The School of Information Science and Technology (SIST) was founded in May 2000. Its former bodies were the Department of Electrical Engineering reorganized in 1982, the Discipline of Optics set up in 1954, and the Department of Computer Science established in 1975. The school originally consisted of six departments and two sub-institutes. In May 2008, according to the developing strategy, SIST adjusted the structure, under which remained the Department of Electronic Engineering, Department of Optical Science and Engineering, Department of Communication Science and Engineering, Department of Microelectronics, and the Microelectronics Research Institute. On December 22, 2008, the Department of Illuminating Engineering and Light Sources was included into SIST. In April 2013, according to the needs of the discipline development of the school, SIST was further reorganized into four departments and one center, which are Department of Electronic Engineering, Department of Optical Science and Engineering, Department of Communication Science and Engineering, Department of Illuminating Engineering and Light Sources, and the Center of Micro-Nano System. Since then, the existing structure of SIST has basically taken shape.

As a result of generations' hard work, all departments and disciplines of the school have made remarkable achievements in discipline construction, talent cultivation, scientific research and applied technology development, and have developed into a scientific research and talent training base, nationally leading and internationally influential. The broad field of research, the multidisciplinary cross-cutting domains in science and engineering, and the optimal combination of resources have made SIST the cradle of the nation's outstanding talents of IT and engineering, the frontier of scientific research, an important base for knowledge innovation, and an important bridge and window for international exchanges.

As a research-oriented school, SIST adheres to the path of internationalization, attracts and retains senior researchers at home and abroad. The school constantly enhances the world influence and international competitiveness of its disciplines, gradually forms its own characteristics in terms of talent cultivation and scientific research, which has laid a solid foundation for completing its mission of building a first-class university's research-oriented IT school.