Nestled in Chengdu, a time-honored city famous for its history, culture and landscapes, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) is reputed as " the cradle of the Chinese national electronic industry ".

In 1956 the inception of Chengdu Institute of Radio Engineering (CIRE), now UESTC, ushered in the first higher education institute of electronic information of new china under premier Zhou Enlai's personal disposal and care. CIRE was, and then created from the electronic divisions of such well-established universities as Jiaotong University, Nanjing Institute of Technology and South China Institute of Technology. As early as in the 1960's, it was ranked as one of the nation's key higher education institutions. In 1997, UESTC was included in the first group of universities in the "211 Project", a national program of promoting China's higher education. In September 2001, UESTC was selected as one of the Chinese universities that gain special financial support from both the Ministry of Education and the local Provincial Government.

Today UESTC has developed into a multidisciplinary university directly under the Ministry of Education, which has electronics information science and technology as its nucleus, engineering as its major field, and incorporates science, management and liberal arts.

UESTC now consists of 13 colleges including 29 departments, plus the Department of Physical Education and Goldtel Software Engineering & Microelectronics School. It offers 40 undergraduate programs, 46 master-degree granting programs, and the MBA and Engineering master programs. UESTC has 25 specialties authorized to confer PhD and 5 for post doctorates.

UESTC is known as the only higher institute, which covers all the 6 state key disciplines in electronics and information science. UESTC is authorized to offer 14 positions in 7 disciplines involved in "Cheung Kong Scholars Programme".

UESTC has a campus that occupies 58 hectares with a total floor space of over 55, 000 square meters. It possesses 25, 000 sets of equipment, a library of over one million volumes, and a modern stadium with 3, 000 seats. Its fixed assets reach 330 million RMB as well as the modern public facilities. UESTC has more than 3, 000 faculty members, of whom 5 are academicians of CAS & CAE, 145 are PH. D tutors, 220 are full professors and 571 are associate professors. UESTC has a current enrollment of 26, 000 students, including 9, 400 PhD candidates and postgraduates. Since its foundation in 1956, UESTC has trained over 60, 000 graduates for the country.

In 2001, the campus took on a new look under the restructured and strengthened leadership. Encouraged by the spirit of "strive for the excellent; Never settle for being adequate". The new leadership started a new way to make UESTC prosperity. That is, to merge its development with the local construction; To seek support with the best service, to strive to advancement with contributions, and to develop UESTC into the resources of Hi-tech, and the base of cultivating talents with creativity. The leadership attached equal importance to its strategic goal: That is, to turn UESTC into the first -rate university leading the world in electronics and information science. The implementation consists of two stages: By 2016, turning UESTC into one of the best universities in China, and by 2036 one of the best universities with the world reputation.