Formerly known as "Harbin Shipbuilding Engineering Institute," Harbin Engineering University is located in the beautiful city of Harbin, known as the "Ice City," alongside the picturesque Songhua River. It originated from the Military Engineering Institute of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, established in 1953. In 1970, based on the Naval Engineering Department and other departments and faculties of "Harbin Shipbuilding Engineering Institute," Harbin Engineering University was founded on the original site. In 1994, it was officially renamed as Harbin Engineering University.

The College of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, a predecessor of the university, was established with the Naval Engineering Department's Hydrographic Survey and Navigation Equipment Research Office and Ship Electrical Equipment Research Office. In 1970, the Department of Automatic Control was established, followed by the establishment of the College of Automation in 1998, which was renamed as the College of Intelligent Science and Engineering in 2020. In 2019, the college was honored with the "National Advanced Collective of the Education System," and in 2020, the college's Youth League Committee was awarded the "National May Fourth Red Flag Youth League Committee."

The college boasts a first-class teaching and research environment. It currently has 15 national and provincial-level teaching and research platforms, including national key laboratories, national experimental teaching demonstration centers, national-local joint engineering research centers, national engineering practice education centers, national virtual teaching laboratories, key laboratories of the Ministry of Education, engineering research centers of the Ministry of Education, and key laboratories of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The college has also established more than 10 joint laboratories and collaborative education bases with world-class technology companies such as Huawei, DJI Innovation, Siemens, Phoenix Contact, Rockwell Automation, NXP Semiconductors, and Anmou Technologies.

"The college has first-class teaching quality and a strong faculty. Currently, there are 172 full-time teachers, including 48 professors and 62 associate professors. Among the faculty, there are 4 academicians from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the Royal Academy of Engineering in the UK, the Canadian Academy of Engineering, and the European Academy of Sciences. Additionally, there is one recipient of the 'He Liang He Li' Foundation Scientific and Technological Progress Award, 4 'Changjiang Scholars' appointed by the Ministry of Education, 2 leading talents of the National "Thousand Talents Program," 6 outstanding young talents, 2 recipients of the National Natural Science Foundation of China for Distinguished Young Scholars, and 1 national model teacher, as well as nearly 30 talents at the provincial and ministerial level.

The college has excellent teaching teams, including national key scientific and technological innovation teams, national university-level 'Huang Danian' style teaching teams, outstanding contributions in national defense science and technology industry teams, two national defense science and technology innovation teams, a research-based teaching innovation team of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, a leading talent team in Heilongjiang Province, teaching teams in Heilongjiang Province, and excellent graduate supervisors.

The college's talent cultivation work is solid, with a current enrollment of 3,716 students, including 1,978 undergraduates, 1,738 doctoral and master's students, and nearly 30 degree-seeking international students. The college offers six undergraduate majors: Automation, Measurement and Control Technology and Instruments, Electrical Engineering and Automation, Detection, Guidance, and Control Technology, Robotics Engineering, and Artificial Intelligence. Among them, Automation, Measurement and Control Technology and Instruments, Electrical Engineering and Automation, Detection, Guidance, and Control Technology, and Robotics Engineering have been selected as national first-class professional construction sites, and Automation, Measurement and Control Technology and Instruments have been selected as majors in the Ministry of Education's 'Excellent Engineer Program.' The college has three primary disciplines: Control Science and Engineering, Instrument Science and Technology, and Electrical Engineering. Among them, Control Science and Engineering and Instrument Science and Technology have doctoral programs and postdoctoral research stations. The Control Science and Engineering discipline is the earliest control discipline in China focusing on the ship field and is currently the most distinctive discipline in navigation and control with a 'ship and sea' characteristic. It received an A- rating in the fourth round of national discipline evaluation of universities (tied for 9th place nationwide) and its secondary discipline, Navigation, Guidance, and Control, is a national key discipline and one of the first batch of defense key disciplines."

In recent years, the college has achieved outstanding teaching results and has been awarded three second-class national awards for educational and teaching achievements, as well as five first-class awards and three special awards for higher education teaching achievements in Heilongjiang Province. The college has developed three national first-class courses and has 15 provincial-level or above quality courses, including national-level fine video open courses, national-level fine online education resources sharing courses, and national-level fine online open courses.

Over the years, the college has maintained a graduate supply-demand ratio of more than 1:3, with a first-time employment rate for undergraduate students consistently above 95%. More than 45% of graduate students find employment within the national defense system. The college is highly regarded by defense industry groups such as shipbuilding, aviation, aerospace, weapons, and nuclear industries as a priority choice for recruiting outstanding graduates. Graduates from the college are also highly sought after by top global companies such as Huawei, ZTE, Tencent, and Baidu.

The college has produced numerous outstanding alumni, including academician Duan Guangren from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, academician Zang Kemo and academician Liu He from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, academician Yang Chunsheng from the Canadian Academy of Engineering, Rear Admiral Huang Wenbin, General Land Minghua, and Rear Admiral Huang Xinjian from the Navy, Vice Minister Sun Yao of the Ministry of Education, Deputy Director Wang Chengwen of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Zhang Hongwen, Member of the Standing Committee of Anhui Provincial Party Committee and Vice Governor, Mayor Liu Xin of Hangzhou, Chairman Wu Hua of Baidu Technology Committee, Zhao Lin, Party Secretary of Harbin University of Science and Technology, Liu Xia, President of Harbin University of Science and Technology, and Yang Yunchun, Chairman of Beijing Naiwei Technology Co., Ltd. These individuals represent the outstanding alumni of the college.

The college has a distinct research focus and has always been dedicated to the field of ship and ocean engineering. It adheres to the strategy of serving the country's technological self-reliance and becoming a maritime power. The college has successfully developed the first set of shipborne integrated navigation systems, the first set of optical inertial navigation instruments for navigation, the first set of marine radio navigation systems, the first set of large-scale ship safety simulation evaluation and verification systems, the first unmanned aerial vehicle, the first set of HDP3 dynamic positioning systems, and the first set of zero-speed anti-roll fins, among other major scientific research achievements. These achievements have made irreplaceable contributions to China's shipbuilding industry and naval equipment construction.

In the past five years, the college has undertaken more than 1,000 national, provincial, and cross-disciplinary research projects, including national key research and development programs, national natural science funds, and defense key model research. The total research funding has exceeded 1.5 billion yuan. The college has won the National Innovation and Advancement Award, the Outstanding Contributions to Defense Science and Technology Industry Award, and the Outstanding Talents Award in Defense Science and Technology Industry. It has also received 21 provincial and ministerial-level science and technology awards, including two second-class national awards for scientific and technological progress, one special award for defense scientific and technological progress, five first-class awards, and two other provincial and ministerial-level first-class awards. The college has published more than 2,500 high-quality academic papers and has been granted more than 500 national invention patents.

The college adheres to an open and inclusive philosophy and conducts international exchanges and cooperation through multiple channels and at multiple levels. The college has established partnerships with many top international universities, including the Technical University of Munich in Germany, the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London in the UK, the University of Edinburgh and Newcastle University in the UK, the University of Surrey in the UK, the University of Sydney and the University of Melbourne in Australia, the University of Adelaide, the University of Calgary in Canada, McGill University in Canada, Aalborg University in Denmark, and Ghent University in Belgium. The college organizes and hosts international and national academic conferences every year and invites experts from home and abroad to exchange ideas.

Entering a new era, the College of Intelligent Science and Engineering is setting sail and striving unremittingly to become a high-level, research-oriented, and international first-class college!