Automation is a key discipline in a highly technological society. Realizing its ultimate significance, in early 50's, Tsinghua University had set up a few programs related to Automation. Since its establishment in 1970 as the first Department of Automation (DA) in China, it has accomplished impressive achievements in teaching and research, educated a large number of graduates with BS, MS and Ph.D. degree, and thus become an important R&D base of automation science and technology and a cradle of the talents with advanced expertise. Up till 2003, DA has conferred 4217 bachelor, 1682 master and 235 Ph.D. degrees. Currently there are 743 undergraduate, 760 MS and 230 Ph.D. students pursuing their degrees.
        To meet challenges of the technological innovation and market economy, and to serve the needs of career development of our graduates, the education programs at the department have been enriched to strengthen the fundamental expertise and to broaden the scope. Currently there is only one major for undergraduate study in DA. The Automation major share the same curriculum with three other majors within the School of Information Science and Technology: electronic information engineering, electronic science and technology and computer science and technology in the first two years.
        The major of graduate study at DA is Control Science and Engineering with 7 sub-majors: Control Theory and Engineering; Pattern Recognition and Intelligent Systems; Systems Engineering; Measurement and Automatic Devices; Navigation, Guidance and Control; Enterprise Information Systems and Engineering; Bioinformatics. The graduate students are educated according to their sub-majors.
        There are 118 faculty members at DA, well respected in their areas including Professor Yanda Li, Member of Chinese Academy of Science, Professor Chen Wu, Member of Chinese Academy of Engineering, Prof. Xiaohong Guan, Cheung Kong Scholar, as the Department Chair, 55 full professors and 54 associate professors. The Department invited many distinguished scholars including Prof. Jian Song, the former President of Chinese Academy of Engineering as Chair Professor, guest professors and adjunct professors. In the course of developing Tsinghua into a first-class research university in the world, the Department invited several world renowned scholars in 2001 to form the first Chair Professor Group of Tsinghua headed by Prof. Yu-Chi Ho of Harvard University, Member of US National Academy of Engineering, Foreign Member of Chinese Academy of Science and Chinese Academy of Engineering, and established the Center for Intelligent and Networked Systems (CFINS) aiming at world class education and research.
        The Department of Automation has diverse and strong research capability. Many prestigious national and international research labs and centers are instituted in the Department including National Engineering Center for Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIMS), a division of State Key Lab for Intelligent Systems and Technology, Ministry of Education Key Lab for Bioinformatics, Joint Lab for Intelligent Transportation Systems, etc. Prominent research achievements are obtained in the areas of control theory, manufacturing systems, logistics and e-commerce, management and decision, networked systems, complex systems, bioinformatics, information processing, pattern recognition, artificial intelligence and robotics, moving object control, process control, measurement and instrumentation, intelligent transportation systems, multi-media and information networks, network security, etc. The faculty members and the students of DA received many international and national awards and have published over 120 books and 1500 papers in recent years.
        DA pays special attention to the curriculum development. Among the courses offered by DA, 28 were awarded as the Outstanding Courses at the university level including the one awarded as National Outstanding Course. Many prestigious excellence of teaching awards were conferred to the faculty members of DA and many students got awards in the national and municipal academic competitions.
        DA evolves its landscape by keeping an active international collaboration with its counterparts. It has exchanges with many famous academic institutions in the world including Harvard University, Yale University, University of California, etc., and has hosted many international conferences. Many faculty members often attend international conferences and hold important positions in international academic organizations. DA has many corporate connections with famous international enterprises such as Rockwell, NEC, Pepperl + Fuchs, Omron, UTC, Brothers, etc and has established many joint labs and research projects.
        More than 50 kinds of scholarships are donated by DA alumni, enterprises and social organizations, and more than 35-40% of students in the Department are offered various scholarships and financial aids. The University and DA also provide many work-and-study opportunities.
        The student life at our Department is vivid and diversified. The career opportunities of its graduates are optimistic with abundant choices. Every year, the demand for our graduates is more than the supply. Almost all of our graduates can find satisfactory jobs in education and research institutions, industrial and service enterprises and government agencies, and work in the fields of teaching, research, design, new product development, management etc, according to their career aspirations.