Founded in 1958, the school was named Hebei Institute of Light Industry, which belongs to the Ministry of Light Industry and is one of the first four light industry undergraduate colleges in China. 1968, the school was renamed Tianjin Institute of Light Industry. 1998, the affiliation of the school was transferred from the Ministry of Light Industry to Tianjin. In 2002, with the approval of the Ministry of Education, the school was renamed Tianjin University of Science and Technology. It was selected into the "Excellent Engineer Education and Training Plan" and the national "Key Discipline Project with Characteristics", and it is a university with coordinated development of multiple disciplines with Tianjin as the focus.