The Department of Mechanical Engineering (DME) was founded in 1932. It is one of the earliest departments in the engineering field at Tsinghua University, as well as one of the most historic engineering departments in China.

In 1952, the Department was restructured and renamed as the Department of Machinery Manufacturing.

In 1960, the Department of Machinery Manufacturing was split into two departments: the Department of Precision Instruments & Machinery Manufacturing and the Department of Metallurgy.

In 1971, the Department of Precision Instruments and Machinery Manufacturing was renamed as the Department of Precision Instruments.

In 1978, the Department of Metallurgy was renamed as Department of Mechanical Engineering.

In 1984, the Department of Precision Instrument was renamed as Department of Precision Instruments and Technology.

In 2012, the former DME and DPIM were recombined to form the current Department of Mechanical Engineering.