Industrial Engineering has evolved as a major engineering and management discipline dealing with the development, improvement, and implementation of complex processes and systems by using the principles and methods of mathematical, physical, and social sciences. The effective utilization of industrial engineering has greatly contributed to our increased standard of living during the last century through increased productivity, quality of work and services, and improvements in working environments.
Industrial Engineering at Tsinghua University was initiated in the 1990s. The graduate program in industrial engineering was launched in 1993, which is the first master program in China, and later the undergraduate program in 1997. It was in 2001 that the Department of Industrial Engineering was established with fourteen faculty members. Dr. Gavriel Salvendy, Professor of Industrial Engineering at Purdue University and Member of the United States National Academy of Engineering, was named chaired professor and founding department head. Since then, enrollments and the number of degrees awarded have increased steadily; the curriculum has been expanded substantially. As of today, it has grown up to be a leading industrial engineering program in China.
The Department of Industrial Engineering includes three institutes: Operations Research & Data Science, System Operation and Digital Management, Human Factors and Human-System Interaction and has established a series of laboratories. The Department also operates two university-level multi-disciplinary application-oriented institutes or centers: Institute of Quality and Reliability, established jointly by Tsinghua University and General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the PRC (Now, State Administration for Market Regulation), Institute of Industrial Culture, established jointly by Tsinghua University and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology), and Center for Smart Logistics and Supply Chain Management, established jointly by Tsinghua University and Jiaozhou City (part of Qingdao City, Shandong Province).
Our current faculty consists of 11 professors, 19 associate professors, 5 assistant professors, and 2 professors emeritus.
At the beginning of March 2019, the undergraduate enrollment of the Department is 254. The graduate student enrollment is 822, including 164 for PhD, 117 for Master of Science among whom 81 are foreign students, and 388 professional students for Master of Engineering Management, 93 professional students for Master of Engineering (Industrial Engineering), 55 for Master of Engineering (Logistics) at Shenzhen city, and 5 professional students for Doctorate of Engineering.
The research of the faculty covers major sub-specialties concerned in industrial engineering including engineering management, operations research, logistics and supply chain management, systems engineering, service science, human factors and ergonomics, and quality and reliability engineering. They have been regularly supported by grants from National Natural Science Foundation of China, Ministry of Science and Technology, and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and from various research projects funded by governments and enterprises. The total amount of the annual research contracts and grants now approaches 80 million RMB per year.
The goal of the Department of Industrial Engineering is to establish global reputation as a world-class research and education institution. The department has adopted a new paradigm of engineering education with an emphasis on creativity and practical training through innovative teaching and reconfigured the curriculum in accordance with the standards of top industrial engineering programs. International joint programs have been initiated since 2001 such as Tsinghua-Aachen joint master program, joint master program with Politecnico di Milano of Italy, etc. The annual international student enrollment is about 50. The department hosts workshops annually, building up the long-term international collaboration with well-known universities and companies. International evaluation has been carried out. According to the evaluation conducted in 2019, our undergraduate program was comparable to the top 5 industrial engineering programs in the U.S.
Milestones
2001 |
Department of Industrial Engineering was officially established at Tsinghua University on October 11, 2001. Tsinghua-Aachen (Germany) joint master program was launched. |
2002 |
In September 2002, teaching in English was initiated. English textbooks were published by Tsinghua Press under license agreements and used for all major courses. |
2004 |
The Summer Industrial Practice for junior students got started, winning the first place of Teaching Achievement Award of Tsinghua University in 2005. In July 2004, the first cohort of 30 students (20 from our department) of the Tsinghua-Aachen joint master training graduated. |
2006 |
In October 2006, the first International Review was carried out, with a review board consisting of six National Academy of Engineering (the United States) members. According to the review report, the undergraduate program at the department was comparable to that of the top 20 universities in the U.S. and the graduate program the top 25. In September 2006, Premier of the State Council Wen Jiabao presented the national "Friendship Award" for foreign experts to professor Gavriel Salvendy, head of the department. |
2007 |
In May 2007, the department won the Teaching Innovations Award of the Institute of Industrial Engineers. (IIE) |
2008 |
In April 2008, the Institute of Human Factors and Ergonomics of the department won the 2008 President's Medal, awarded by the Ergonomics Society of the United Kingdom. |
2009 |
Two industrial collaboration institutes were established: Tsinghua-Huajian Institute of Applied Industrial Engineering and Tsinghua-Maoming Petrochem Production Simulation and Optimization Research Center. International master program of Global Manufacturing was launched. |
2011 |
The students of the department won the Challenge Cup of Tsinghua University (Students' Science and Technology Competition). In April 2011, the second International Review was carried out. The undergraduate program at the department ranked at the top 10 programs relative to U.S. programs, and in some research fields the department has demonstrated world-class performance. |
2012 |
Master of Engineering Management and Tsinghua – UNC (University of North Carolina) Dual Degree Master programs were approved. |
2013 |
The Advisory Board was set up. Tenure-track system was officially implemented. |
2014 |
Institute of Quality and Reliability, Tsinghua University, was established jointly with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine and attached to the department. Master of Engineering Management (MEM) Education Center, Tsinghua University was established and affiliated with the department. The department is now leading the MEM program which involves other 14 engineering departments. The department won the first prize of the National Higher Education Achievement Award. |
2015 |
Center for Statistical Science, Tsinghua University, was established and administratively attached to the department. |
2016 |
Industrial Eengineering minor and Statistics minor were openned. |
2017 |
International MEM program started. |
2018 |
The department started to lead the National Education Steering Committee of Industrial Engineering Program. The department signed the biggest contract with Jiaozhou City (50 millions RMB) to establish a Center for Smart Logistics and Supply Chain Systems. |
2019 |
In May 2019, the third International Review ranked the undergraduate program at the department the top 5 programs and the graduate program the top 20 programs, relative to U.S. programs. |
2020 |
The new undergraduate program in Statistics was approved. |
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