Founded in 1952, the Department of Hydraulic Engineering at Tsinghua University was early known as the Water Conservancy Team of the Department of Civil Engineering. The disciplines of the Department of Hydraulic Engineering have covered all secondary disciplines of the primary discipline of hydraulic engineering, including, Hydrology and Water Resources, Hydraulics and Fluvial Dynamics, Hydraulic Structure Engineering, Hydraulic and Hydropower Engineering, Port, Coastal and Offshore Engineering,Geotechnieal Engineering — the primary discipline of Civil Engineering, Construction Project Management — the primary discipline of Management Science and Engineering, Among then, Hydraulic Structure Engineering,Hydraulics and Fluvial Dynamics are national key disciplines. The primary discipline of Hydraulic Engineering was ranked at the first place nationwide in the comprehensive ranking of primary disciplines evaluation organized by the Ministry of Education in 2003, which was also identified as the national key discipline in the first batch in 2007.

As for the secondary disciplines, there are seven research institutes established at the Department of Hydraulic Engineering, includingthe Institute of Hydraulic Structures Engineering, the Institute of Geotechnical Engineering, the Institute of Hydrology and Water Resource, the Institute of River Research, the Institute of Hydraulics Research, the Institute of Project Management and Construction Technology, and the Institute of Hydraulic and Hydropower Engineering Design. Meanwhile, the State Key Laboratory of Hydro-science and Engineering was established with the support of the Department of Hydraulic Engineering.

In order to carry out “wide-range professional education offered on the basis of general education” of Tsinghua University, and actively adapt to the demand of comprehensive talents from the society, undergraduates of the Department of Hydraulic Engineering are cultivated with the primary discipline of hydraulic engineering. Moreover, the talents, under the requirement of transing from traditional hydraulic engineering to modern hydroscience, are requested to expandthe knowledgeto include hydroscience that is involved in theoretical research of water-related problems. For a long time, the Department of Hydraulic Engineering has cultivated students with emphasis on scientific spirit, innovation spirit, entrepreneurial spirit, teamwork spirit, and pragmatic spirit, with teaching resultsamong the bestat Tsinghua University during recent years. Hydraulics, Soil Mechanics, Hydraulic Structure, Principle and Application of Hydrology are identified as national excellent courses. Cultivate Innovative High-level Talents Closely Adhering to Major Hydraulic Engineering won the first prize for the national teaching achievement in 2001. Freshmen Seminar Construction and Development - Research-oriented Teaching Practice with Interaction between Teacher and Students won the second prize for the national teaching achievement in 2009. Promote “Water Driven Industry” Hydraulic Culture and Establish Education System with Innovation and Knowledge won the first prize for the teaching achievement of Beijing in 2012.

Currently, we have 96 faculty members, including 6 academicians, 40 professors, and 61 doctoral supervisors. We have 7 professors with the title of Changjiang Scholars of the Ministry of Education, 9 recipients of the National Outstanding Youth Foundation, 2 involvedin the Outstanding Young Scholar Plan, 5 recipientsof China’s Youth Science and Technology Award, 2 recipients of the Young College Teachers Award, and 2 recipients of the Beijing Famous Teacher Award. In addition, we have one Innovative Research Group under the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and two Innovative Research Teams of the Ministry of Education.

Outstanding graduates from the Department of Hydraulic Engineering have distributed across the whole country and have been active in all battlefields of hydraulic and hydropower construction. Many of them have become academic masters, industrial talents, and national backbones. Some of them are academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, directors of engineering bureaus, directors of design institutes, chief engineers, or mayors, ministers, and even leaders of the Party and our country. In 2002, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Department of Hydraulic Engineering, a memorial sculpture was erected in front of the New Hydraulic Building, which was donated by the alumni of 1965. Owning to an old Chinese saying“Wise people love waters and benevolent people love mountains”, the sculpture, composed of stones, mountains and rivers, represents the most fundamental task of the school, that is to cultivate outstanding talents.

Tsinghua University has begun the development in the second one-hundred years, so does the Department of Hydraulic Engineering, which, with the common efforts of all faculty, staff, and studentsand great support from all walks of life, facesa new development opportunity and will make significantprogress in a more pragmatic and innovative manner, hence contributing greater power to hydraulic education and hydroscience development in China!