The school was formed by the merger of the former Wuhan University of Water Resources and Electric Power (Yichang) and the former Hubei Three Gorges College on May 25th, 2000. The former Wuhan University of Hydraulic and Electric Power (Yichang) was formerly known as Gezhouba Hydropower Engineering College, which was established in 1978. It is subordinate to the Ministry of Water Resources and Electric Power, the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Electric Power Industry and the State Power Company. 1996 merged with the former Wuhan University of Water Conservancy and Electric Power to form a new Wuhan University of Water Conservancy and Electric Power, which became an important part of "Project 2 1 1" to build a university. The former Hubei Three Gorges College was formed by the merger of Yichang Normal College, Yichang Medical College and Yichang Vocational College on 1996.
The school began to hold undergraduate education on 1978, and it is the first batch of bachelor's degree awarding units in China. 1996 began to hold master's degree education, 1998 began to train doctoral students. After years of development, Three Gorges University now has 2 1 college and 78 undergraduate majors, covering 9 disciplines, including science, engineering, literature, medicine, economics, management, law, teaching and art, including 6 national first-class undergraduate majors and 2 1 provincial first-class undergraduate majors. There are 10 provincial undergraduate brand majors, 7 projects approved by the National Excellent Engineer Education and Training Plan, 9 provincial strategic emerging (pillar) industry plans, 6 provincial undergraduate comprehensive reform pilot projects, and the provincial "Jingchu Excellent Talents" collaborative education plan project 11. There are 22 master's degree categories such as law, education, business administration, journalism and communication, electronic information, energy and power, and clinical medicine.