[Answer] What’s the Difference Between Electrical Machinery Engineering and Electrical Engineering?

[Answer] What’s the Difference Between Electrical Machinery Engineering and Electrical Engineering?

At Tsinghua, the situation is as follows: the Department of Electrical Machinery Engineering and Applied Electronic Technology has the first-level discipline of “Electrical Engineering.” Under this first-level discipline, there are five second-level disciplines: Power Systems and Their Automation, High Voltage and Insulation Technology, Electrical Machines and Apparatus, Electrical Engineering Theory and New Technology, and Power Electronics and Electric Drives.

Because Tsinghua’s disciplinary structure is relatively traditional, it is fairly representative as a reference. According to this classification, electrical machinery engineering and electrical engineering seem to be essentially the same thing. This is because the Department of Electrical Machinery Engineering has only this one first-level discipline under it.

However, if we look at the hierarchy more strictly, electrical engineering is actually subordinate to electrical machinery engineering. Historically, Tsinghua University’s Department of Electrical Machinery Engineering included not only electrical engineering, but also automation and industrial enterprise automation. Those other fields were later split off to form a separate Department of Automation.

At other comprehensive universities, most did not go through this kind of restructuring, so it is also common to see electrical machinery engineering and electrical engineering existing side by side.