In 1914, the Civil Engineering education was started in the Medical and Engineering School of Tongji.

In 1930, the Department of Civil Engineering was established in the Faculty of Engineering in renamed National Tongji University.

In 1932, the Department of Advanced Surveying Engineering was established.

After the national restructuring of institutions of higher education in 1952, the Department of structural Engineering, the Department of Surveying and the Department of Railway and Highway Engineering were established in Tongji University.

In 1960, these departments were renamed respectively as the Department of Building Engineering, the Department of Road and Bridge and the Department of Surveying Engineering. The Research Institute of Engineering Structure was established at that time.

In 1985, the Department of Geo-technical Engineering was organized.

In 1987, the College of Structural Engineering was established. In the college there were the Department of Building Engineering, the Department of Bridge Engineering and the Research Institute of Engineering Structure.

In 1997, the College of Civil Engineering was established. Now in the College there are the Department of Building Engineering, the Department of Geo-technical Engineering, the Department of Bridge Engineering, the Department of Surveying and Geo-informatics and the Institute of Structure Engineering and Disaster Prevention. State Key Laboratory of Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering is affiliated to the College.