The Institute of Opto-electronic Engineering was established in 1958, originally from the optical instrument section of Tsinghua University. It was one of the first PhD-awarding branches approved in 1981 over China. In 1988, optical engineering was rated as State Key Discipline and the post-doctoral research station was established. It started to build the State Key Laboratory of Precision Measurement Technology and Instruments from 1989, which was accepted in 1995. It has been renamed as The Institute of Opto-electronic Engineering since 1999. The optical engineering discipline is among the top rankings in the domestic discipline evaluations.

The research in the Institute of Opto-electronic Engineering at Tsinghua University is concerned with perspectiveness, fundamentality, comprehensiveness and applicability. The institute is undertaking a series of major projects, such as National Key Research and Development Program of China, National Science and Technology Major Projects and National Natural Science Foundation.