its guiding framework and accelerated digital-intelligent transformation as its driving strategy, the School strives to contribute to the university’s “Four Modernizations” strategy and “Two New and Two Major” development plan, and to play a greater role in building a strong nation in education and advancing Chinese-style modernization.
