Since the 1940s, the Department of Electrical Engineering of Tsinghua University had taken the lead in the teaching and scientific research of high voltage technology in China. In 1955, the first batch of students graduated from the high-voltage technology specialization in the Department of Electrical Engineering, and in 1959, the first students graduated from the first high-voltage technology major. After the postgraduate degree system was established in China in 1978, this disciplinary unit was approved as the first batch of postgraduate and doctoral degree awarding units in China, where the first master and doctor of high voltage technology in China was trained. In 2002, the discipline was re-evaluated as the key discipline of high voltage and insulation technology. By the end of 2005, 266 Masters and 63 Doctors had been trained in this discipline, and 33 postdoctors had been admitted. In 2005, this discipline and other secondary disciplines of the DEE won the second prize of national teaching achievement for their contribution to basic teaching. It received one excellent paper award in 100 National Excellent Doctoral Dissertations in 2006 and one nomination award in 100 National Excellent Doctoral Dissertations in 2003.

At present, the discipline unit has 21 on-the-job faculty members, including 9 professors (8 doctoral tutors), 8 associate professors, 4 lecturers and 5 postdoctors. More than 80% of teachers in this discipline have doctoral degrees. During the Tenth Five-Year Plan period, Professors Liang Xidong and He Jinliang were awarded the National Excellent Youth Science Fund, Profs. Zhou Yuanxiang and Zeng Rong were awarded the outstanding talents in the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University of Ministry of Education of China.

The Institute of High Voltage and Insulation Technology is involved in the development of power and electrical fields. It has formed six core research directions, namely, high voltage insulation technology, high voltage transmission and electromagnetic environment technology, pulse power and plasma technology, electrical equipment and intellectualization, high voltage testing and diagnosis technology, and high voltage technology application in environmental protection and biological fields. During the Tenth Five-Year Plan period, this Institute has made many important research achievements in high voltage external insulation, composite insulators, dielectric space charge, new transmission technology, over-voltage protection and grounding technology, electromagnetic environment technology, on-line monitoring and fault diagnosis of electrical equipment, new electrical equipment, pulse power technology, Z-pinch plasma, atmospheric glow discharge, electromagnetic biological effects, etc. During the Tenth Five-Year Plan period, more than 53.5 million yuan was spent on scientific research and construction, of which 7.13 million yuan was spent in longitudinal Research Funding and 4.92 million yuan was spent internationally. Its research results have won one national award and seven provincial and ministerial awards. A total of 511 academic papers were published, 43 of which were included in SCI and 230 in EI; 14 patents were applied for and 12 patents were authorized; 6 monographs and textbooks were published.

In terms of international academic exchanges and cooperation, the Institute successfully held the 14th International Conference on High Voltage Engineering in 2005 and the 12th Asian Discharge Conference in 2004. Many teachers of this discipline held positions in international academic organizations, and served as members of CIGRE, members of working groups of IEC, and editorial board members of IEEETrans. DEI, etc. During the Tenth Five-Year Plan period, it had 15 overseas cooperation projects and participated in the drafting of four IEC standards.