In 1956, by the request of China Ministry of Education, Zhejiang University began to set up the major named “Operation and Measurement Instruments in Chemical Production”.

In 1958, the name of the major changed to "Automation and Instruments in Chemical Production Process”.

In 1961, students were graduated with Bachelor degree for the first time by the major “Automation and Instruments in Chemical Production Process”, and the enrollment for master’s degree started.

In 1981, the name of the major changed to “Industrial Automation” and it was approved as one of the first majors that offer Doctoral degree by China Academic Degrees & Graduate Education Development Centre.

In 1984, students were enrolled for Doctoral degree.

In 1984, the Institute of Industrial Control Technology was founded with four research divisions.

In 1989, the setting up of the post-doctoral research station was approved by China Ministry of Education.

In 1989, the state key laboratory of industrial control technology was set up as one of the first state key laboratories in scientific research by China National Development and Reform Commission.

In 1997, the Department of Control Science and Engineering was founded.

In 1999, together with the Department of Optical Engineering, the Department of Information Science & Electrical Engineering, the College of Information Science and Engineering was founded.

In 2006, the major’s 50th anniversary celebration was held.

In 2008, the CSE department became one of the “institutional-level” departments in ZJU.

In 2009, the 2009 Chinese Automation congress was held in Hangzhou by the CSE department.

In 2015, the name of the department changed to the College of Control Science and Engineering.

In 2017, Control Science and Engineering was titled as a national "Double First-Class" and "A+" discipline.