The origins of the Department of Electrical Engineering can be traced back to the Mechanical and Electrical Institute, Istanbul University Faculty of Science, in 1926. The Electrical Engineering Department was officially established in 1934, and the Electrical Communications Department came into existence in 1937. When Istanbul Engineering College was transferred to Istanbul Technical University in 1944, the department became the Faculty of Electrics. The Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering was officially established in June 15, 1946 with the passing of the Universities Act. There were two subdivisions within the faculty: High Current and Low Current.

Today's Department of Electrical Engineering is rooted in the High Current division. There were five fields of study in the department in 1945, namely, Electrotechnique and Electrical Measurement, Electrical Machines, Electrical Installation and High Voltage Technique, High Voltage Transmission Lines, and Industrial Applications of Electricity. In 1947, the Electrical Machines and Electrical Installation and High Voltage Technique divisions were combined and renamed Electrical Machines and Installations. Following the Higher Education Board (YÖK) academic regulations in 1982, the High Current division became the Electrical Engineering Department, with two divisions, Electrical Machines and Power Systems.

Meanwhile, following the conversion of the 1954 established ITU Maçka Technical School into the Engineering Faculty in 1972, the electrical branch of the Technical School became the Electrical Engineering Department. Education in the fields of Electrical Engineering (high current, energy), Electronics Engineering (low current) and Control-Computer Engineering (as of 1980) was offered in this department. As a consequence of the 1980 conversion of the divisions of the Engineering Faculty into four different faculties (Electrical, Mechanical, Architecture, and Civil), the Electrical, Electronics and Control-Computer Engineering Departments became gathered under the newly established Maçka Electrical Faculty.

Following the Higher Education Board (YÖK) regulation of 1982, ITU Electrical Faculty (Electrical Engineering and Electronics Engineering programs) was joined with ITU Maçka Electrical Faculty (Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering and Control-Computer Engineering) to form the Electrical and Electronics Faculty. The administrative structure of the Faculty consists of three different departments: Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering, and Control-Computer Engineering. As a result of the establishment of the Computer Engineering Department in 1998, the Electrical Engineering department had two undergraduate programs: Electrical Engineering and Control Engineering. In 2008, Control Engineering separated from Electrical Engineering and became the Control Engineering Department.