The discipline of Optical Engineering of University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, led by Prof. Zhuang Songlin, the famous optical expert and academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, and professor Gu Min, a foreign academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, join as full-time, can be traced back to the discipline of Optical Instruments established in 1960. In 1981, it was conferred the right to offer master's degree programs. In 1998, it was conferred the right to offer doctoral degree programs. In 2001, it was listed as a key discipline of the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission. In 2005, it was listed as the key discipline of Shanghai. In 2007, the Optical Engineering Postdoctoral Research Station was set up. In 2009, the discipline was listed as the National Key Discipline (cultivating stage). In the same year, one of the doctoral dissertations of the discipline won the award of the Top 100 National Excellent Doctoral Dissertations. In 2012, another doctoral dissertation won the award nomination of the Top 100 National Excellent Doctoral Dissertations. In 2015, Optical Engineering was approved as “the Peak Discipline” of Shanghai and was rated as excellent in the “Peak Discipline” accreditation in 2017. The discipline ranked 10th (first in Shanghai) in the national discipline accreditation in 2012, and ranked B+ (first in Shanghai) in the fourth-round national discipline accreditation conducted by the Ministry of Education in 2017.

The discipline of Optical Engineering enjoys good facilities and platforms, including the Optical Instruments and System Engineering Center of Ministry of Education, the Key Laboratory of Photoelectric Precision Testing Technology for Machinery Industry, the Shanghai Key Laboratory of Modern Optical System, the Shanghai Ultra-Precision Optical Machining and Testing Service Platform, etc. It is the President Unit of China Instrument and Control Society, and the affiliated institution of the China National Center for Quality Supervision and Test of Optical Instrument, the National Standardization of Optics and Photonics Committee, the Committee of Engineering Optics of Chinese Optical Society, the Optical Instrument Branch of China Instrument and Control Society and the China Instruments Manufacturers Association. The discipline has a faculty team in which there are 120 including 2 academicians from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 33 talents at a national or ministerial level. The teachers who have studied abroad accounts for 54% of the total. The disciplinary aims to develop high-quality talents and a leading innovation research base for Optical Engineering. The discipline focus on ultra-precision optical manufacturing and treating, terahertz science and technology, nanophononics, ultrafast nonlinear optics, and bio-photonics.